Need some bass advice...

[Derick]

Hello all I am new to these forums so I'll introduce myself first. My name is Derick I live in Oak Grove (south end of Milwaukie) and I like to fish. Been fishing for and landing springers, winter steelies and chum salmon most of my life but I cannot catch bass.

I recently starting fishing that lagoonish pond thing in back of Fishermens in Oregon City, I saw a ton of em chillin by that sheriffs dock there but couldn't catch anything. The guy at Fishermens recommended rubber baits in darker colors and to just cast it near or on cover and twitch it along the bottom. So far its been 2 afternoons/evenings and noting worth mentioning do you guys have any suggestions on places near Milwaukie to fish and what techniques to try out?

 

[waco]

i didn't know were bass there. Anyways welcome to the forum!! sorry i can't help dont know about bass mach but you will get help soon from our experts

 

[fishy4]

Fish the the river in oregon city by the point that feeds the willamette. also under the bridge in oc. on the clack. there are some nice smallies to be had. i would suggest yum worms. people always say dark. i i have caught tons of bass out of there. go white/ and small plastic is key.

 

[Derick]

Small really? are they spooky or just not a lot of naturally large feed for them?

 

[fishy4]

these fish seem pretty agressive. but spooky most definatley. make sure retrieve is slowwwwww. and get deeper for bigger fish. again the fish are not huge, but they are there

 

[Derick]

Thankyou fishy4 I'm going to try this out after work today.

 

[fishy4]

no problem at all. also try up where that inlet goes into the pond back there. some nice bass water in there. hooked as many as 15 in just that one little hole. have a good day. and good luck to ya let us know how you do

 

[The Nothing]

Waters are warming up, and can get to the point where they're too warm, and the bass become lethargic, just like they do in the winter months. Target areas where there is fresh incoming water - this water will be cooler, and more oxygenated. In rivers, target shadier areas, especially those with rocks/trees that will churn the water and again provide more oxygen.

 

[Hawk]

Bro, Welcome to the Family.

Try using 3" Senko worms, purple flake or chartreuse, etc, Texas rig or Carolina rig, worked reel slow. Sometimes a dropshot rig, also wacky style. Do a search on Google


Sometimes in summer in shady spots that have cover (wood), i use shallow diving Rapala's (troutlike in earthtone colors).

Best of Luck to ye.

:lol::lol::lol:

 

[cookshot]

I agree with the senko suggestion, but I dont think the size will matter a ton depending on how you fish it. I fished in that area two weeks ago and was killing on a 5 inch purple senko. If they are that spooky I would just recommend fishing it slower or crawling it on the bottom. Texas rig for sure. Throw it into the junk, under docks, into stumps, weeds, as long as you rig it right you wont lose too many.

 

[CFishRun]

Same place as all these folks are talking except try a Tube bait. Any tube by any number of manufacturers will work but try and get one about 4-5" in length. Get these three colors. Brown with a glitter fleck, Green with a black fleck and White (pure white). Rig them texas style and peg your weight with a bit of rubber, commonly sold next to the weights themselves. Also use black weights, not the lead non-painted one's. Rig em up and fish them any way you think a baitfish (use the white one texas rigged/weightless in a walk the dog manner), Crayfish (use the brown or green color and let the bait touch down and than use a hop, drag, sit sequence or hop/sit sequence and the longer it sits often the better, but change it up and always remember the sequence and timing in which you got the strike), Frog (use green or brown- weightless/texas rigged and hop it on the surface through the brush, sticks, twigs, reeds, any surface obstruction), Bottom Fish (use the green or brown and texas rig or carolina rig using a drag/pause retrieve) lastly although not entirely you can drop shot them above any weeds on the bottom which mimics something that they really can't help but eat and all colors will work with this presentation. In order to get the best action out of your drop shot presentation, remember that less is more. You basically set the bait at the level of the fish now all you have to do is move that little hula skirt on the back of the tube, so a simple wrist snap of a couple inches is all that little baby needs to entice a bite.

I fished tubes exclusively one spring on an inland lake for largemouths and smallmouths and I developed the above techniques. There isn't a wrong way to fish these baits. In that early season alone I caught hundreds of fish and even started looking online for Mega Tubes (7-10") for mid summer largemouths hanging at the thermocline. To my dismay they were more difficult to find than I had hoped. But if you want to get a bass to strike, there are few better baits than a tube because of their top to bottom versatility.

Post pictures when you get a fish because you will and I guarantee it'll have a tube hanging from its mouth.

 

[fishndad]

ok, my first suggestion is when fishing smallmouth a smaller bait compared to a largemouth is almost pure common sense deal, however if your going for trophy bass a bigger bait is for sure to be had! rule of thumb, if your looking for a fun day on the water then go with a medium sized bait! like say a 3 or 4 inch tube in say a orange craw or snake river craw seems to work everywhere! when using a senko the most consistant way is to go weightless wacky rig for sparse cover so basicaly if there is no weeds present then use a 4" senko wacky rigged, this is one of the most proven methods for large and smallmouth bass! if the water is super clear use more natural colors, i like watermelon seed, pumpkin seed, etc! for murky water i prefer a darker presentation, black/blue, black/red well infact you can't go wrong with black, however ive seen lakes, ponds, rivers that these colors wouldnt pull a bite from, ive had to use pink, white, chart, and even orange to get a take! i have fished many tournaments and all i can say is be as versitile as possible! please remember weather can have a huge impact! i prefer a overcast day but ill pull buckets out of the brightest sunshiny days as well! now if your fishing a pond im sure its filled with largemouth, take a 5" senko and get as close to cover as u can, let it sink to the bottom, most of the time you will get a strike on the fall! if not jerk it a few times lightly to get it off the bottom and repeat a few times if nothing try another cast in the area and move on if nothing comes about

 

[Derick]

K I went fishing in various places tonight and this has got to be the most frustrating thing ever. I lost 4 rigs landed a 6inch bass and hooked into 1 or 2 smaller ones, I was using stuff I already had which was some berkley worms (4" maybe) clear with black specs, and some yellowy brown tubes with dark specs. I attempted to bounce it along the bottom but only got the hits on the reel in really close to the bank. Wish I could get some feedback on what I am doing wrong but there is never anyone near to ask about technique. Maybe I'll just get ready for silvers.

 

[Finneus Polebender]

I agree with the senko suggestion, but I dont think the size will matter a ton depending on how you fish it. I fished in that area two weeks ago and was killing on a 5 inch purple senko. If they are that spooky I would just recommend fishing it slower or crawling it on the bottom. Texas rig for sure. Throw it into the junk, under docks, into stumps, weeds, as long as you rig it right you wont lose too many.

Second the above advise. have caught 6" fish on 6" worms sometimes the dropshot /or just a little weight to get them to the bottom then slow workin them will make the difference. good luck!

 

[fishndad]

K I went fishing in various places tonight and this has got to be the most frustrating thing ever. I lost 4 rigs landed a 6inch bass and hooked into 1 or 2 smaller ones, I was using stuff I already had which was some berkley worms (4" maybe) clear with black specs, and some yellowy brown tubes with dark specs. I attempted to bounce it along the bottom but only got the hits on the reel in really close to the bank. Wish I could get some feedback on what I am doing wrong but there is never anyone near to ask about technique. Maybe I'll just get ready for silvers.

where do u live derick? if im in the neighborhood i can take u out and show you the ropes! or if you can i can show you the ropes if here if u dont mind traveling

 

[cookshot]

How were you rigging the worms? Were you fishing the Willamette? If so, the best cover may be close to the shore, or if there is no cover, they may be hanging out in cut back banks. I personally like to rig texas style because I lose less gear.

 

[Derick]

@fishdad, I live in Milwaukie near the Oak Grove boat launch.

@cookshot, I was using Texas style but I messed up a bit and did not rebury the tip of the hook in the worm so that was a slight error. I have been fishing in a couple areas on the Willamette over the past few days; the main spot is a lagoon just off the Clackamas/Willamette confluence its very still water a little movement near the mouth of the lagoon during tide changes, I know there are good sized bass in there cause I saw a dozen or so big bass chillen/milling through the only area with a dock which I cannot fish at due to it being sheriffs property albeit unmarked property. The other spot was on the banks of the Willamette near the current seem which apparently ppl have been catching bass at for some time.

My problem though is not so much where to fish its how to fish. I really have no clue how to work a worm and have been trying to find some youtube vids for some tips but no luck yet.

 

[todd]

get some green worms they work best.everywhere.just twitch it here and there like u would think a worm would move. the bite turns on and off kinda quick right now late after noon should be decent not as good as morning. they like to bite when the bait is falling is reel stop let it sink then reel stop. find shade or structure they will be there hideing from the sun

 

[CFishRun]

Derick I live close by, so I'm up for taking you out in that general area. We'll hit up a few spots around there. I'll show you all there is to know about bass habits, water temp, weather patterns, etc. It'll be a super crash course in bass fishing. I don't have a boat...yet...but we'll bust some banks and maybe head over to the Tualatin River, being as that I've never fished it before, we'll learn it together. Just email me, although I would prefer to fish Thursday or Friday around 5 or 6PM.

Let me know-Jeff

mooregvsu@gmail.com

 

[cookshot]

I would suggest three ways to fish that worm. I haven't used GULP worms, I use senkos, but I imagine they have a similar action. The first way is basically what tod said, but I like to also let it hit the bottom and sit for a second or two. Another thing that has worked for me is to crawl it along the bottom and give it a short jerk to give it some action every once in a while. The third way only works when they are surfacing, and is kind of hit or miss, but I have caught some swimming a worm on top water like a snake. But if they aren't hungry they aren't hungry. If they are not hitting worms they may not be hungry. I would suggest dragging something in front of their face that is shiny and noisy, blue fox or rapala. I personally haven't had much luck with buzz baits, but I know people do well with them using this technique. Good luck, hope you guys get into some good ones, post pics!