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I hit the Columbia out of Stevenson on Sunday the 16th. The wind forecast called for a still wind first thing that would die off after an hour or two. Miracle of miracles the forecast was correct! I had to fish through a brief period of a 20mph east wind but that died off after a bit and it was glassy calm for most of the day. Almost did not feel like I was fishing in the gorge!
The difference in the wind made me appreciate how much of the surface current is due to the wind. As the wind died down it became pretty easy to hold my position and fish carefully. When the wind was whipping that was quite the challenge.
The good news overall is that the bass are still feeding hard. The bad news is that while I did catch 28 bass there were quite a few dinks in the mix and the overall size was down from last trip. I only had one bass over 3lbs and the best 5 that I weighed only went 12lb 1oz. I did not weigh a couple of fish that were well over 2lbs so my total probably was 1/2 a pound higher but that is still not where I would hope to be at this time of the year. I should be pushing 15lbs each trip.
Anyway, the fishing was similar to my past few trips. Most fish came on either a drop shot with a minnow-y colored Trick Shotz (shiner or goby bryant) or on a Ned rig with green pumpkin TRD. I did catch a few at the end of the day on a Carolina rig after I switched out the bait to a 4" senko.
The fish were still in 25'-40' of water but grouped up tighter than past trips (I had to be more precise). When I got on the sweet spot the action was fast. I had one run where I caught 5 on 5 casts and another run with 3 on 3 casts. However, I also had some serious lulls where I was fishing spots that had been holding bass on my previous few trips but ended up being vacant this trip. I probably spent too much time trying to make the bite happen on spots where there weren't any fish. You know those spots where you are just SO sure that they HAVE to be there
So nothing too different from my trip 2 weeks ago in terms of how and where I was fishing. Just happy that there were plenty of biters. Water is down to 54F-55F. Fish are really fat and healthy right now and I even had one make a pretty good jump so there metabolisms are still churning along pretty well.
My best news of the week though is not fishing related. I had my annual transplant medical testing and assessment appointment on Friday and they informed me that I am now on the Green List. They said that once you are on the Green List you usually get a kidney within a year!! So I may be out of commission for a bit but then I can come back at full strength instead of limping along like I have to now!!
Anyways here are a couple of pictures and my video:
The difference in the wind made me appreciate how much of the surface current is due to the wind. As the wind died down it became pretty easy to hold my position and fish carefully. When the wind was whipping that was quite the challenge.
The good news overall is that the bass are still feeding hard. The bad news is that while I did catch 28 bass there were quite a few dinks in the mix and the overall size was down from last trip. I only had one bass over 3lbs and the best 5 that I weighed only went 12lb 1oz. I did not weigh a couple of fish that were well over 2lbs so my total probably was 1/2 a pound higher but that is still not where I would hope to be at this time of the year. I should be pushing 15lbs each trip.
Anyway, the fishing was similar to my past few trips. Most fish came on either a drop shot with a minnow-y colored Trick Shotz (shiner or goby bryant) or on a Ned rig with green pumpkin TRD. I did catch a few at the end of the day on a Carolina rig after I switched out the bait to a 4" senko.
The fish were still in 25'-40' of water but grouped up tighter than past trips (I had to be more precise). When I got on the sweet spot the action was fast. I had one run where I caught 5 on 5 casts and another run with 3 on 3 casts. However, I also had some serious lulls where I was fishing spots that had been holding bass on my previous few trips but ended up being vacant this trip. I probably spent too much time trying to make the bite happen on spots where there weren't any fish. You know those spots where you are just SO sure that they HAVE to be there
So nothing too different from my trip 2 weeks ago in terms of how and where I was fishing. Just happy that there were plenty of biters. Water is down to 54F-55F. Fish are really fat and healthy right now and I even had one make a pretty good jump so there metabolisms are still churning along pretty well.
My best news of the week though is not fishing related. I had my annual transplant medical testing and assessment appointment on Friday and they informed me that I am now on the Green List. They said that once you are on the Green List you usually get a kidney within a year!! So I may be out of commission for a bit but then I can come back at full strength instead of limping along like I have to now!!
Anyways here are a couple of pictures and my video:
