bass
I had big fishing plans for this past weekend that fell through for a variety of reasons. So I found myself with only a few hours to fish on Saturday evening. I decided to take the kayak to the Tualatin since I have not been there this year. I launched at Tualatin community park and fished up river to Cook park (lots of paddling and stopping occasionally to fish).
I had high expectations, but unfortunately sometimes reality is a cruel mistress. I fished for 3 or 4 hours and only caught 6 small smallmouth. Two were on soft plastic and 4 came on a top water in the last 45 minutes. I did miss one blowup that seemed like it may have been from a better fish.
I did take my depth finder there for the first time which was a bit interesting. Man, there is a ton of wood down in the water - especially in the 3-6' depths. In most of the deeper holes (12-14') there did not seem to be as much debris. I fished shallow spots with current, deeper spots with and without current and a deeper eddy without really figuring out where the fish were holding.
I spent the early part of the evening trying a crankbait, lipless and soft plastic. I only had hits and caught fish on the soft plastic. I probably spent too much time looking at the depth finder and not enough fishing, but it was an interesting trip.
When I have bank fished there I would usually do better than this last trip from the kayak. I think I was too enamored with the depth finder screen and really not fishing aggressively enough. Probably would have done a lot better by just fishing and not having so much screen time - just like I tell the kids
One thing that was interesting is that there were a bunch of floats anchored in the water marked ODFW. Not sure if they were some kind of fish or crayfish trap. Anyone have any idea what they might be? I may call ODFW later to see.
So overall, it was nice to be on the water, but I just did not connect with the fish. Maybe next time I will throw the trolling motor on and troll a bit just to cover more water to see if I can figure out where the fish are holding.
I had high expectations, but unfortunately sometimes reality is a cruel mistress. I fished for 3 or 4 hours and only caught 6 small smallmouth. Two were on soft plastic and 4 came on a top water in the last 45 minutes. I did miss one blowup that seemed like it may have been from a better fish.
I did take my depth finder there for the first time which was a bit interesting. Man, there is a ton of wood down in the water - especially in the 3-6' depths. In most of the deeper holes (12-14') there did not seem to be as much debris. I fished shallow spots with current, deeper spots with and without current and a deeper eddy without really figuring out where the fish were holding.
I spent the early part of the evening trying a crankbait, lipless and soft plastic. I only had hits and caught fish on the soft plastic. I probably spent too much time looking at the depth finder and not enough fishing, but it was an interesting trip.
When I have bank fished there I would usually do better than this last trip from the kayak. I think I was too enamored with the depth finder screen and really not fishing aggressively enough. Probably would have done a lot better by just fishing and not having so much screen time - just like I tell the kids
One thing that was interesting is that there were a bunch of floats anchored in the water marked ODFW. Not sure if they were some kind of fish or crayfish trap. Anyone have any idea what they might be? I may call ODFW later to see.
So overall, it was nice to be on the water, but I just did not connect with the fish. Maybe next time I will throw the trolling motor on and troll a bit just to cover more water to see if I can figure out where the fish are holding.
