pdxfisher

That's an awesome surprise!! Beautiful fish! My brother caught his first bass (and the first bass either of us had ever seen) on a Mepps spinner. Really cool to see those old school lures still producing!

Wow! Awesome!!! That is a monster. Man, you work hard and it paid off. Way to make it happen.

It was a pretty, Good Friday: It was a pretty good, Friday: I hit the Columbia on Good Friday since the wind forecast was looking sweet. I was super excited to get back out on the river since my trip 2 weeks ago was such a good one. When I got to the river I was dismayed to see that the river was close to chocolate milk color. I was really surprised since we have not had all that much rain. Not sure how the water was so off-color. Visibility was 6" to 1'. Oh boy, cold muddy water. That's always a tough nut to crack. Also, the current was flowing reasonably strong as well just to make things more difficult. I have to say I was a little worried. The other thing that was weighing on me was the number of bass boats on the river. I counted 10 boats and most of them were fishing in areas where I normally fish. So on top of having tough conditions I also was limited in where I could fish. I decided to head straight to the spot where we had success 2 weeks ago. Now with the water so muddy and the current not quite as strong I was not sure if that spot would produce but at least I had the spot to myself. It did not take too long to pick up my first fish of the day on a drop shot, and I had a couple of other bites that I missed, but it was clearly not going to be on fire on that spot. I think that maybe with the dirty water that the fish would be pushed close to shore and I was going to head in from that spot to the nearest shore but there was already a boat working that area so I took off downstream. I was peddling to a well-known spot that sometimes holds a ton of fish around this time of year. I was about 1/2 way there when a bass boat sped by me and stopped on that point. Dang it! So I just kept pedaling and went downstream even further to fish some less desirable water. I have to say I don't think my heart was truly in it and i spent most of my time berating myself for not taking off sooner to fish that second spot. However, from where I was I could keep an eye on the spot and so I was just casually fishing but mostly just waiting and hoping they would leave. Luckily they left after about an hour. They may have caught something but I never saw them hook up. I did not care since that spot can be tough to fish. I got onto the spot and started straining the water with my drop shot. I started shallow, about 10' deep and made several passes. Then 15' deep for several passes. Then 20' deep. Then 25' deep. It turns out that 25' was the magic number. I caught 2 bass on back-to-back drifts. A couple of guys who watch my channel came over to me and said hi and said that they saw me catch those fish. I told them that it had been super slow and that those were the first fish I had caught in quite a while. Of course, I thought it was going to be on fire and of course it wasn't. I went back to fishing that spot but went a little while without a bite so I started expanding the area. The wind and current would push me a little crooked with respect to the depth contours so I would start in about 30' and drift until I was in about 15', probably over a couple hundred yards. The fishing was not fast but every once in a while I would hit a spurt and catch 1 to 4 bass in short order and then catch nothing for quite a while. The funny thing was I started rotating through different presentations: drop shot, wobblehead, Carolina rig, Ned rig. It seemed like every time I switched presentations I would catch a fish - often just the one. It was very confusing. After a while I decided to try a blade bait even though the bottom at this spot is quite grabby. I figured that in the dirty water I probably had to pretty much hit them in the face with the soft plastic but perhaps the vibration of the blade bait could draw them from a bit further away. That seemed to work! I quickly caught 3 bass on 4 drops. I felt like the master of the river! Of course, the river decided enough of that and stole my blade bait in the next drift. Aargh! I tied on another blade bait and went back to fishing but the fast action was over. Not sure if I had drifted away from the school a bit, if they had moved while I was tying on or just went back to sulking on the bottom. The funny thing is that every once in a while I would catch a little clam about an inch across. I guess the bottom there is jclam/mussel bed. I probably reeled up at least 10 of those little guys during the course of the day. After a bit I saw a fellow kayaker approaching and it was a fellow I had met two weeks ago (youtuber @fishingthepnwwithdave7833 ). I had 13 bass at that point and Dave said he only had one. I told him what I was doing and welcomed him to join me. He fished a bit downstream from me and was rewarded with the big fish of the day, a big old 4lb 9oz fatty! He only caught the two fish but any trip you catch a bass over 4lb is a great trip! While we was doing that I picked up a couple more fish. When he came back up to near where I was I caught my heaviest fish of the day, a 3lb 1oz. Nothing compared to Dave's but I do think he was good luck He fished with me for about an hour but eventually said he was going to head on back. I stayed and fished that spot for a while longer but the wind started to pick up and I decided it was time to head back. I felt pretty good about scratching out 16 bass in those conditions! It had been fairly sunny and warm all day so on the way back to the ramp I decided to pull into one of my favorite spring-time shallow water spots (3-8' deep) and toss an orange jack hammer around for a bit. I really did not expect much but I just love throwing a moving bait. I started casting and within 10 casts I felt a thump and set the hook into a pound and three quarter or so bass! That was my first bass on that orange jack hammer. I was fired up! A couple of casts later I had a massive strike on the jack hammer and it snapped my line. Dang, I was so mad. I probably had a little nick in my line or something. That fish hit like a freight train and felt big but my line should not have broken. Of course, I only had the one orange jack hammer. So, I tied on a white one and went back to fishing. About a dozen casts later it felt like I had a bite but it did not stick and I kept reeling then about 20' later it thumped it good and I had another pound and 3/4 bass. It was getting late and I was pretty tired so I made another 10 casts without a bite and decided to continue on back to the ramp. I wanted to stop and fish one more spot. There is a pier where cruise ships tie up. There was one tied up in the morning but it as gone now. Once again this is a spot where bass sometimes group up before the spawn. It was about 20' deep so I dropped down my blade bait and on the first cast hooked a decent fish and what would be my last bass of the day. I tried a few more drops but did not get bit so I packed it up and headed home. Overall it was a decent day in tough conditions. Water temp was 48F, visibility 6" to 1', mostly calm but breezy later in the day. I caught 19 bass with the best 5 going 14lb 3oz. I had two of 3lbs or more but nothing close to the 4lb 9oz my friend caught. My smallest of the day was a 1lb 9oz so at least all the bass were fun sized and a bunch of them were over 2lbs. So it was not a great day of fishing but it was a pretty good Friday.

Awesome day! Thanks for posting!

That is absolutely nuts! What is the forage that makes those fish so fat. Those look unreal in their proportion. Is the lake stocked with Doritos or something Congrats on the trip of a hundred lifetimes!

All you can do is to invite some people over and play Go Fish :)

I hit the Columbia on Sunday the 22nd with a friend of mine (Michael Jarvis), and as it turns out with another half dozen kayak bass anglers. The day started out slow. I really wanted to make the shallow water bite happen and hooked about a 2lber within my first dozen casts. Unfortunately, that was a liar fish and the next half hour did not produce so much as a sniff. After that I headed out to my usual winter spot and promptly caught a 1lber but could not generate a second bite. The river was up about 3' and running pretty fast which made it hard to fish that normal winter spot. After that I touched base with my friend and he had not had any luck yet. We hopscotched each other at a few spots without a bite. At that point I saw a kayak angler on the next spot I had wanted to fish. I pedaled over and asked him how he was doing and he said the spot was loaded and he was hammering them and that I should join him! It turns out that it was BrandonHua.Fishing who is pretty much a legend amongst the kayak bass tournament anglers and is just a super nice guy as well. I quickly caught a decent bass on a Ned rig and my friend who I came out with quickly joined us (he knew Brandon well), as did several other kayak anglers. We were all fishing within 50 yards of each other and we were all hammering the bass pretty good. The fellow who was on the spot to begin with had caught a 4+lber earlier but all the fish we were hammering as a group were 1 and 2lbers, maybe some 3's thrown in for some. I was cycling between a Ned rig, Carolina rig, drop shot and wobblehead. Most folks just stayed with a drop shot - and were probably catching more than I was since I was wasting time switching presentations Eventually I had snagged and broke off both my CR and wobblehead so I pulled in close to shore behind an island to retie. The current was moving pretty good and even each time we caught a bass by the time we landed them and unhooked them we would be 100 yards downstream. If I had stopped to retie in the middle of the river I would have been all the way down to Bonneville dam by the time I retied After retying I headed back out with the group and one of the anglers. When I got back one of the anglers (Geoff_does_kayak_fishing) pulled up and just put on a clinic with a blade bait. He caught a bass on 8 consecutive casts. Fortunately I am not a proud man so I went digging for one of my blade baits I got it tied on and started fishing a spot I had just fished through with the CR and had missed a couple of bites. On my first cast I landed a nice bass with that blade bait. I told my friend that I guess 6 hooks are better than one I have to say that blade bait bite - which I totally stole from Geoffrey - was just on fire for me for the rest of the day. I am not sure how many I caught on consecutive casts or even how many I caught on the day (I just kept forgetting to click my fish counter since we were all having such a good time talking and laughing and catching bass). I think I caught close to 40 bass. I think everyone else was having similar counts as well. My highlight of the day was when I reared back on a bite and my rod tip just did not budge. I had been catching lots of bass between 2lb and 2lb 15oz (just had not been able to break 3lbs) but I knew this one was different. I would pull it up a bit and it would just rip my drag out and head back down. Eventually though patience and pressure took its toll and I was able to slip my net under a 19.25" 4lb 11oz beauty! It was the heaviest bass caught by anyone in our group (Brandon's earlier fish was a 19.5" so he had the longest for the day). What a thrill to catch that bass with such a wonderful crowd around me. Just an awesome experience. I told my friend I think they bass just felt bad because I am so old so they let me catch the big one Eventually the bite slowed to where I was not getting bit on every cast. Pretty soon it was every couple of casts and then every 10 casts. At that point I decided I did not need to squeeze another bass out of the river and pedaled back to the ramp with a big smile on my face. Definitely one of the most fun days I have ever had fishing. Here are a couple more picks and a way too long video. The video would have been even longer but I had forgotten to turn my camera back on for about an hour after taking a break and that was during some of the hottest action. Just a crazy day! Almost forgot, my best 5 went 15lbs 13oz which is a decent total but far from an epic day in terms of best bag. It was just the number of nice sized bass that made the day amazing. One more thing, I had snagged up a couple of my blade baits so I went to bass pro shops yesterday and their XPS brand blade baits (which is what I was using) were on sale for $3.98 each!! That a pretty amazing deal. Just in case anyone was thinking about adding them to their arsenal.

The worse the trip the harder I work on the title

Every time I am absolutely positive a certain technique or depth is going to be the deal the bass politely remind me that they are not bound by my decisions :)

I hit the Columbia out of the Dalles on March 15th, the Ides of March. Since I was no a roman emperor I did not think I had any reason to be worried. In fact, I was looking forward to a banner day. I had smashed them pretty good on a trip 2 weeks prior and now the water was a good 3-4 degrees warmer. I headed out with dreams of lots of monster bass dancing in my head. To make a long story short I had a pretty mediocre day. I only caught 8 bass and only 3 of those were over 2lbs and the biggest was only 2lb 14oz. Not the kind of day dreams are made of but still better than a skunking. I think part of my poor performance was trying so hard to make the shallow bite happen. The water had warmed to anywhere between 45F an 47F depending on how protected it was. I thought for sure I would be racking and stacking them in the shallows and spent half my day trying to make that happen. In the end, I only caught 2 bass (and lost one other) in the shallows from around 6'. Both the fish I caught came on my trusty Jack Hammer Stealthblade. I also through a shallow crankbait and a rattletrap but neither of those produced even a bite. The other 6 bass came from 20 to 30 FOW. If I spent the entire day doing that I likely would have had a better bag and more bass. My best 5 probably only weighed about 11lbs (I did not weigh many fish since I was so sure I would run across giants at some point). Of those 6, I think 3 were on a drop shot and 3 were on the Ned. They bit really well and I even caught bass on back-to-back casts at one point. The thing that kept me going back to the shallows was that I never found a bunch out deep. I could only catch at most 2 bass from a spot and most produced nothing at all. I also spent some time in 10'-15' but I never had a sniff at those depths. In retrospect, I should have spent more time hitting and running deep spots. There is a nearly infinite amount of rock in that 20 to 30 foot depth range in that area and perhaps if I had spent more time combing it I would have found the mother lode. I don't know if that would have worked - I only know what didn't. Oh well, I just hope to do better next time. Having a bad trip during prime big fish season is just a little annoying. I need a revenge trip Here are some pics and the video from the day: What's better than watching the sun come up over a bent rod! Best JH fish was really dark colored:

You can read through all my old reports and see what I did throughout the year. I am sure there are plenty of other techniques that will work but at least it will give you an idea of some things that can work. My choice of technique is largely influenced by the fact that I fish out of a glorified piece of Tupperware

I was thinking about the number of nice fish that I caught. My guess is that the bigger females are starting to group up in preparation to head into the spawning areas. I think that is why I was able to catch so many quality fish - and from water 10' shallower than previous weeks. I guess maybe the males are either still in deeper water (and I did not find them) or were already up shallow (which I never got around to checking).

That's a good day!

I hit the Columbia at the Dalles on Sunday. The wind forecast was for a strong east wind in the gorge the Dalles is the one place that is usually protected and calm when that happens. I am happy to report that I had glassy conditions all day long. Water temp was 43F and the visibility must have been about 7 feet!. A buddy of mine fished out of Stevenson (I tried to talk him into the longer drive) and he was big wave fishing all day long. Enough with the weather report now on to the fishing report. It was a big day for quality but not really for numbers. I only caught 12 smallmouth but 10 of them were over 2lbs. Of those 10, 6 were three pounds or better. Of those 6, 2 were over 4lbs. My best 5 went 18lbs 3oz and measured 93". Best 5 fish: 20" 4lb 7oz, 19" 4lb 1oz, 18.25" 3lb 5oz, 17.75" 3lb 5oz and an 18" 3lb 1oz. I also had a 17.25" 3lb bass. I am really thankful to have had such a good day in such nice conditions. That was definitely one of the most pleasant days of fishing I have ever had. There was not much current in the area I was fishing so I hardly had to pedal at all. Of course it was not like they were jumping in the kayak right off the bat. It did take me a little while to figure them out. My previous trips out of Stevenson I was catching all my bass in 35-45'. So that is where I started fishing this trip as well. However, after fishing a couple of amazing looking rock piles without a sniff I knew I had to go into search mode. So I kept trying shallower and shallower until I stumbled upon the magic depth. The first bass I caught (after about an hour and half of searching) was almost a 3 (2lb 13oz) and definitely put me on the right track. I always worry when I catch a fish out of different conditions than I had been in recent trips that the fish is a liar fish. You know, the one fish that sacrifices themself by letting themself be caught in area where there are no other fish. I am happy to say that the fish was actually a beacon of truthfulness because they definitely set me on the right path. I did most of the damage (10 of the 12) on the Ned rig with Smelt TRD. Now I did fish that most of the day so perhaps that is why I did catch one on a drop shot and one on a Carolina rig. However, it was hard to not keep going back to the Ned since they were eating it so well. The only downside for the day was then number of fish that I missed or hooked and lost on the way to the kayak. I should have caught twice as many as I did. I am not sure what the deal was with that. Good solid bite, good hookset, play the fish close to the kayak, hook pulls out. Lather, rinse, repeat. However, since I did end up with such a good bag it was pretty easy to forgive the bass for not fighting fair Well here are pics of my 3lb plus fish and video from the day: My best one:

So many hard-core anglers have been mentioned and properly lauded here. I would add @Alex from GA on the list. He is getting out there at an age where I doubt many of us will have the drive to do so. Other folks who I would call out are @Swamp Girl for getting it done solo and relentlesslyin a canoe. @TnRiver46 for always fishing hard even in miserable conditions s when the bite is tough. @A-Jay for his pursuit of perfection in presentation. @Dwight Norris for chasing big fish. @T-Billy for ardent pursuit of rare monsters. @Pat Brown and @Bluebasser86 demonstrating success through commitment to every aspect of their game. I am sure there are many others worth mentioning as well. It would be easier to point out who is not hard core on here :)

My bad. Color is smelt and not shiner. I misremembered the name. I am usually a believer that there are two classes of color- either a color that is close to a baitfish or a crawdad. Crazy colors like pink come out in times of desperation: )

My condolences.

I hit the Columbia on Valentine's day (with my wife's blessings!). I got to the river before sunrise and I was on the water ready to fish by about 7:45am. Conditions were perfect. Glassy calm and there was about 7 feet of visibility. The river had also warmed a degree since my trip two weeks ago. I has ready to have a banner day!! I started at a spot that has produced every winter trip I have take on the Columbia. I fished that spot hard for a bit over 2 hours without a sniff. Not good! I decided I would fish my way downstream and see if I could run into some biters in that section of the river. I stopped and fished another couple of spots with no luck. There was one other boat on the river and I stopped by to see if those fellows had figured them out. They replied that they also had not had sniff but said they had caught 3 bass the week before and a buddy of theirs had caught 2 so far up at the Dalles. Not the glowing report I was hoping for. I continued on past them and fished spot after spot. Varying my presentations, colors, depths. To say I was getting desperate is putting it mildly. You ever get that feeling that there is just not a single bass in the river? I kept thinking thoughts like "I should have gone to Hagg", "I should have gone to Merwin to troll for Kokanee", etc. I was in the depths of despair. It was getting on to late in the afternoon when I decided to head back to the ramp. I stopped and fished each spot briefly again but did not have, nor if I am being honest did I expect to have, any luck. I was finally back to the spot I started the day on. I thought I will fish this quickly and then pack it in. The wind had picked up a little and it was just enough to make me cold on top of already feeling kind of miserable. On my second drift I hung up my pink Ned rig (yes I was that desperate) for the umpteenth time and this time I had to break off (as I had numerous times throughout the day). I can tell you that the only folks having a good day were the tackle vendors. I was single-handedly making a valiant effort to see that they would hit their sales quotas this quarter. I sat there looking at my limp line trying to decide whether to ride home with the dreaded skunk or to re-tie one more time. I figured well if I retie now at least I will be ready for the next trip. I tied on another Ned head and looked at my TRD colors. I decided to pick Shiner (having already tried Copprtreuse, Hot Snakes, Green Pumpkin and even Pink). Then I figured as long as I had it tied on I might as well try another cast/drift or two. I pedaled back upstream and patiently dropped my Ned rig down into the 33' water. When I could tell it had hit the bottom I clicked over my bail and lifted the rod up and was met with some resistance. This resistance pulled back when I lifted a tiny bit - I set the hook and my rod took on a bend and came to life in my hands. I went from feeling about as bad as I possibly could to elation that I can't even described. When I slipped the net under that fish I yelled and whooped!!! 7 hours of frustration and desperation were replaced with unmitigated joy! Now this was no monster, only a 1lb 14oz bass but it was HUGE for me!. I think you can see my happiness. Now by the time I had weighed and measured that bass I had drifted pretty far downstream. Well, jumped on those pedals and raced back upstream. On the next drift I hung up but was able to pedal upstream and free my lure. On the drift after that I felt a solid 'tick" and set the hook into a nice fish. That fish put up a pretty good fight in the cold water but eventually I was able to land a beautiful 18.25", 3lb 11oz smallmouth. This day was getting good! For the rest of the day the action was pretty fast and furious. If I did not hang up I at least hooked a bass on every drift. The only thing dampening my spirits was the approaching darkness. My next 2 bass were a 2lb 4oz and a 1lb 13 oz which are respectable fish. The 2lb 4oz was incredible marked: My 5th bass turned out to be my best. When I set the hook I knew I had something that had some shoulders to it!! That fish had some weight to it and and I carefully worked that big girl up and into my waiting net. That was nice, fat 18.75" 4lb pound beauty!! On the very next cast/drift I landed another awesome fish. A 17.5" 3lb 1oz bass. After all those hours of nothing I now had a 4lb and 3lb 1oz on back to back casts. Just crazy! The darkness was setting in and I said just one more drift and I will call it a day. I started drifting downstream feeling my Ned ticking along the bottom when I hung up again. I quickly freed the Ned and said "That's no way to end the day" so I went for one more last drift. This time I felt another thunk and landed another 3lb 1oz beauty. I decided that was a great way to end what turned out to be an awesome day on the water. I still am not sure what happened in those last 2 hours. Was it the color change? Did the bass suddenly move into the area? Were they there all along but suddenly decide to feed? All I know is that a sure skunking turned into a Valentine's day massacre!! I ended the day with 7 bass and losing 3 others. My best 5 went 87.25" and 16lb 2oz which is an awesome bag this time of the year. Here is some video from the day:

I have never tried to fish for bass in February before. Last year was the first time I fished for and caught bass in January and I had wanted to fish in February but between bad weather and other commitments I did not make it out. So I was really excited to make my first February bass trip ever! I hit the Columbia out of Stevenson on Sunday. The day before had been warm, sunny and beautiful but the wind forecast in the gorge was a no-go. So I found myself launching in a steady rain but at least the temp was not too bad (~45F). I was dressed for the weather so I was not too concerned. I was really excited to be fishing in February! The water temp was 41F so I figured the bass would be pretty sluggish so I prepared myself for a day of painfully slow fishing. The good news was that it was calm, the current was not too bad and that the water clarity was awesome - at least 3' of visibility! I started fishing on a big flat that is around 35' deep. It is pretty nothing looking thing but for some reason the bass seem to like to hang out on it in the winter. I guess the bottom has enough roughness to break up the current and so it is a good wintering spot. (I have done well on this spot on multiple January trips this year and last). I started dragging a Ned rig on a 1/4oz head around. I would cast upstream a short way and then position my kayak to make my line be as vertical as possible when the Ned hit the bottom. I would then carefully control my drift to maintain that vertical presentation. This greatly reduces the number of hangups. I spent about an hour and half probing this huge flat when I felt a "tick". I set the hook on nothing. "Just wishful thinking I said to myself". I pedaled back upstream and repeated that exact drift (by using my maps and track to start me on the exact same spot). I drifted downstream past where I had my previous phantom bite when I felt another "tick". This time when I set the hook I knew I had something solid! In that cold water the fight was rather sluggish and it did not take too long to get the fish near the surface. When I saw it in the clear water I gasped because it was much bigger than I had expected. The sluggish fight had belied the size of that fish. When I slipped my net under that fish I whooped out loud!! My first February bass. Also that gave 12 straight months with a Columbia river bass!! I was so stoked. That beauty weighed in at 3lb 12oz and was 19.25" long. That's a good one indeed!! I wish I could regale with tales of other fish but that beauty was my only one for the day. Well, I said to myself "If you're going to just catch one at least it was a good one!". The rest of the day did have some high points though. At one point a couple of otters swam by the kayak. So I followed them for a short while just to enjoy and perhaps get a tip on a hot spot. The otters however were zipper-lipped and provided no help Later in the day a group (convocation) of 4 eagles starting cavorting and screaming over the middle of the river. I can only assume it was some king of mating dance or something. They were only there for a few minutes before zooming off but it was quite the spectacle to see. I usually only ever see them soaring while hunting and their aerial acrobatics were really amazing to witness. In terms of fishing though, I spent the rest of the day trying hard but I just could not get another bite. I tried depths from 3' to 60' but I just could never find another bass. Then just after I had finished packing up to leave I think the fishing gods wanted to taunt me with this: I know in my heart that there was a pot of smallmouth at the end of that rainbow Anyway, here is a very short video from the day:

That's a bummer! Hope you get it all figured out before your next event!

I fish all winter in either a dry suit or waders and a dry top. The advice to keep the zipper lubricated is spot on. Also treat it gently when you are off the water. Try not to fold it up - especially across the zipper. Underneath I wear layers so that I can peel them off if the day warms up. That is much easier with waders and a dry top which is why I sometimes go with that combo instead of my drysuit.

I was almost dressed too warm. The lack of wind made it not feel bad. By 10am I had peeled off several layers.

I hit Hagg lake on Sunday the 18th with Michael Jarvis (Michael Jarvis). I have to say Mike is an awesome guy to go fishing with. He is knowledgeable and just a really nice guy. I had a blast. We both got to the lake around 8am and my thermometer said it was 28F in the parking lot. The frost on the road and ramp walkway assured me that my truck thermometer was pretty spot on. We fished a first spot near the ramp without any luck and decided to head across the lake to see if that we could scare up a bass there. We split apart to try and divide and conquer. Mike went shallower and I went deeper. Turns out I made the lucky choice and on my first cast to the spot I went to I caught my first Hagg bass of the year. Just a little 1 pound 6oz largemouth but getting the skunk off always feels great! A bit later I found an isolated log near a bend in the creek channel. Just a classic winter time spot. I missed a fish and caught my second fish of the day, a nice little 1lb 10oz largemouth. I called Mike over to try to get him on the spot with me since he had not hooked up yet. We went back to the spot and I quickly caught a small largemouth and a 1lb 2oz smallmouth. After those 2 quick bites the action died at that spot and Mike took me back across the lake to show my a spot he likes to fish in the winter. I have to really thank him for that one because I caught my biggest of the day off that spot. Just a 2lb 6oz largemouth - no monster - but it put up a good tussle on the drop shot rod. After that we tried a variety of spots up the lake and each missed a bite off one of them. Eventually we made our way back to where I had my initial success. I picked up 2 bass pretty quickly off that spot and Mike and I fished it together for a bit but eventually he decided to try to find something new. I stayed on that spot and caught another small one and hooked and last one. During that time Mike picked up a couple of 14+" bass further along the creek channel and that is how the day ended. I had 8 bass on the day (7 largemouth and 1 smallmouth). The fishing was not on fire but I caught enough to keep it interesting. While the catching was not on fire getting to fish with Mike definitely made it one of my favorite days on the water. Here are a few pics of the day and some video from my new gopro 13 camera (old gopro 8 died 1/2 way through my last trip).

Not a lake, that's the Columbia River. I am always dressed for immersion. Hope for the best and plan for the worst is a requirement for kayak fishing any time but especially in the winter!

Thanks @Swamp Girl ! I was happy to get my first 4lber already! Last year I did not catch a 4+ in January do I am already ahead of last year!