Fly fishing for bass near mouth of Tualatin

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pdxflyguy
Has anyone tried this? There is some quick, shallow water around there. Wondering if letting a sub-surface wooly bugger fly down that stretch past some of the rocks a few times might be productive for some of the smallies i've heard are around there.
 
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Rockitout
Try it, there are a bunch of bass in that area. Not sure how many are in the Tualatin. That area is fairly tight, there are a lot of people loading/unload SUPs and yaks where would want to fish. Above that there is a lot of private property to mindful off. My thought is it be a tough cast to get a bugger where you'd want it.

Lots of fish in the Willamette near that location. My read is that fish aren't going to fight any extra current and hold in the Tualatin. Check out reports for the user Bass, he fishes that area a lot and has very detailed reports.

If its in the budget your have a better chance from a flotation devices.

Fly fishing Portland proper is tough, no trout in area. Bass fishing is better on the water then from the bank all along the Willamette.
 
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pdxflyguy
Thanks. I will check out that users posts. I had the same thought you did about kayaks and standup paddleboard‘s so I was thinking of going upstream in the Tualatin just before it hits the willamette for many of the points you mentioned to.
 
SciFly
SciFly
The Willy has good bass fishing from just above Salem all the way down river, and it only gets better the further down you go. The confluence area of the Tualatin is going to be prime for as far as you are willing to paddle. Check out my response to a previous thread on bass flies. I VERY MUCH PREFER a Clouser-style minnow to a bugger. Out-fishes the bugger hands down. Olive over white, or chartreuse over white, no longer than 3 inches. Action all day, and very likely have a couple pike minnows in the 20 inch+ category. Good luck man!
 
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BrandonBeach
I have had success with a large black, brown or sometimes purple leach pattern. 3in long weighted bullit head. On or near the bottom with slow “twitchy” retrieve. Sometimes a faster retrieve is the ticket. I fish the rocky shoreline as opposed to mud or sand.

Not a bass expert by any means. But I have had moderate to good success.
 
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pdxflyguy
SciFly said:
The confluence area of the Tualatin is going to be prime for as far as you are willing to paddle.
Thanks for the reply & the fly advice. What do you mean by paddling? I was talking about either wading into the water just before the mouth of the T and working my way upstream for a fly (blue arrows) - there is a path that goes along there FYI - or spin casting from the bank right there just before the mouth (red arrow).

The blue arrows get you into quicker water & tons of rocks and riffles there, if you're able to wade past the first 5-10 feet of shore rocks there are some nice channels through there. I know how to fish Trout in that scenario (natural drift down current so they can pop out and strike) but given there are much more likely to bass and i'm a relative bass newbie i'm still learning what works. Over the weekend I got out to that left-most blue arrow and spent about 30m in the late morning sending a black wooly bugger down the current through the channels but didn't get any bites. I am guessing that my strategy was all wrong. Seems like an easier place to start would be the red arrow & spin fishing. @bass - this relates to you and I's other conversation.

1597085995328.png
 
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pdxflyguy
Here is a more zoomed-out picture for better context relative to the willy.

1597086344835.png
 
SciFly
SciFly
Big water, guess I made the "assume" mistake thinking you were fishing from a floating device.
 

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