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I hit the Columbia on Friday the 14th and it ended up being an awesome day! I caught 55 bass and at least 30 of those came on the old spinnerbait! I love a good spinnerbait bite and this day delivered that in a big way. My best 5 went 16lb 2oz and 94.5". Two of the bass went 20" and weighed 3lb 12oz and 3lb 9oz, which are still on the skinny side but I also had a nice and fat 18.25" in the mix that went 3lb 4oz.
The day started out dead calm and I can say that the shad fry out-migration has started. I would say it is just getting started since while I did see plenty of shad fry dimpling in the morning I only occasionally saw clouds of shad fry on my sonar. The wild thing is that last Sunday my buddy caught an adult American shad on his glide bait. That is one of the weirdest catches since they should have all spawned and left the river by June. I guess that shad just liked the Columbia!
Anyway, the day started out dead calm and I started throwing a walking bait but I have to say that the bite was not on fire. After catching a few small bass I decided that it was too much work for what I was catching so I switched over to a Choppo. Within a few casts I had my first nice bass of the day, an 18.25" bass that weighed 2lb 13 oz. Still a little skinny but getting there. I picked up a few more decent bass on the Choppo and missed a few more bites when that bite died off and the wind started to pick up.
I moved to a deeper spot and picked up a Ned rig. That bite was just good enough that each time I decided I was going to leave I would catch a bass. I think they were just toying with me! After a bit I decided to head back downstream since the wind was finally starting to blow pretty good and I did not want to be fighting that on the way home late in the day.
When I got near the ramp I saw two kayaks fishing the point I wanted to fish. It was my friend Mike and his son Jacob. They had a late start to the day and just happened to be there as I got back. We chatted for a few minutes and then they took off downstream. I wanted to give them a bunch of room. I figured if I took my time I could let them fish stuff first and let the fish reload on any spots they hit. So, I decided to slow down and fish the point they had just left but to fish out deeper with the Ned.
That worked out well, it let them get well ahead of me and I ended up catching 5 or 6 bass on the Ned. Mostly dinks but there was a 2lber or two in the mix.
From there I headed downstream a bit to another flat that is about 20' deep that I knew they would not really fish and kept fishing slow with the Ned rig. I caught a dink and then a few casts later when I set the hook the rod tip did not move one inch. For a minute I was not sure I had snagged the bottom or hooked a good one. Happily I immediately learned that it was a good one. I have to say catching a 20" bass on my light Ned rod (1/16oz to 1/4oz rating) is a blast. That fish gave my drag a good workout! I was thrilled when I slipped my net under that baby!
On the next cast I had another bite and I set the hook into a mighty 6" bass. I am not sure what that big bass was doing with those dinks but I am glad I found her! I had a few more small bass bite at that spot but then it was time to move on.
By now with the wind blowing hard and the smoke from the fires out here cutting down on the sunlight I knew I should give the shallow bite a try. I figured Mike and Jacob would have been throwing big swimbaits and glide baits so I wanted to throw something else since I was fishing behind them.
I thought, "What the heck, I am going to tie on a spinnerbait". My reasoning is the blades would be good since the shad fry were migrating and with the weeds are really coming up having that single hook would be way better than trying to fish something with a treble hook. I figured I would give it a try for a while and if I did not get bit I would switch to something else.
I would say that my confidence level was about medium that the spinnerbait was going to produce. Man did I undersell that to myself. Within a couple of casts I got thumped hard but missed that bite. However, that really brought my attention up to a laser focus. A cast or two later and I had another thump and landed my first spinnerbait bass since the springtime!
From there the bite was just incredible. I would get bit every couple of casts. I missed a lot of fish but also caught a lot of fish. All from a shallow flat that is 3-6' deep with patches of thick weeds and scattered weeds. I was fishing that spinnerbait just under the surface and even in the wind and waves I watched a lot of those bass eat it. What a blast!
I finally made my way to the edge of the flat where it drops off into 20' or so of water. I made a cast out over the deep water and felt a thump but missed it. I fired back out there and felt another thump and this one stuck. I knew right away I had a good one! That fish put up a good fight and I whooped pretty loud when I slid my net under my second 20" bass of the day. When I had it on the board I could get it to 20.25" but when I took the picture it moved a little and measured just 20". This one was a bit fatter than my earlier 20"er and weighed 3lb 12oz.
After that I just kept fishing my way downstream. Stopping here and there and catching bass most places but I was fishing faster at this point since I wanted to catch up with Mike and say hi. I did not sit on any spot and hammer it like I had done earlier but I was picking up mostly decen fish (over pound and a half) with plenty of 2+lb bass and even got a 3lb 4oz fish.
I eventually made it down to one of my favorite humps and picked up only a single bass on top of it with the spinnerbait. I figured as long as I was there I should dust off the upstream edges with the 110 plus one. I picked up two decent bass really quickly but I could not get a third bite.
I went down and fished another spot without a bite and caught up with Mike. He said they were not catching a lot but they had caught some bigs on the big baits they were throwing. His son had caught a 21.5" and another over 20"!
Mike was throwing a jig and creature bait and eventually caught a 21.5" bass as well! So they both caught a bigger bass than I did but I was happy catching a ton of fish with a few bigs mixed in!
After chatting for a bit I told him I was going to quickly fish my way back. I stopped here and there and made a few casts catching a few more on the spinnerbait and another on the 110 plus one.
Eventually I made it back to the area where I was just crushing them in the morning. I figured I would give that area a few casts before heading to the ramp. Well within a couple of casts I had a hard thump and set the hook into a good fish. I was fighting that fish in when it jumped and and I thought it had thrown my spinnerbait but I reeled it in and it had snapped off half my spinnerbait!
When I day they were destroing my spinnerbait I was not exaggerating!!
After that I tied on another spinnerbait and went back to work. That spot was still loaded with hungry bass and I ended up catching 7 more bass from pretty much one spot just fan casting that spinnerbait. One of which was a really skinny 18" 2lb 5oz bass that was part of my length bag but not my weight bag. When I caught my 55th bass I decided that I was done.
So I headed to the ramp both exhausted but exhilierated as only an awesome day of fishing can make you feel!
Here are some pics and the video.
The day started out dead calm and I can say that the shad fry out-migration has started. I would say it is just getting started since while I did see plenty of shad fry dimpling in the morning I only occasionally saw clouds of shad fry on my sonar. The wild thing is that last Sunday my buddy caught an adult American shad on his glide bait. That is one of the weirdest catches since they should have all spawned and left the river by June. I guess that shad just liked the Columbia!
Anyway, the day started out dead calm and I started throwing a walking bait but I have to say that the bite was not on fire. After catching a few small bass I decided that it was too much work for what I was catching so I switched over to a Choppo. Within a few casts I had my first nice bass of the day, an 18.25" bass that weighed 2lb 13 oz. Still a little skinny but getting there. I picked up a few more decent bass on the Choppo and missed a few more bites when that bite died off and the wind started to pick up.
I moved to a deeper spot and picked up a Ned rig. That bite was just good enough that each time I decided I was going to leave I would catch a bass. I think they were just toying with me! After a bit I decided to head back downstream since the wind was finally starting to blow pretty good and I did not want to be fighting that on the way home late in the day.
When I got near the ramp I saw two kayaks fishing the point I wanted to fish. It was my friend Mike and his son Jacob. They had a late start to the day and just happened to be there as I got back. We chatted for a few minutes and then they took off downstream. I wanted to give them a bunch of room. I figured if I took my time I could let them fish stuff first and let the fish reload on any spots they hit. So, I decided to slow down and fish the point they had just left but to fish out deeper with the Ned.
That worked out well, it let them get well ahead of me and I ended up catching 5 or 6 bass on the Ned. Mostly dinks but there was a 2lber or two in the mix.
From there I headed downstream a bit to another flat that is about 20' deep that I knew they would not really fish and kept fishing slow with the Ned rig. I caught a dink and then a few casts later when I set the hook the rod tip did not move one inch. For a minute I was not sure I had snagged the bottom or hooked a good one. Happily I immediately learned that it was a good one. I have to say catching a 20" bass on my light Ned rod (1/16oz to 1/4oz rating) is a blast. That fish gave my drag a good workout! I was thrilled when I slipped my net under that baby!
On the next cast I had another bite and I set the hook into a mighty 6" bass. I am not sure what that big bass was doing with those dinks but I am glad I found her! I had a few more small bass bite at that spot but then it was time to move on.
By now with the wind blowing hard and the smoke from the fires out here cutting down on the sunlight I knew I should give the shallow bite a try. I figured Mike and Jacob would have been throwing big swimbaits and glide baits so I wanted to throw something else since I was fishing behind them.
I thought, "What the heck, I am going to tie on a spinnerbait". My reasoning is the blades would be good since the shad fry were migrating and with the weeds are really coming up having that single hook would be way better than trying to fish something with a treble hook. I figured I would give it a try for a while and if I did not get bit I would switch to something else.
I would say that my confidence level was about medium that the spinnerbait was going to produce. Man did I undersell that to myself. Within a couple of casts I got thumped hard but missed that bite. However, that really brought my attention up to a laser focus. A cast or two later and I had another thump and landed my first spinnerbait bass since the springtime!
From there the bite was just incredible. I would get bit every couple of casts. I missed a lot of fish but also caught a lot of fish. All from a shallow flat that is 3-6' deep with patches of thick weeds and scattered weeds. I was fishing that spinnerbait just under the surface and even in the wind and waves I watched a lot of those bass eat it. What a blast!
I finally made my way to the edge of the flat where it drops off into 20' or so of water. I made a cast out over the deep water and felt a thump but missed it. I fired back out there and felt another thump and this one stuck. I knew right away I had a good one! That fish put up a good fight and I whooped pretty loud when I slid my net under my second 20" bass of the day. When I had it on the board I could get it to 20.25" but when I took the picture it moved a little and measured just 20". This one was a bit fatter than my earlier 20"er and weighed 3lb 12oz.
After that I just kept fishing my way downstream. Stopping here and there and catching bass most places but I was fishing faster at this point since I wanted to catch up with Mike and say hi. I did not sit on any spot and hammer it like I had done earlier but I was picking up mostly decen fish (over pound and a half) with plenty of 2+lb bass and even got a 3lb 4oz fish.
I eventually made it down to one of my favorite humps and picked up only a single bass on top of it with the spinnerbait. I figured as long as I was there I should dust off the upstream edges with the 110 plus one. I picked up two decent bass really quickly but I could not get a third bite.
I went down and fished another spot without a bite and caught up with Mike. He said they were not catching a lot but they had caught some bigs on the big baits they were throwing. His son had caught a 21.5" and another over 20"!
Mike was throwing a jig and creature bait and eventually caught a 21.5" bass as well! So they both caught a bigger bass than I did but I was happy catching a ton of fish with a few bigs mixed in!
After chatting for a bit I told him I was going to quickly fish my way back. I stopped here and there and made a few casts catching a few more on the spinnerbait and another on the 110 plus one.
Eventually I made it back to the area where I was just crushing them in the morning. I figured I would give that area a few casts before heading to the ramp. Well within a couple of casts I had a hard thump and set the hook into a good fish. I was fighting that fish in when it jumped and and I thought it had thrown my spinnerbait but I reeled it in and it had snapped off half my spinnerbait!
When I day they were destroing my spinnerbait I was not exaggerating!!
After that I tied on another spinnerbait and went back to work. That spot was still loaded with hungry bass and I ended up catching 7 more bass from pretty much one spot just fan casting that spinnerbait. One of which was a really skinny 18" 2lb 5oz bass that was part of my length bag but not my weight bag. When I caught my 55th bass I decided that I was done.
So I headed to the ramp both exhausted but exhilierated as only an awesome day of fishing can make you feel!
Here are some pics and the video.