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I hit the Columbia out of Stevenson (with a ton of salmon fisherman) on Friday the 1st. I had high hopes for the day and I was hoping to catch a bunch of giants. That did not happen but I was able to scrape out a reasonable day.
When I got to the river the east wind was ripping pretty good and there were 2-3' waves smashing into the dock. It was a bit challenging to even get into my kayak and in all that excitement I forgot to start my video. The good news is that not having my video on allowed me to not have to relive the failure of the start of the day
For the first 2 hours I fished a bunch of spots that were holding fish on Sunday. Not sure if the bass were not there, not feeding or just not interested in what I had to offer but I did not get a sniff in those first two hours. Pretty frustrating to take a day off work and start the day off like that.
I decided after that initial debacle to try to fish a bit deeper for a while. I could not believe that there would be many fish out there but they had to be somewhere. It took a bit of probing but I finally broke the ice with a little 10"er. When you are not catching anything a 10"er is a welcome sight!
I continued to fish deep for a while and eventually tied on a blade bait since the water clarity was not as good as Sunday. I used that to pick up a few fish including a chunky 12" perch. All the bass were dinks in the 10" range but at least I was catching something.
After that the wind finally started to calm down a little so I though the shallow bite might have picked up. I went to my favorite spot but did not get a sniff. At that point I decided to just cover water and hope to find a group. I worked my way along a well-known ledge and eventually ran into my first group of fish. I pretty quickly caught 6 bass on a 3" swimbait and missed a few more. It was around then I realized I had not turned my camera on. Not too big of a deal given the poor showing up to that point.
At least now I had some confidence in what I was doing. I kept that swimbait in my hand just covered water. I fished along until I hit the next group. I picked up a handful around a little island and the only thing that killed that bite was me snagging up (after a backlash) and having to go in and retrieve my lure.
The bass in that group were not huge but at least they were mostly over a pound. I kept working along and pretty soon I ran into a big group of fish. I think I caught 10 bass or so and lost a few more just making the same cast over and over again. I just could not believe there were so many bass in such a small area. The size improved as well. Still lots of dinks but some nice fish started joining the mix including my best of the day, a 19.25" 3lb 13oz fish. Not a giant but a good one.
I was definitely feeling a lot better about the day after that fish! Of course, the bite at that spot eventually stopped so I went in search of my next group. I picked up a random fish here and there, nothing remarkable, as I continued my search. Eventually I landed on another group. These fish were mostly a little better in size 1.5 - 2.25lbs and were a blast on the swim bait rod.
Once again, the bite died and I continued my search. I made to a well-known spot and picked up a lone 3lb 1oz bass there.
I thought for sure I would be on a bunch after catching a decent one like that but I could not get a second bite from that spot. At that point I decided to fish my way back to the ramp and re-hit the spots where I caught fish earlier. To show them something different I tied on a gold-bladed white spinnerbait. I usually throw the JackHammer StealthBlade but for some reason I just really wanted to fisha spinnerbait (used to be my go to lure).
That ended up being a good lure for the rest of the day. At the first spot I stopped I picked up a couple of nice bass including my second best of the day, an 18.25" 3lb 10z fatty.
I love a good spinnerbait bite and fished that for most of the rest of the day. I stopped here and there and picked up a fish or two and was debating calling it a day. But when I got to the ramp there were a few boats waiting to take out so I figured I would head upstream and fish for a while.
The first spot did not produce but then I got to a stretch of rip rap. One of my old fishing buddy's favorite patterns was a spinnerbait along rip rap when wind is blowing into it. Well, he would have been proud of they way that was working on Sunday. The bass just kept smokng that spinnerbait as I fished my way along that rip rap. What a blast!
At the end of the day I had 59 bass. I tried to get to 60 but I lost my last 3
I decided I'd had enough and called it a day. After a super slow start it eventually turned in a fire bite. Lots of small bass but some decent ones mixed in. My best 5 on the day went 14lb 15oz. Almost all my fish came on either the swimbait or the spinnerbait.
Water temp was 54F to 58F depending on how protected the stretch of water was. I thought I would have done better with big fish but after the slow start I was pretty happy by the end of the day. I look at it as just leaving more big ones for the next trip
When I got to the river the east wind was ripping pretty good and there were 2-3' waves smashing into the dock. It was a bit challenging to even get into my kayak and in all that excitement I forgot to start my video. The good news is that not having my video on allowed me to not have to relive the failure of the start of the day
For the first 2 hours I fished a bunch of spots that were holding fish on Sunday. Not sure if the bass were not there, not feeding or just not interested in what I had to offer but I did not get a sniff in those first two hours. Pretty frustrating to take a day off work and start the day off like that.
I decided after that initial debacle to try to fish a bit deeper for a while. I could not believe that there would be many fish out there but they had to be somewhere. It took a bit of probing but I finally broke the ice with a little 10"er. When you are not catching anything a 10"er is a welcome sight!
I continued to fish deep for a while and eventually tied on a blade bait since the water clarity was not as good as Sunday. I used that to pick up a few fish including a chunky 12" perch. All the bass were dinks in the 10" range but at least I was catching something.
After that the wind finally started to calm down a little so I though the shallow bite might have picked up. I went to my favorite spot but did not get a sniff. At that point I decided to just cover water and hope to find a group. I worked my way along a well-known ledge and eventually ran into my first group of fish. I pretty quickly caught 6 bass on a 3" swimbait and missed a few more. It was around then I realized I had not turned my camera on. Not too big of a deal given the poor showing up to that point.
At least now I had some confidence in what I was doing. I kept that swimbait in my hand just covered water. I fished along until I hit the next group. I picked up a handful around a little island and the only thing that killed that bite was me snagging up (after a backlash) and having to go in and retrieve my lure.
The bass in that group were not huge but at least they were mostly over a pound. I kept working along and pretty soon I ran into a big group of fish. I think I caught 10 bass or so and lost a few more just making the same cast over and over again. I just could not believe there were so many bass in such a small area. The size improved as well. Still lots of dinks but some nice fish started joining the mix including my best of the day, a 19.25" 3lb 13oz fish. Not a giant but a good one.
I was definitely feeling a lot better about the day after that fish! Of course, the bite at that spot eventually stopped so I went in search of my next group. I picked up a random fish here and there, nothing remarkable, as I continued my search. Eventually I landed on another group. These fish were mostly a little better in size 1.5 - 2.25lbs and were a blast on the swim bait rod.
Once again, the bite died and I continued my search. I made to a well-known spot and picked up a lone 3lb 1oz bass there.
I thought for sure I would be on a bunch after catching a decent one like that but I could not get a second bite from that spot. At that point I decided to fish my way back to the ramp and re-hit the spots where I caught fish earlier. To show them something different I tied on a gold-bladed white spinnerbait. I usually throw the JackHammer StealthBlade but for some reason I just really wanted to fisha spinnerbait (used to be my go to lure).
That ended up being a good lure for the rest of the day. At the first spot I stopped I picked up a couple of nice bass including my second best of the day, an 18.25" 3lb 10z fatty.
I love a good spinnerbait bite and fished that for most of the rest of the day. I stopped here and there and picked up a fish or two and was debating calling it a day. But when I got to the ramp there were a few boats waiting to take out so I figured I would head upstream and fish for a while.
The first spot did not produce but then I got to a stretch of rip rap. One of my old fishing buddy's favorite patterns was a spinnerbait along rip rap when wind is blowing into it. Well, he would have been proud of they way that was working on Sunday. The bass just kept smokng that spinnerbait as I fished my way along that rip rap. What a blast!
At the end of the day I had 59 bass. I tried to get to 60 but I lost my last 3
I decided I'd had enough and called it a day. After a super slow start it eventually turned in a fire bite. Lots of small bass but some decent ones mixed in. My best 5 on the day went 14lb 15oz. Almost all my fish came on either the swimbait or the spinnerbait.Water temp was 54F to 58F depending on how protected the stretch of water was. I thought I would have done better with big fish but after the slow start I was pretty happy by the end of the day. I look at it as just leaving more big ones for the next trip
