pdxfisher

Dang, that is brutal. Hurts to lose big fish but losing them in a tourney is pain squared.

You ground it out on the water and then at home! You need to change your username from herder to grinder!

That's a pig! Up here we have seals and sea lions in the lower Columbia up to the dam and in the Willamette up to the falls. They are close to a hundred miles from the ocean. Man I hate those things.

Glad you had the hot fishing to keep you warm! You definitely don't feel the cold as much when they are biting like that!

That's not a bag - that's a whole suitcase!

Great report! Thanks for sharing what worked.

Thanks! I fished the Shenandoah river once back in the early 80s. Caught my first smallmouth there!

You need to post that on a military thread because those are all pictures of tanks!

I hit the Columbia on Friday the 22nd. It was a typical summer wind pattern. When I got to the river it was like glass (and stayed that way until about 10am). After that the west wind built up to the low 20s in the afternoon. I knew that was the prediction so I decided I would head east (upriver) to start the day and fish until the west wind just started to pick up. Then I would pedal back down past the ramp so that I would have the wind assist on the way home. I always try and use that wind to my advantage! The water temp was 59F when I got there and rose to about 63F by the afternoon. Fish were in all three stages. A few pre-spawn, but spawn and a lot of post-spawn. I spent they entire day in less than 10' of water mostly throwing moving baits but occasionally slowing dow. It was an exciting day from the start. I saw a beaver swim by and had a bite on my first cast. Second cast yielded my first bass of the day. No monster for sure, but the 1lb 14oz was big enough to give me a nice tussle. With the calm start I was throwing the old spinnerbait. Casts great on a calm day but man those things are tough to throw in the wind! I picked up a few fish on the spinnerbait before I decided to try a Z-man SWAG LT in the hopes of getting a bigger fish. I did catch my first bass on that lure (just a 1lb 10oz) and had several other bites, but no giants. I would pick that bait up off and on throughout the day and could usually draw some strikes and catch a few fish but I never did get the giant I was hoping for on that bait. After that I got to a little point that usually holds some fish around it and I fished it hard with the spinnerbait without a bite. I then picked up the bladed jig Stealthblade just to see if they would bite that since it is a little smaller profile. Second cast I got hammered. I only caught a fish or two on that point but I missed like three others. It was interesting that they would not bite the spinnerbait but were all over the vibrating jig. I kept the JH in my hand for a while but a bit later I got to a spot I thought I would definitely catch some fish on but blanked. I switched to the spinnerbait and in a uno reverse card situation they were now al over that spinnerbait! That told me to rotate my baits all day long. For moving baits I cycled through the spinnerbait, JH, 3" swimbait, SWAG L. I also occasionally mixed in a Ned rig on a 1/16oz head, a 1/4oz wobblehead and a wacky worm. They all caught fish. My primary lure was the spinnerbait in the morning when it was calm and the JH later once the wind picked up. I broke out the soft plastics on spots where I was sure I should catch a fish but they were ignoring my moving baits. It was just one of those days where I felt completely dialed in! I love that feeling!! By the end of the day I had caugh 56 bass. Certainly plenty of dinks but with that many there were also plenty of 2+lb bass. My best 5 went 15lb 3oz which is an OK bag but I had hopes for a few more big fish. I think a lot of the big females have spawned and are in the post-spawn recovery phase. My two best fish came on soft plastic. I caught an 18.75" 3lb 8oz bass on the wacky worm (also the jumper below) and a 19" 3lb 10oz bass on the Ned rig. I caught the most bass by far on the 1/2oz JH SB.When that wind picks up I can still cast that thing like a bullet into the teeth of the wind and those bass love to eat it when the water is churning into a froth! Anyway, here are a few pics (inlcuding a nice action shot) and my video from the day: Here is my best fish: Here is the video:

Thanks @Swamp Girl but I think your trips always look better than mine. You catch just an amazing number of quality bass.

I hit the Columbia out of Stevenson again on Saturday, May 9th The forecast was for light west wind but the forecast was definitely wrong. The day started with a light east wind and that built up to be pretty stiff upstream from the ramp. When I eventually turned around to head back I could see that the water was much flatter downstream by the ramp. Maybe there was an east vs west battle going on Anyway, I was excited to get out there and start smashing them but once again it took a minute to get on them. The first protected area I fished did not produce a bite but after a short while of searching I found my first group on a little point. I picked up three nice bass from that spot, all on the old white spinnerbait (I think it is a War Eagle) with gold willowleaf blades. That was definitely the lure of the day for me! I spent most of the day just moving along and beating the bank. I would find a group here and a group there with some lulls in between. Each time I started thinking about changing presentations I would get smashed. Those bass were hitting that spinnerbait with violence. The only time I abandoned my chuck and wind approach was when I decided to fish a deeper point. I wanted to understand if some bass were still out deep or if they were all up shallow. The point topped off at 13' and quickly fell to 26-29'. That spot was loaded up pretty good with fish and I caught 5 or 6 bass of that spot and a ginormous pikieminnow that weighed 4lb 8oz. I think that ties my PB for a pikieminnow. When that thing hit out in that deep current I thought I had hooked a salmon for a few seconds because my drag was screaming. After proving to myself that there were deep bass still available I went back to beating the bank. I am come on, am I going to fish a Spinnerbait that is getting absolutely hammered or a Ned rig. That's an easy call for me! The bite was good and steady all day long and by the end I had totaled 57 bass. Now I admit that there were a ton of dinks in there but there were also plenty of 2+lb bass as well. My best 5 went 16lb 7oz and about 90" which is a decent bag. My longest fish was a spawned out 19.25" that weighed only 3lb 8oz. My heaviest was a tie with two bass weighing 3lb 11oz (one 18" one 18.25"). The only bummer for the day was losing a fish that was probably a high 3 or maybe 4lbs right at the kayak. The wind was pushing me one way and the fish was going the other. I tried to horse that fish into net range but instead just managed to pull the hook Even with that loss it was an awesome day out there and the fish are definitely at all stages: pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn. Most of the bass still seem to be pre-spawn based upon the condition of their tails. Water temp was 58-59F and visibility was a couple of feet. By the end of the day I was missing a lot of fish, which confused me. When I got home I think I understood why. My spinnerbait was pretty badly damaged. The wire connecting to the jig head was completely loose and the jig head could just flop around. I retired that bait with honors Anyway, here are some pics of some of my better fish and prettier fish. The last one is the 3lb 8oz post-spawner. You can see how beat up the tail is. My prettiest bass! Post-spawner with the beat up tail: And, of course, a video from the day:

Another slew of huge tanks! You are really smashing them.big time!

Great report! The Zoom Z-craw is my wobblehead goto! I have one rigged up year round! Great minds thinking alike

Giant!

They fight much harder and much more erratically. They are crazy, largemouth are relatively well-behaved.

In the PNW there are a lot more bass than bass fisherman. Makes it easier for me than for most folks on here.

Yes, I am so happy to be winding all day! Lots of bites even if they were mostly little guys. You got to take what the river will give you!

That's a tank and a half!! You are the jerkbait master. You are really starting this year off with some giants!

That's a great bag in some tough fishing conditions. I hate the wind. I don't care about rain or sleet or snow but wind makes it tough to fish. Way to put a whooping on them in those conditions!

That is now your magic rod! Catches the big ones!! Great job, that is a monster!

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 bladed jig 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

That's a tank! How deep were you fishing?

It has been a really good year for me so far!

Yep, last trip visibility was around 5'.

That's why I started using them! They work great for me out here. Definitely my go to bait in the spring.