pdxfisher

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:

Looks like an awesome day! Sounds like you saved the day on your buddy's fish!

That was a brutal. Sorry you lost your rod

Wow! Those fish look thick and healthy! That is the definition of a choked crankbait!

I am always sure where the bass are but often the bass screw up and aren't there. It's completely their mistake: )

That is an awesome fish!! Congratulations!

That always seemed true of largemouth in lakes but the smallmouth in the Columbia don't seem to be as affected by cold fronts. I think fish in rivers are generally less affected. Maybe it is the moving water.

I enjoy your reports and videos as well!

I try to please everyone. I write a detailed report of every trip I take and include pics and a video.

Sounds like you earned those bass and that beverage!

You definitely have me motivated to give an A-rig a try next time out. It does seem like it would be the perfect presentation for the conditions.

I have one but I have not been brave enough to throw it. That's a lot of tangling posdibilities on the kayak. That said with the fish focusing on small bait, I should man up and give it a try. Thanks for making me think about this!

Great year and great pictures! Just beautiful! Your pond looks and sounds like heaven on earth.

What, no picture of the boat cushion? You can't tell us about a beauty like that without giving us a glory shot

Sounds like an awesome day on the water!

Thanks @A-Jay ! That was just such a beautiful day and they were biting so good all day long. Hope it lasts all winter!

I hit the Columbia out of Stevenson, WA on Sunday the 2nd and the wind forecast of little to no wind held true all day long! I almost did not feel like I was really fishing the gorge So the wind was cool and light but the action was hot and heavy. I ended the day with 36 bass with the best 5 weighing a combined 14lb 10z and the biggest on the day being a 3lb 8oz. I probably had at least a dozen bass over 2lbs. I was not even weighing them unless they looked like they had a chance to unseat the smallest bass in my "bag", a 2lb 10oz. The bite was pretty good all day long. The only lulls I had were when I stayed on a spot too long after I had worn it out. All the bass came from 25'-35' of water and most of the spots that produced 2 weeks ago produced again this week. To me that indicates that the fish are settled into their winter haunts and should be more or less in those areas until next spring. The big producer on the day was a drop shot with a minnow colored Trick Shotz (Goby Bryant or Shiner). A handful came on a Ned rig with green pumpkin TRD and I caught one bass on an underspin. I fished the Carolina rig and the wobblehead a fair bit but I never had a bite on either. The bass I caught were puking up little minnows (I think the shad are gone, not sure what they were) and I think the drop shot and Ned matched that profile. I had bigger baits on the Carolina rig and wobblehead and I think in retrospect that is why I blanked on both of those. I will make an adjustment next trip out. Early in the day I was just catching a bass or two off of a spot but as the day wore on I seemed to be able to generate a lot more bites per spot. Re-fishing spots that earlier had only produced a fish or two early in the day produced a lot of bites late in the day. Maybe next time I will sleep in a little Overall it was about as an amazing day. Mostly blue skies, a few puffy clouds, light wind and hungry bass. If I had caught a giant or two it would have made the day perfect - but that would have just ruined me for future trips. I will also add that almost all the bass were really fat and healthy. I caught 17" that weighed 3lbs and the 3lb 9oz was only 18". They are getting nice and chonky. For those who care, the water temp was around 56F and the clarity was really good (I could see the bottom in at least 6' of water). Anyway, here are some pics from the day and my video.

I had reported my total from memory when I wrote this up. I checked my scale today and the best 5 went 15lb 7oz and not 14lb 6oz. That was a nice surprise!

Fortunate for me is that I have plenty of great smallmouth in my area. Closest is about 20 minutes but I usually drive an hour since the fish in the Colimbia average bigger than those in the Willamette.

Great report! Interesting how shallow they were. I have not caught a fish in less than 18' of water in over a month. I always try to find shallow fish but out here the smallmouth all seem to want to be deep.

Hope you can get out a ton next year @Kayak Koz As for me, there's still 2 months left in my fishing season!

Great season! Those are some tanks and your son catching a big walleye on the rod he won is awesome! Plus 35 trips is getting out there, I have 22 trips so far this year but hope to add more before the year's end.

Out here in OR there are seasons for trout in streams, salmon, steelhead, etc. No season closures for bass, walleye and lots of other warm water species, and no limits on size or numbers in lots of waters, but they are trying to eradicate them from many waters.

Congrats @Dwight Hottle ! You catch bigger bass than I do in my dreams! I need to upgrade my dreams just to keep pace

Last year I caught bass in every month except February (could not get out even once). This year I really want to get every month. I feel lucky to live in a place where I can fish year round. Even if the bass don't want to play winter is a good time to fish for sturgeon.