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It was a pretty, Good Friday:
It was a pretty good, Friday:
I hit the Columbia on Good Friday since the wind forecast was looking sweet. I was super excited to get back out on the river since my trip 2 weeks ago was such a good one. When I got to the river I was dismayed to see that the river was close to chocolate milk color. I was really surprised since we have not had all that much rain. Not sure how the water was so off-color. Visibility was 6" to 1'.
Oh boy, cold muddy water. That's always a tough nut to crack. Also, the current was flowing reasonably strong as well just to make things more difficult. I have to say I was a little worried.
The other thing that was weighing on me was the number of bass boats on the river. I counted 10 boats and most of them were fishing in areas where I normally fish. So on top of having tough conditions I also was limited in where I could fish. I decided to head straight to the spot where we had success 2 weeks ago. Now with the water so muddy and the current not quite as strong I was not sure if that spot would produce but at least I had the spot to myself.
It did not take too long to pick up my first fish of the day on a drop shot, and I had a couple of other bites that I missed, but it was clearly not going to be on fire on that spot. I think that maybe with the dirty water that the fish would be pushed close to shore and I was going to head in from that spot to the nearest shore but there was already a boat working that area so I took off downstream.
I was peddling to a well-known spot that sometimes holds a ton of fish around this time of year. I was about 1/2 way there when a bass boat sped by me and stopped on that point. Dang it! So I just kept pedaling and went downstream even further to fish some less desirable water. I have to say I don't think my heart was truly in it and i spent most of my time berating myself for not taking off sooner to fish that second spot.
However, from where I was I could keep an eye on the spot and so I was just casually fishing but mostly just waiting and hoping they would leave. Luckily they left after about an hour. They may have caught something but I never saw them hook up. I did not care since that spot can be tough to fish.
I got onto the spot and started straining the water with my drop shot. I started shallow, about 10' deep and made several passes. Then 15' deep for several passes. Then 20' deep. Then 25' deep. It turns out that 25' was the magic number. I caught 2 bass on back-to-back drifts. A couple of guys who watch my channel came over to me and said hi and said that they saw me catch those fish. I told them that it had been super slow and that those were the first fish I had caught in quite a while.
Of course, I thought it was going to be on fire and of course it wasn't. I went back to fishing that spot but went a little while without a bite so I started expanding the area. The wind and current would push me a little crooked with respect to the depth contours so I would start in about 30' and drift until I was in about 15', probably over a couple hundred yards.
The fishing was not fast but every once in a while I would hit a spurt and catch 1 to 4 bass in short order and then catch nothing for quite a while. The funny thing was I started rotating through different presentations: drop shot, wobblehead, Carolina rig, Ned rig. It seemed like every time I switched presentations I would catch a fish - often just the one. It was very confusing.
After a while I decided to try a blade bait even though the bottom at this spot is quite grabby. I figured that in the dirty water I probably had to pretty much hit them in the face with the soft plastic but perhaps the vibration of the blade bait could draw them from a bit further away. That seemed to work! I quickly caught 3 bass on 4 drops. I felt like the master of the river!
Of course, the river decided enough of that and stole my blade bait in the next drift. Aargh! I tied on another blade bait and went back to fishing but the fast action was over. Not sure if I had drifted away from the school a bit, if they had moved while I was tying on or just went back to sulking on the bottom.
The funny thing is that every once in a while I would catch a little clam about an inch across. I guess the bottom there is jclam/mussel bed. I probably reeled up at least 10 of those little guys during the course of the day. After a bit I saw a fellow kayaker approaching and it was a fellow I had met two weeks ago (youtuber @fishingthepnwwithdave7833 ). I had 13 bass at that point and Dave said he only had one. I told him what I was doing and welcomed him to join me.
He fished a bit downstream from me and was rewarded with the big fish of the day, a big old 4lb 9oz fatty! He only caught the two fish but any trip you catch a bass over 4lb is a great trip! While we was doing that I picked up a couple more fish. When he came back up to near where I was I caught my heaviest fish of the day, a 3lb 1oz. Nothing compared to Dave's but I do think he was good luck
He fished with me for about an hour but eventually said he was going to head on back. I stayed and fished that spot for a while longer but the wind started to pick up and I decided it was time to head back. I felt pretty good about scratching out 16 bass in those conditions!
It had been fairly sunny and warm all day so on the way back to the ramp I decided to pull into one of my favorite spring-time shallow water spots (3-8' deep) and toss an orange jack hammer around for a bit. I really did not expect much but I just love throwing a moving bait. I started casting and within 10 casts I felt a thump and set the hook into a pound and three quarter or so bass! That was my first bass on that orange jack hammer. I was fired up!
A couple of casts later I had a massive strike on the jack hammer and it snapped my line. Dang, I was so mad. I probably had a little nick in my line or something. That fish hit like a freight train and felt big but my line should not have broken. Of course, I only had the one orange jack hammer. So, I tied on a white one and went back to fishing.
About a dozen casts later it felt like I had a bite but it did not stick and I kept reeling then about 20' later it thumped it good and I had another pound and 3/4 bass. It was getting late and I was pretty tired so I made another 10 casts without a bite and decided to continue on back to the ramp. I wanted to stop and fish one more spot.
There is a pier where cruise ships tie up. There was one tied up in the morning but it as gone now. Once again this is a spot where bass sometimes group up before the spawn. It was about 20' deep so I dropped down my blade bait and on the first cast hooked a decent fish and what would be my last bass of the day. I tried a few more drops but did not get bit so I packed it up and headed home.
Overall it was a decent day in tough conditions. Water temp was 48F, visibility 6" to 1', mostly calm but breezy later in the day. I caught 19 bass with the best 5 going 14lb 3oz. I had two of 3lbs or more but nothing close to the 4lb 9oz my friend caught. My smallest of the day was a 1lb 9oz so at least all the bass were fun sized and a bunch of them were over 2lbs. So it was not a great day of fishing but it was a pretty good Friday.
It was a pretty good, Friday:
I hit the Columbia on Good Friday since the wind forecast was looking sweet. I was super excited to get back out on the river since my trip 2 weeks ago was such a good one. When I got to the river I was dismayed to see that the river was close to chocolate milk color. I was really surprised since we have not had all that much rain. Not sure how the water was so off-color. Visibility was 6" to 1'.
Oh boy, cold muddy water. That's always a tough nut to crack. Also, the current was flowing reasonably strong as well just to make things more difficult. I have to say I was a little worried.
The other thing that was weighing on me was the number of bass boats on the river. I counted 10 boats and most of them were fishing in areas where I normally fish. So on top of having tough conditions I also was limited in where I could fish. I decided to head straight to the spot where we had success 2 weeks ago. Now with the water so muddy and the current not quite as strong I was not sure if that spot would produce but at least I had the spot to myself.
It did not take too long to pick up my first fish of the day on a drop shot, and I had a couple of other bites that I missed, but it was clearly not going to be on fire on that spot. I think that maybe with the dirty water that the fish would be pushed close to shore and I was going to head in from that spot to the nearest shore but there was already a boat working that area so I took off downstream.
I was peddling to a well-known spot that sometimes holds a ton of fish around this time of year. I was about 1/2 way there when a bass boat sped by me and stopped on that point. Dang it! So I just kept pedaling and went downstream even further to fish some less desirable water. I have to say I don't think my heart was truly in it and i spent most of my time berating myself for not taking off sooner to fish that second spot.
However, from where I was I could keep an eye on the spot and so I was just casually fishing but mostly just waiting and hoping they would leave. Luckily they left after about an hour. They may have caught something but I never saw them hook up. I did not care since that spot can be tough to fish.
I got onto the spot and started straining the water with my drop shot. I started shallow, about 10' deep and made several passes. Then 15' deep for several passes. Then 20' deep. Then 25' deep. It turns out that 25' was the magic number. I caught 2 bass on back-to-back drifts. A couple of guys who watch my channel came over to me and said hi and said that they saw me catch those fish. I told them that it had been super slow and that those were the first fish I had caught in quite a while.
Of course, I thought it was going to be on fire and of course it wasn't. I went back to fishing that spot but went a little while without a bite so I started expanding the area. The wind and current would push me a little crooked with respect to the depth contours so I would start in about 30' and drift until I was in about 15', probably over a couple hundred yards.
The fishing was not fast but every once in a while I would hit a spurt and catch 1 to 4 bass in short order and then catch nothing for quite a while. The funny thing was I started rotating through different presentations: drop shot, wobblehead, Carolina rig, Ned rig. It seemed like every time I switched presentations I would catch a fish - often just the one. It was very confusing.
After a while I decided to try a blade bait even though the bottom at this spot is quite grabby. I figured that in the dirty water I probably had to pretty much hit them in the face with the soft plastic but perhaps the vibration of the blade bait could draw them from a bit further away. That seemed to work! I quickly caught 3 bass on 4 drops. I felt like the master of the river!
Of course, the river decided enough of that and stole my blade bait in the next drift. Aargh! I tied on another blade bait and went back to fishing but the fast action was over. Not sure if I had drifted away from the school a bit, if they had moved while I was tying on or just went back to sulking on the bottom.
The funny thing is that every once in a while I would catch a little clam about an inch across. I guess the bottom there is jclam/mussel bed. I probably reeled up at least 10 of those little guys during the course of the day. After a bit I saw a fellow kayaker approaching and it was a fellow I had met two weeks ago (youtuber @fishingthepnwwithdave7833 ). I had 13 bass at that point and Dave said he only had one. I told him what I was doing and welcomed him to join me.
He fished a bit downstream from me and was rewarded with the big fish of the day, a big old 4lb 9oz fatty! He only caught the two fish but any trip you catch a bass over 4lb is a great trip! While we was doing that I picked up a couple more fish. When he came back up to near where I was I caught my heaviest fish of the day, a 3lb 1oz. Nothing compared to Dave's but I do think he was good luck
He fished with me for about an hour but eventually said he was going to head on back. I stayed and fished that spot for a while longer but the wind started to pick up and I decided it was time to head back. I felt pretty good about scratching out 16 bass in those conditions!
It had been fairly sunny and warm all day so on the way back to the ramp I decided to pull into one of my favorite spring-time shallow water spots (3-8' deep) and toss an orange jack hammer around for a bit. I really did not expect much but I just love throwing a moving bait. I started casting and within 10 casts I felt a thump and set the hook into a pound and three quarter or so bass! That was my first bass on that orange jack hammer. I was fired up!
A couple of casts later I had a massive strike on the jack hammer and it snapped my line. Dang, I was so mad. I probably had a little nick in my line or something. That fish hit like a freight train and felt big but my line should not have broken. Of course, I only had the one orange jack hammer. So, I tied on a white one and went back to fishing.
About a dozen casts later it felt like I had a bite but it did not stick and I kept reeling then about 20' later it thumped it good and I had another pound and 3/4 bass. It was getting late and I was pretty tired so I made another 10 casts without a bite and decided to continue on back to the ramp. I wanted to stop and fish one more spot.
There is a pier where cruise ships tie up. There was one tied up in the morning but it as gone now. Once again this is a spot where bass sometimes group up before the spawn. It was about 20' deep so I dropped down my blade bait and on the first cast hooked a decent fish and what would be my last bass of the day. I tried a few more drops but did not get bit so I packed it up and headed home.
Overall it was a decent day in tough conditions. Water temp was 48F, visibility 6" to 1', mostly calm but breezy later in the day. I caught 19 bass with the best 5 going 14lb 3oz. I had two of 3lbs or more but nothing close to the 4lb 9oz my friend caught. My smallest of the day was a 1lb 9oz so at least all the bass were fun sized and a bunch of them were over 2lbs. So it was not a great day of fishing but it was a pretty good Friday.
