pdxfisher

Smallmouth are just downright inconsiderate no matter where they are from.

This past Saturday the bite on the Columbia river was on fire all day long. The bass were hunting in wolf packs and hungry. How good was it. I caught bass on back to back casts several times during the day and once even caught them back to back to back casts. I had a fish hooked and the lure pulled out and went flying through the air, when it hit the water another bass grabbed it and I landed that one. I had a double (admittedly both dinks) on a spy bait. Fish were puking up shad fry all day long. They were just in a feeding frenzy. I would catch fish after fish so stuffed with shad fry that they were sticking out their gullets. Nothing better than fishing over insatiable fish. Not tons of big fish (only two were 18") but lots of fish in the 1.5 to 2.5lb range which are just a lot of fun to catch. The day would have been perfect except that the reverse broke on my Hobie drive (which is annoying) and I lost a pig at the kayak again. Once again I got this huge bass (pushing 5 lbs) right to the kayak and when I was trying to pull it up to net it the hooks just pulled out. Even with those setbacks it was still an awesome day on the river. I had checked the gauge before going out and the river was several feet lower than my last trip from 2 weeks earlier. I got to the river at first light and the two weeks of weed growth coupled with the river drop made a lot of the spots I like to fish completely choked with weeds. It was tough starting out because I could not really see very well and spent a lot of time fishing over top of weeds that were within inches of the surface. The day did not start out great. I abandoned my usual starting spot and headed to a long point that I knew would be weed free (if I went out far enough). I started tossing a topwater and quickly got my first fish of the day. I thought I was going to slay them out of that point but that was my only bite. By now there was enough light to see so I decided to try to fish in the gaps in the weeds up shallow. I quickly hooked a good-sized (2-3lb) fish but lost it at the kayak. After that I went back to the first spot (which seemed completely weed-choked in the low light) and now I could see where the weeds weren't. That spot produced a handful of topwater hits and a nice 18" bass (that was kind of skinny at only 2lb 11oz). Even though that fish was skinny its strike was ferocious and it fought like a demon. I was starting to feel better about the day. I then went down to a spot I have not been able to fish for a long time because someone is always on it. As I was getting there a boat from across the river beat me to it. I decided to fish just a short distance downstream from the spot I wanted to fish on another spot that is also usually pretty good. I got to see a really interesting site when I got there. An osprey was dive-bombing a blue heron. I thought there was bad blood between rod and reel fisherman and the netters but they had nothing on that osprey and heron. The osprey would swoop down the the heron would croak. Eventually the osprey looked like it actually hit the heron. At that point the heron decided it had had enough and took off. That was a pretty cool thing to witness. After watching that I started fishing and within a few casts I had an explosive topwater strike about 10' from the kayak. I nearly jumped out of my skin it was so viscous. After a great fight I landed a nice smallmouth of several pounds. I beat that spot for about 1/2 hour and picked up another 5 bass of that spot (another on topwater and 4 on the Ned rig). It was a mix of decent and small fish. The day was looking better and better. After that I fished a few spots that I had mixed feelings about and they all turned out to be duds. The good thing is that I did not waste a lot of time on them. I would cover them with topwater, spy bait and a couple of casts with the Ned rig and then move on. Eventually I made it to one of my favorite spots and that is when the magic really started happening. The bass were definitely hunting in wolf packs. When I caught one bass I would catch several. Sometimes on back to back or back to back to back casts and sometimes it might be two or three bass over half a dozen casts. I was mixing it up with the Berkley Choppo (which I often call a whopper plopper on accident) and a spy bait. It was good one-two punch. It seemed by switching things up I was able to catch more fish than if I just kept throwing one or the other. The fish were not quite as big as two weeks ago but in addition to the two 18" bass there were a lot of 16" and 17" fish. There were certainly dinks mixed in as well but I caught enough good sized fish to keep me happy. Here is the big fish from the day (3lb 1oz). Not a monster but a nice fish. I spent a ton of time on that spot for two reasons. First, they were biting. Second, every other spot I wanted to fish nearby had a bass boat on it. It turned out OK because I would work my way up the hump and fish upstream of it a bit and then slowly pedal down to the bottom and repeat. They key was to give the fish enough time to regroup and start chasing bait again. Seeing a school of bass chasing bait around really gets my heart pumping. I have to admit there were a couple of times when I threw into a group of feeding fish and did not get bit. I actually felt shocked when that happened because for the most part the fish were voracious. The example I cited earlier really defines the day. I hook a good fish on jerk bait (which I eventually worked into the active bait rotation to give me a rotation of 3 baits) and the hook pulled out when the fish was about 1/2 way in and near the surface. The lure went shooting through the air about 10' and as it hit the water another bass smashed it. It was like the bass just could not feed hard enough, and that was OK by me. Of course there were some lulls but just when I would think the hot action was over they would start back up. The only time they really stopped chasing bait at the surface completely was for about 45 minutes or so when the sun came out a little and it was really calm. The bright sky and slick surface was a no go for the active fish. I quickly recognized that though and picked the Ned rig back up and fished deeper water out in front of the hump and was able to consistently catch bass doing that. I may have been able to do that all day long but why would I fish painfully slow if I didn't need to. Fortunately, after a short stint of slowly fishing that Ned rig the wind picked up and it even clouded back up a bit. Those two things were like ringing the dinner bell again and the active bite started right back up! I did eventually get to fish one other spot (that had been fished pretty hard earlier by some boat anglers). That is where I lost my big fish on the day. I had caught a nice fish or two of the spot when I had a light tap on the spy bait that I missed but then it hit again and it felt like I was setting the hook into a cinder brick. You jerk back really hard and the rod tip barely moves, all you accomplish is to put a deep bend in the rod. I fought that fish hard and I was not going to make the same mistake I had made on my last trip there where I eased up a little when I went to net the fish and it allowed that beast to shake the hook. I kept hard, steady pressure on this fish and did a lot of just hanging on as it seemed to effortlessly peel out my drag. I knew I was doing everything right and eventually I worked the fish next to the kayak. At that point the fish just dug deep. I would gain a little line, get the fish within a couple of feet of the surface and then it would dive down and take all that hard gained line right back. This happened several times until the last time I was trying to work the fish to the surface and the hooks just pulled out. I could not believe. I just screamed "No, No, No" over and over. It was pretty heartbreaking. I do think the lack of reverse hurt my in landing that fish (if you look up fisherman in the dictionary the second definition is anyone good at making excuses Really though, the wind was pushing me upstream and the fish was dogging downstream. I could not get below the fish which really helps lift them in the current. I am still annoyed but I am not sure I really did anything wrong. Losing that big one really took the wind out of my sails. I did keep fishing for a while longer and picked up a few more fish but I never really could fully refocus after losing that fish. Overall though it was still an amazing day. I ended up with 38 bass and two big pikieminnows. My big on the day was a 3lb 14oz pikieminnow. I know folks hate them but the big ones are really fun to catch. Here is way too long video from the day:

I think what happens is that once the Willamette warms to the point that the smolts won't be near the surface that the topwater and hard bait bites really slow down. I miss chasing the bass as they chase bait.

I hit the Willamette out of 10th street in West Linn on July 30th for a pretty average day of summer smallmouth fishing. Lots of small fish with a handful of decent-sized fish. My "big" fish was 1lb 14oz. Overall I caught 26 smallmouth and 2 pikieminnows. Most of the damage was done on a Ned rig and a drop shot. Here is the "big" one :) There were two memorable things for the day. First, I met up with @campsean which was fun. We had been chatting for a while trying to find a time when we would both be on the water. Getting to meet in person was a blast I just enjoyed talking with him while we fished. Second thing that was cool was that I hooked up on a double. I had hooked a pikieminnow and when I got it next to the yak I saw a decent smallmouth with it trying to get the spybait that was hanging off its jaw. After steering the pikiemnnow back and forth for a minute or two (trying to get a double on the one lure) I decided to take advantage of my two rod endorsement and drop my Ned rig down by the bass. On my second drop down he grabbed it and I landed a nice 1lb 12oz bonus smallmouth. Here is a Youtube short of that event: Here is the full video from the day:

Great report! Excited to see your reports again. Glad you found some healing waters!

Thanks! The stars really aligned fir me on that day. Feel free to send me a private message if you have questions.

Poe's RC-1? I still have a handful of old Poe's (RC1 RC3 and the non-flat sided) in my box. Most have large chunks of paint missing. That was the only detriment of those lures. They hammer bass for sure.

This is an interesting thread. I would say I am in the minority in that I have found that lures of a given brand, once tuned, produce the same. I have always been able to replace a lost lure with a new one that will produce equally well. I am a firm believer that having high confidence in a lure or technique makes people fish a little more diligently and thus attribute success to perhaps the wrong factor. That is just my experience. Sounds like a lot of other folks believe otherwise. Fishing is an interesting mix of science and voodoo!

Check out my latest report in the fishing reports forum. My best 5 smallmouth on my last trip totaled 98.5" and 18lbs 9oz - and I lost my biggest of the day right at the kayak.

The Susky is pretty (I grew up in PA and have been there a few times) but I would have to say that my present home waters, the Columbia river in the Columbia gorge has more majestic views. Also kicks out a lot of good sized fish. Not Great Lakes big but 20"ers are reasonably common.

Thanks @A-Jay . This has been one of the best fishing years of my life. It is extra special since I went from wondering if I would ever be able to fish again to having so many good days. I am just lucky that my health is holding steady for now.

I have a plug in cart and I roll my kayak to the water. I would think getting a canoe to the water would require at least as much strength. I fish places with ramps so I roll to the water and the roll back at the end of the day. I unload the gear into the cab of my truck and then put the empty kayak in the bed. I would not fish anywhere I had to portage.

I hit the Columbia on Saturday July 15th for what would turn out to be a monster day of bass fishing. All week long I was checking the wind forecast several times a day because the forecast kept saying the wind would be super light (while the TV weatherman kept talking of high winds in the gorge) so I did not fully trust the wind sites. Turns out that wind site forecasts got it right and the wind, which was predicted to be light until 1pm , was really calm until at least 11am and did not get really breezy until after 1pm or so. I got to the river around first light and started unloading while drooling at the glassy calm surface of the Columbia. Such a gift this time of the year. I got on the water well before sunrise and was the second craft on the water. I could see bass occasionally busting bait on the surface so I started tossing topwater and hooked into a good fish after a handful of casts. The fish made a good jump and threw the lure. Not the best start to a day but I shrugged it off and went back to fishing. A cast or two later I had a nice blowup close the yak that did not stick. After my last bad luck trip I was starting to feel like I was destined to remain cursed. I decided to break the spell by switching up and putting down the topwater and picking up a jerk bait. That was a good call because I immediately landed a few nice fish from the same area. I fished that area until I hit a spell where I made a half dozen casts without a hit. I had already decided before even starting to be aggressive in looking for fish and to try not to waste too much time trying to squeeze one last bite out of an area. I moved to a second spot that some guys in a bass boat had already fished. I wanted to start here but they beat me to it. I fished that spot for 10 minutes or so without a bite and with no sign of feeding fish so I took off for a third spot. Unfortunately a different boat was sitting on that spot. By now the sun was up and my plan was already in shambles. I headed further downstream to rock and weed edge and started tossing the jerkbait when I felt a solid bite, that I missed, but then he came right back and smacked it a second time. Oh yeah, this was a good fish. That fish tried to get me dizzy by spinning my kayak in circles while he pulled me around. Those smallmouth are in peak fighting shape right now and this fish was giving me a thorough demonstration of the strength of these fish. After a tough battle I was able to finally get my net underneath my first big fish of the day: All the feelings of bad luck were washed away by that one fish and I knew I was in for a good day. I fished that spot for another 10 minutes without a bite. I was really surprised by that since usually they are stacked thick this time of the year and when you get one good one there are usually others nearby. I am not sure if I could not relocate them or if that fish was really all by itself. I pedaled as fast as I could to my next spot. Since the sun had come a fair bit by that point I decided to take off the topwater, move the jerkbait to my topwater rod and tie on a spy bait on the rod that I had been fishing the jerkbait with (my normal spy bait rod). I pulled up to a nice jutting point and made a couple of casts with the spy bait when I had a good hit. The fish felt like a good one. It swam past the kayak as I reeled to catch up and when I was able to really lean into that fish I could tell it was a really good one. That fish pulled out my drag like it was nothing. I patiently let it wear itself out as it kept bulldogging down to the bottom. I was leaning hard on that fish when it decided to switch tactics and give me a good jump right next to the kayak. I could not believe the size of this fish. It was well over 5lbs. That jump seemed like it was the fish's last valiant attempt to get free and I was able to get it near the kayak. I reached for the net and that is where I made a fatal mistake. I did not keep enough pressure on the fish for just a moment. I could see the fish right there just waiting to be netted when it shook its head and my lure popped out of its mouth. I was sick. I can't believe I made such an amateur mistake. The fishing gods had given me a gift and I had wasted it. I just kept saying "Oh my God" as I continued to fish. Once again I could not get a second bite from that spot. That was weird but I am not sure how well I was fishing as I just kept playing the loss of the fish iover and over again n my head. Eventually, I realized I was wasting time and snapped out of my funk. There was a lot of fishing left to do and not time to cry over spilled milk. I moved to another spot that is a series of humps and islands. I stuck with the spy bait and kept varying things up in terms of counting down some or not at the beginning of my retrieves. I stuck with my stop and go retrieve because that lure looks so sexy the way it shimmies when it free falls. The bass quickly let me know that they forgave me for losing their big sister earlier. I caught a few bass off the first part of the new spot and then moved around to the other side of this big structure. I made a long cast with the spy bait when I had a hard hit and when I set the hook I could tell I had another big fish on. Once again I had a tough battle on my hands but this time I was not going to let a stupid mistake cost me this fish. Eventually I was able to slip the net under the fish. It looked to be good sized but kind of small after the beast I had lost a short while earlier. I said to myself "this fish is definitely over 3lbs". I was not wrong it was what turned out to be my biggest of the day. I continued to fish that part of the structure and caught a few more nice bass but nothing over 3lbs (close with a 2lb 14oz). Eventually the bite slowed at this spot so I headed upstream to a hump that is close to the spot I had been fishing. This turned out to be the best spot of the day. As I pulled up on that spot I saw two different schools of bass chasing bait on the surface. Throughout the time I fished that spot the bass would periodically bust bait. Most of the time I could not get to the spot in time but it did not matter because there were good sized fish all over the front edge of that hump and a few few scattered on its sides and on top. I am not sure how many of the 31 bass I caught came off of this one hump but it was a lot of them. Here are three beauties I pulled off that one hump. It is really funny that two of them were identical in size. I also lost three other fish that would have been over 3lbs as well. Two on the jump and one the hook just pulled out. So many of the other fish I caught were over 2lbs and I really only had a handful of dinks all day long. Each of those fish I caught (and the ones I lost) were just awesome, drag ripping battles. That last fish was pretty special because just as I netted it the lure feel out. It was a good feeling to realize that it was only my constant pressure on that fish that was keeping it hooked. Helped ease the pain of the beast I had lost earlier. I felt like that spy bait was just magical, but then tragedy struck. I had a hit on the spy bait that I missed and when I reeled it in the rear treble and propeller were gone. My magic bait was no more. I went into my tackle box and found the same lure in a different color. I fished that for a while but could not get a bite. I have to admit that my confidence was shaken. I decided to go back to the jerkbait and within a few casts I hooked another 3+lb fish. It made a nice jump but when I got it close to the kayak the hook just pulled out. I am not sure what went wrong there. After that picked up my wobblehead jig rod and tried and scrape a few off the bottom. I caught a couple doing this but the bite was slow. At that point I pulled up on shore to try and repair my magic lure. I cannibalized one of my other spy baits to take off the rear treble. I was worried that the plastic was ruined but it seemed to screw in just fine. I went back to fishing the magic lure. I went back to the general area where I had lost the beast earlier and I worked that flat for a while when I had a good thump. After a spirited battle I landed an 18.5" 3lb 0oz smallmouth (and the new hook held just fine). It was real test of that repair because when I went to net that fish I stupidly got the lure tangled in the net so I just jerked the bass out of the water hanging from the under side of the net. It is always good to really put a repair to a solid test like that The rest of the day was filled with plenty more bass with a good number of 2+lb bass but not more 3lbers. Overall it was a magical day on the water. My best 5 totaled 18lbs 9oz and their lengths added to 98.5". Definitely my best 5 fish smallmouth bag ever. My kayak felt light as a feather when I pulled up the ramp at the end of the day. It was a little hard to get traction though since I was still walking on air. Here is a way too long video for the day.

Thanks A-Jay! I have been having some really good days this year so far. You are right in that they can't all be gems. Probably true for a lot of folks but a bad day of fishing motivates me way more than a good day. When I have a bad day I want to get right back out there. When I have a good day I am contented for a little bit.

The section of the river did get a little bit of shielding from the hills. The far side of the river was worse (lucky for me). The other mitigating factor is that the wind was opposing the current. That helps knock the wind waves down and keep them smaller and choppier rather than building to big waves. When the wind is from the East (with the current) it does not take very much wind at all to create pretty big rollers. I don't fish the East wind. The Outback does well in rough water. I love that kayak. My buddy has a Old Town Pedal kayak (12') and it also seems to handle the wind really well.

Maybe. I have seen them grab a big sucker before and have to swim to shore with it. I think the bird in my video is a juvenile based on its coloring (hard to tell in the video, but easy in real life) which may not be as strong of a flyer.

The bird could not even take off, it had to drag it over to the shore and eat it there.

I was so excited to fish on Saturday on the Willamette. The forecast called for morning clouds and very little wind. Those are magical days on the Willamette, usually the topwater bite stays hot all day long. I could barely sleep in anticipation. I got to the 10th street ramp before first light to met with a ramp closed sign coming down the hill. I drove to the ramp anyway and the parking lot was not blocked off. I checked the West Linn website and it said the ramp was closed. I debated about launching but then decided that it would be a bummer to come back to a ticket or worse to find out my car had been towed. I thought about heading to George Rogers or Cedaroak but then decided to go to Newberg. Why I picked the furthest of the three I can only attribute to being really tired or maybe the kidney failure was affecting my thinking. Anyway, I headed off to Roger's Landing and got there a bit later than I would have liked. I got unloaded as quickly as I could (which is not very quick) and started fishing. I made a few casts at a couple of spots that sometimes produce a few fish but did not see any signs of life. I went further downstream to the bridge and started fishing the rocky reefs around that area. I was on edge anticipating a bite any second. After about 25 minutes the edge was starting to wear off. I could not believe I had not run into any fish yet, not even a bite. I kept working that area because when I started to go downstream to the next point a bassboat pulled up to it so I turned around and went back to try to wear the fish down into biting. Eventually, I had a good strike on a spybait - that I missed. Luckily, a few turns of the handle and it was slammed again and this time it stuck. I landed a little pound+ bass. Not the lunker I was hoping for but at that point I was just happy to get the skunk off. I kept working all around that area when I saw some bass busting bait a bit upstream from where I was. I pedaled as hard as I could to get to them when SPLASH! An osprey crashed the party and grabbed what looked to be a 2-3lb bass. It could not even take off with the fish and had to sort of half drag it over to the edge of the river. At least I got that on video! I thought that would certainly kill the bite in that area but a handful of casts later I added a second bass on a topwater. Just a small one but I had doubled my fish count Shortly thereafter they started chasing bait about 20' in front of me. I made a couple of casts but I did not get bit. I could not believe it. That may be the first time I had a cast right on top of bass chasing bait where I came up empty, but that moment was a perfect synopsis of the day. I would swear I had to get bit and all I would get is more nothin'. After that I hit a handful of spots that always produce. Now I have to describe them as almost always producing. I did pick up an occasional fish on the spybait or dropshot but never found a spot where they were stacked up like they should be. All I know is that I can tell you where they weren't. It was late morning and I was trying to decide whether to just leave or head up around Ash Island. I decided I wanted the exercise so I went up and started throwing a vibrating jig below the island over top of the weedbeds there. I did not get any bass bites but I kept having good sized perch follow the lure to the kayak and then try to eat it. That was at least a little bit fun. I wished I had brought some panfish stuff and my ultralight. I quite messing around there after a bit and decided I would head to a big reef that is a little ways above Ash Island. It is a good way to pedal but I figured I wasn't catching anything anyways. I ran into a couple of kayak guys on my way up and they said they had been having a really good morning. Lots of topwater action and the bite was really good. That really hurts. You aren't catching anything but you can finally convince yourself that it is not your fault and that even though conditions are perfect they just aren't biting. Then the excuse you have been spending the morning firming up gets shot down. Just plain rude if you ask me I started throwing topwater again and did miss two blowups but both times the fish hit once and left. I made it up to the reef and scratched out a couple more bass but nothing worth weighing or measuring. As I made the long pedal back to the ramp I was still in disbelief that I had done so poorly under basically the best conditions of the summer. 7 bass with the big ones being a little over a pound. At least they all fight hard. I am still mad about it as I type this up. All I know is that the fish gods owe me big time and I plan on collecting that debt

Thanks A-Jay. The Columbia Gorge is indeed gorgeous Dealing with the wind in the kayak is a challenge but most worthwhile things in life are.

I hit the Columbia on July 2nd with my usual partner in crime. The wind forecast was a little scary and the forecast ended up not doing justice to the wind we endured. Here is the 24 hour wind graph at Cascade Locks for the day: That was some tough conditions to be out there in a our kayaks! Why would anyone be so stupid as to go out on the Columbia in a glorified piece of Tupperware on a day like that? We knew the smallmouth would be feeding hard in those conditions. Smallmouth love chaos, disorder and bedlam. We got to the river at daybreak and it was already a little breezy. I headed upstream to a spot that is semi-protected because I was hoping to get some topwater action before the river turned to froth. On my second cast my Choppo was slurped down by a really nice 18", 3lb 2oz smallie. I spent a lot of time positioning the kayak just right to get the bright sky at my back and was holding up the fish - to a camera that was not recording. On my 3rd cast I caught a nice 16" smallmouth and a few casts later I caught at 16.5" smallie both on the Choppo. I realized that I had forgotten to leash my rods so I pulled up on shore to do that. I went to stop the camera from recording when I realized that it was not recording at all. Argh! After getting my rods all leashed up I went back to where I had my initial flurry and only lost a small bass and caught one that was probably a pound an quarter or so. Fun fish but it seems like I had used up the quality fish off that spot for the morning. I zoomed downstream to my buddy to see how he was doing and he had nailed a 19" bass on swimbait. This was to be the start of a day of me catching nice bass and my buddy catching nicer bass I can't complain, I had a really good day, he just had a much better one. We fished around the structure where he had caught the big fish for a fair bit without being able to extract another bite. That is really weird because usually this time of year if you catch a fish, especially a good one, there are quite a few fish around. That is extra true on a big structure like we were fishing. The wind was now picking up to where small whitecaps were forming and it was not quite 7am yet. We clung to the hope that the forecast indicated that the wind was supposed to be at full strength pretty early but then just hold steady there. After giving up on that spot we tried a couple of spots quickly without a sniff. The sun was shining bright by now and with the wind was blowing hard we went to one of our favorite windy spots (my buddy found that spot a year or two ago) and started working it over. He immediately started catching really nice sized fish (15-17") while I was struggling to keep my kayak positioned in the wind. He then hooked and landed a nice pig of a smallmouth. He wanted to weigh it on my scale so he pedaled over with the fish. I handed him the scale mid-retrieve and I hooked up! We had a double. His was a 19.75" 4lb 2oz, mine probably weighed a little over a pound. That's just not right We continued to fish that spot and catch bass for quite a while. I eventually pulled a 17" bass off of it, which was nice, but still felt kind of small after seeing my buddy's beast. Eventually we wore that spot out and decided to head down to another spot that is always money. Apparently the bass did not get the memo because as is so often the with the way of the smallmouth, they were not doing what they were supposed to. We beat that spot pretty hard but my buddy only managed a couple of dinks right next to sure. I probed deeper and did not mark a fish nor get a sniff. We gave up on that spot and headed out to some mid-river humps and islands and these were clearly much smarter bass because they were doing what they were supposed to. My buddy and I each managed a handful of bass but he again caught the biggest fish off that spot (an 18.75"). I can't complain because I was catching some nice fish but dang you start to feel like you are doing something wrong. We continued to fish around offshore structure. The bass seemed to want to be in 12-17' of water near a break. It was a struggle all day long to battle the current and the wind but when the fish are biting you persevere. We moved from spot to spot, sometimes fishing together and sometimes dividing a conquering. Some spots were empty and others were loaded up pretty good. The really cool thing is how hard those fish were fighting. I think the wind blowing us upstream while the current running decently hard really accentuated the fights. Time and again I would think I had a 3-4lb bass and it would turn out to be a 2 to 2.5lb bass. I hooked one bass on a spot with a lot of current and I thought I was snagged for at least 5-10 seconds. I finally landed that fish and it was a 2lber. Such a fun day of those fish fighting like demons. Towards the early afternoon we thought about heading upstream a ways to fish and got about 1/2 way there when I told my buddy I was feeling too tired to go further. He decided he had caught enough and so we turned around and headed back to the ramp through the waves that were now big enough to occasionally break over our bows. I am so impressed with how well both of our kayaks handle those rough conditions. I ended the day with 17 bass with my best 3 going (18, 17.75 and 17"). I caught quite a few in the 15-16" range as well. My buddy must have caught 25-30 bass and his best 5 measured out to 93.5" which is a monster day. It is funny how some days one or the other of us consistently catches more big fish even though we are fishing fairly identically. To be fair we both caught some dinks as well but overall the fish quality was really nice. Here is a picture of one of my nicer ones. Here is some video from the day.

I think the bass pro speed shad are the same lure just repackaged. Just a guess but they look and are packaged identically.

I use bass pro speed shad and Zman minnowz. I can probably catch 30 bass on a single minnowz. I can usually catch at least 15 per speed shad. Both are super effective.

I was really happy at how empty the river was on Saturday. All it takes is a little overcast and a bit cooler temps to keep the pleasure boaters at home.

I hit the Willamette out of 10th street on Saturday and had a really wild day. I almost did not get up to go because I was tired from getting up in the middle of the night to start a brisket the night before. I was seriously thinking of just rolling over and staying under those warm covers. I finally thought, "Well let me start to get ready and see how I feel". I am so glad that I did. The day started off pretty normally for the Willamette. Lots of topwater action but most of the fish were small. I still find it a lot of fun as long as I have my expectations in order. The morning started off calm which was a pleasant surprise since the forecast had called for it to be breezy all day. That forecast did ring true after a while but I enjoyed the reprieve to start the day. The first bizarre incident of the day was when I almost accidentally hooked a beaver. I had made a long cast to some rocks along the shore when a beaver popped to the surface and started swimming along in the path of my line. I could neither reel the topwater fast enough or lift the line high enough to clear the beaver. I through a bunch of slack in the line and the beaver caught in my line. I saw my lure dragging towards the beaver. I was holding my breath. When the lure touched the beaver it slapped its tail and dove. My lure dipped under the surface and I felt it bump off the beaver but thankfully it did not catch. Whew! I needed a minute to calm myself after that! My next bit of oddity happened when I made a long cast with my topwater. I had just moved it when SPLOOSH a good sized fish grabbed my lure. After a pretty hard fight I was disappointed to see a 3+lb pikieminnow instead of a smallmouth on my line. I know pikieminnows get a lot of hate but any fish that will bust a topwater and give me a good fight is alright in my book The day progressed and I switched from mostly throwing a topwater, to fishing subsurface baits (mostly a vibrating jig and a swimbait). The bass would bite in spurts with some lulls in between. Overall it was a fine day of hungry fish and very few people on the water. Eventually around noon I made it up to what ended up being a spot that was loaded with fish, by far the best location of the day. There were certainly plenty of small fish there but a surprising number of good sized fish mixed in as well. It felt more like a spot on the Columbia than the Willamette in terms of quality. The bass would occasionally bust up some bait and if I could get a cast in quick enough I was guaranteed to get a hard strike. It is hard not to have fun when the bass get greedy. My best fish of the day came on a spybait (which is what I was throwing at that spot, but I am not sure that the particular lure mattered). Now a 20" bass on the Columbia is a nice fish but a 20" bass on the Willamette is a bit of a unicorn. That fish put up a great fight and I was really stoked when I got that big girl in the net. What an awesome fish. I did not get a weight on the fish as it flopped off the board and into the water as I was trying to see if I had gotten the fish in the frame when I took its picture on the board (so glad that I did!). If that fish did not way 4lbs it was dang close to it. I figured I would not top that for excitement for the day but what happened next may be even cooler. As I mentioned earlier I would occasionally see fish busting bait. Well I had just mad a long cast when I saw fish churning on the surface off to my right. I burned in the lure as fast I could reel and launched a perfect cast right where those fish had come up. I few turns of the handle and WHAM! A massive strike, but that fish immediately came unbuttoned. I turned the reel handle just another turn or two when WHAM, another hard strike. I worked the fish into the kayak and in the clear water I could see that I had hooked double (one on the front treble and one on the rear treble)!! Now I hook doubles every year but I almost always lose one of them at the kayak. This time the fish cooperated nicely and I was able to land my first double in Oregon (I had done it in NC a time or two in the distant past). Why catch them one at a time when you can catch them twice as fast catching them two at a time Unfortunately shortly after this my video camera card was full so I did not get video of the rest of my day. It stayed pretty magical with two 17" bass and an 18" bass amongst some more small fish. The day would have been perfect but the fishing gods never quite allow for that. I made a super long cast in the mid-afternoon when I felt another really hard strike. I set the hook and the rod tip did not move. For one second I thought it was a snag for sure but then it started peeling line off my reel. I could not believe I had hooked another pig. I worked the fish to the kayak, when it was about 30' away it came out of the water and landed like cinder brick. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. After that the fish just stayed down. I got it under the kayak and would get it part way to the surface when it would just dive back down. On the last of those power dives the hooks just pulled out. I almost cried. I believe that fish would have easily beaten my personal best 5lb 14oz fish from earlier in the year. I am still a little stunned feeling but I guess I just have to say things like "That's fishing" until the pain stops hurting. Still overall it might have been my favorite day ever on the Willamette. Usually if I catch one fish in the 17-18" range I call that a good day. Getting 4 fish of 17+" including that 20" fish was a personal record for me. My best 5 fish were about 90" which is a spectacular day on the Willamette. Here is some video from the first half of the day - I did go out and buy a bigger memory card after this

@gimruis Those prespawn fish look really great. I was pretty happy that a post-spawn fish was as healthy as it was (thick in the shoulders but not in the gut). I am sure in another month the fish I caught will be pushing 5 lbs after it fills back out. The kayak handles the chop just fine but it is tough fishing in the wind - especially when the wind is opposing the current or cross current. On those days the wind wants to push my back-end upstream which makes it hard to stay pointing upstream. I am often adjusting the rudder multiple times per retrieve but all the works is worth the effort some days I would imagine the problem is way worse in a canoe. I keep thinking about experimenting with a drift sock (which I use when anchored up for sturgeon) hanging off the back but I keep forgetting to bring it.