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I hit the Columbia on Sunday the 28th and conditions could not have been more perfect. The river was like glass until about 11am which was quite the treat! With those conditions I just knew the topwater bite was going to be on fire. I was extra excited because I had just bought a new Whopper plopper color on eBay that looked awesome.
I made that first cast and I was laser-focused on that lure as it gurgled back to the kayak. "Well catching one on the first cast is bad luck anyway" I said to myself. However, it is even worse luck to not catch one on your first 30 casts
I then probed around the point I was fishing a little deeper with a drop shot, Ned and wobblehead. Nada!
I thought it was bizarre given the almost perfect conditions that I could not buy a bite on that first spot (that pretty much always produces). That's OK, I wlll head to the next spot. Now the weeds are pretty bad right now given their growth and the water level so I swung out a bit deeper on my way to the next spot to avoid them. I was cruising along when I spotted a fish arch in around 33' of water around some kind of junk on the bottom.
I figured I might as well try and catch that fish since so far I was looking at a skunk. I looped back around and dropped my drop shot down and felt some weight when I lifted it up. First fish of the day was a dink out of 33' but the exciting part is that as I reeled that fish up my FF lit up like a Christmas tree! There were a LOT of bass down there on this pretty nothing spot. For the next hour and 15 minutes I caught a bass on more than 1/2 my casts. Mostly fishing the drop shot, one on the Ned rig and a few on the wobblehead. The thing that took the most time was getting back on top of the spot after each fish would pull me off of it.
It was just incredible fishing under such beautiful conditions. The bass also wanted to see how calm it was
Off that first spot I caught some dinks, lots of pound and a half to pound and three quarters and a 3lb 5oz 18.75" beauty.
It was only about 9:15am and I already had an awesome day. I was spoiled though so after two casts in a row without a bite I left that spot. I am sure I could have stayed there and picked fish off for the rest of the morning but I was actually getting a little bored fishing the same spot - especially when I knew another spot very similar to the first spot.
I headed down to that second spot and as soon as my drop shot hit the bottom I felt a thunk and had a fish on. It was crazy that on this beautiful, warm, partly cloudy day that fish were kegged up in 30-35' of water. Once again as I reeled that fish in my FF lit up like a Christmas tree. I fished that spot for close to 2 hours and once again I was getting bit on almost every drop on the drop shot. Once again a mix of dinks and pound and half to pound and three quarters. After a while I decided to put down the drop shot and just fish the wobblehead in hopes of catching bigger fish. Typically that larger bait is decent at weeding out smaller fish.
Of course the first one I caught was small one, then I caught one of the pound and three quarter variety. Then I snapped off the lure on a mighty cast Fortunately I carry a bunch of those since donating them to the river bottom is part of fishing them. The next fish I hooked had some weight to it. When I leaned on that fish it leaned back! I was really stoked when I slipped my net under a 4lb 0oz, 20.25" smallmouth!
The bite on the wobblehead was not as fast as on the drop shot but getting a 4lber makes it worth it. I continued to fish that spot for a while longer until I picked up my 27th bass! Once again I could have sat on that spot and continued to catch them but I really wanted to check up shallow again. I really wanted to catch a bass on my new rod (Dobyns 704) and a new lure Megabass Magdraft 6" swimbait. I went to a spot where there is a long shallow flat (couple of feet deep) that drops sharply into 15-25' of water and started chucking the Magdraft around. While I was doing that I saw some bass chasing bait and sped after them. I tossed the Magdraft and felt a bite but it did not stick
I kept tossing around the edge when I felt another thump but once again I missed it but that fish thumped it again and then the lure felt funny. When I reeled it in it was balled up on the treble hook. Dang! Missed that opportunity. I kept pitching the Magdraft for a while without any more bites but before I abandoned that spot I went back to where I had the good bite on the Magdraft and through out my spy bait. That was immediately thumped by a good fish that put a deep bend in my rod. This was another big fish!
I guess I was a little overzealous on trying to get that fish up to the surface because as I was leaning on it the hooks popped out and I was left berating myself for not taking my time. Dang it!
I fished around there for a while longer without a bite, or seeing any other surface action. The wind was starting to pick up so I decided to another deep spot I like to fish. I got on that spot and quickly picked up 3 more bass. The wind was now getting stiffer and I figured I could come back and fish this spot some more later on if I felt like. Plus getting my 30th bass was a good time to move.
As I headed further downstream I met a fellow kayak angler and we exchanged info on how we had been doing. He had caught one nice one but had said it had been pretty slow overall. I told him that I was catching lots of fish in 30-35' of water and pedaled back upstream to show him the spot I had just left. I told him that they were biting good when I left. He saw the big rocks that were holding the fish. I wished him luck and went on my way.
I spent the next few hours trying a bunch of shallow spots with the Magdraft but I could not get a bite. It seemed so perfect for it that I had a hard time putting it down even though I was not getting bit. Finally, I decided that I would in fact like to catch a few more fish. I went to a medium depth spot (~15') and picked up one on the wobblehead but could not get a second bite.
I started back upstream and stopped at another favorite spot where there is a hump that comes up to about 15' and is surrounded by 25' to 30' of water. The wind was really howling pretty good by this point so I picked up the wobblehead and started dragging it around I picked up two nice ones and lost a third at the kayak. After that burst of action I was having a hard time finding the holding and casting to the spot I wanted to fish. At that point I decided I would give the drop shot a try and then head home.
Sitting right on the spot and fishing vertically made it much easier to keep my lure in the danger zone. I pretty quickly picked up 3 bass which gave me an even 3 dozen. I decided that was enough. I was tired and still had to slog back to the ramp, but at least I had the wind assist!
It was quite the awesome day. 36 bass with my best 5 going 12lb 15oz. I certainly had my fair share of dinks but there were a ton of bass in that pound and half to two pound range by the time the day was done.
Anyway, here is the video for the day. It is extremely long because I did not cut out much from the times when i was wailing on them in the morning. Even when my catch rate slowed down with the wobblehead. I figured it might be intereting to get a feel for the catch rate rather than just seeing fish after fish.
I made that first cast and I was laser-focused on that lure as it gurgled back to the kayak. "Well catching one on the first cast is bad luck anyway" I said to myself. However, it is even worse luck to not catch one on your first 30 casts
I then probed around the point I was fishing a little deeper with a drop shot, Ned and wobblehead. Nada!I thought it was bizarre given the almost perfect conditions that I could not buy a bite on that first spot (that pretty much always produces). That's OK, I wlll head to the next spot. Now the weeds are pretty bad right now given their growth and the water level so I swung out a bit deeper on my way to the next spot to avoid them. I was cruising along when I spotted a fish arch in around 33' of water around some kind of junk on the bottom.
I figured I might as well try and catch that fish since so far I was looking at a skunk. I looped back around and dropped my drop shot down and felt some weight when I lifted it up. First fish of the day was a dink out of 33' but the exciting part is that as I reeled that fish up my FF lit up like a Christmas tree! There were a LOT of bass down there on this pretty nothing spot. For the next hour and 15 minutes I caught a bass on more than 1/2 my casts. Mostly fishing the drop shot, one on the Ned rig and a few on the wobblehead. The thing that took the most time was getting back on top of the spot after each fish would pull me off of it.
It was just incredible fishing under such beautiful conditions. The bass also wanted to see how calm it was
Off that first spot I caught some dinks, lots of pound and a half to pound and three quarters and a 3lb 5oz 18.75" beauty.
It was only about 9:15am and I already had an awesome day. I was spoiled though so after two casts in a row without a bite I left that spot. I am sure I could have stayed there and picked fish off for the rest of the morning but I was actually getting a little bored fishing the same spot - especially when I knew another spot very similar to the first spot.
I headed down to that second spot and as soon as my drop shot hit the bottom I felt a thunk and had a fish on. It was crazy that on this beautiful, warm, partly cloudy day that fish were kegged up in 30-35' of water. Once again as I reeled that fish in my FF lit up like a Christmas tree. I fished that spot for close to 2 hours and once again I was getting bit on almost every drop on the drop shot. Once again a mix of dinks and pound and half to pound and three quarters. After a while I decided to put down the drop shot and just fish the wobblehead in hopes of catching bigger fish. Typically that larger bait is decent at weeding out smaller fish.
Of course the first one I caught was small one, then I caught one of the pound and three quarter variety. Then I snapped off the lure on a mighty cast
Fortunately I carry a bunch of those since donating them to the river bottom is part of fishing them. The next fish I hooked had some weight to it. When I leaned on that fish it leaned back! I was really stoked when I slipped my net under a 4lb 0oz, 20.25" smallmouth!The bite on the wobblehead was not as fast as on the drop shot but getting a 4lber makes it worth it. I continued to fish that spot for a while longer until I picked up my 27th bass! Once again I could have sat on that spot and continued to catch them but I really wanted to check up shallow again. I really wanted to catch a bass on my new rod (Dobyns 704) and a new lure Megabass Magdraft 6" swimbait. I went to a spot where there is a long shallow flat (couple of feet deep) that drops sharply into 15-25' of water and started chucking the Magdraft around. While I was doing that I saw some bass chasing bait and sped after them. I tossed the Magdraft and felt a bite but it did not stick
I kept tossing around the edge when I felt another thump but once again I missed it but that fish thumped it again and then the lure felt funny. When I reeled it in it was balled up on the treble hook. Dang! Missed that opportunity. I kept pitching the Magdraft for a while without any more bites but before I abandoned that spot I went back to where I had the good bite on the Magdraft and through out my spy bait. That was immediately thumped by a good fish that put a deep bend in my rod. This was another big fish!
I guess I was a little overzealous on trying to get that fish up to the surface because as I was leaning on it the hooks popped out and I was left berating myself for not taking my time. Dang it!
I fished around there for a while longer without a bite, or seeing any other surface action. The wind was starting to pick up so I decided to another deep spot I like to fish. I got on that spot and quickly picked up 3 more bass. The wind was now getting stiffer and I figured I could come back and fish this spot some more later on if I felt like. Plus getting my 30th bass was a good time to move.
As I headed further downstream I met a fellow kayak angler and we exchanged info on how we had been doing. He had caught one nice one but had said it had been pretty slow overall. I told him that I was catching lots of fish in 30-35' of water and pedaled back upstream to show him the spot I had just left. I told him that they were biting good when I left. He saw the big rocks that were holding the fish. I wished him luck and went on my way.
I spent the next few hours trying a bunch of shallow spots with the Magdraft but I could not get a bite. It seemed so perfect for it that I had a hard time putting it down even though I was not getting bit. Finally, I decided that I would in fact like to catch a few more fish. I went to a medium depth spot (~15') and picked up one on the wobblehead but could not get a second bite.
I started back upstream and stopped at another favorite spot where there is a hump that comes up to about 15' and is surrounded by 25' to 30' of water. The wind was really howling pretty good by this point so I picked up the wobblehead and started dragging it around I picked up two nice ones and lost a third at the kayak. After that burst of action I was having a hard time finding the holding and casting to the spot I wanted to fish. At that point I decided I would give the drop shot a try and then head home.
Sitting right on the spot and fishing vertically made it much easier to keep my lure in the danger zone. I pretty quickly picked up 3 bass which gave me an even 3 dozen. I decided that was enough. I was tired and still had to slog back to the ramp, but at least I had the wind assist!
It was quite the awesome day. 36 bass with my best 5 going 12lb 15oz. I certainly had my fair share of dinks but there were a ton of bass in that pound and half to two pound range by the time the day was done.
Anyway, here is the video for the day. It is extremely long because I did not cut out much from the times when i was wailing on them in the morning. Even when my catch rate slowed down with the wobblehead. I figured it might be intereting to get a feel for the catch rate rather than just seeing fish after fish.
