I hit the upper Willamette on Saturday. I was a little worried since the water temp had dropped from 68 to 61 over the course of the previous week. I was not sure what kind of mood the bass would be in and even what stage they would be in (spawn, post-spawn, summer).

 

To make a long story short it ended up being an amazing day. The topwater bite was on fire through lunch time and the fish kept biting well all day long. All my topwater fish came on a Sammy (stick bait). I through a plopper style for a brief period when the wind picked back up but the Sammy was the deal for me. I caught 57 smallmouth on the day with a 3lb 0z being my largest. 

 

One of the many things that made the day special was the huge number of pound and a half to pound and three quarters sized bass. There were certainly plenty of dinks but I think this may have been a record number of fish over a pound and a half in a day on the Willamette for me.

 

The day was pretty magical from the get go - nature activity was firing on all cylinders. Early in the day, right after I watched a beaver swim by I got to watch two otters climb up on a dock and frolic around. There is a little footage of that  in the video. Multiple times during the day an osprey came swooping down for my topwater. You know you are doing something right when that happens!

 

In addition to seeing bass chasing bait all over the river I saw several carp jump and I believe I even saw one sturgeon jump (which is rare in the upper river).

 

The bass never stopped biting all day long. When the topwater bite would slow for a bit I would start catching them on the 3" white swimbait or a Ned rig. Just crazy good fishing all day long. 

 

Here is a picture of my first fish of the day:

 

 

Here are a couple of pics of the 3lber:

 

 

 

 

You can see the double I had on right before I lost one of them:

 

 

Here is a jumper near the end of the day:

 

 

Here is some video from the day. On it you can see that it was not all rainbows and unicorns. Plenty of missed bites and I lost a really big fish.

 

 

 

Sounds like a very fun day! Especially if they were biting top water 

Sounds like a very fun day! Especially if they were biting top water 

On 5/24/2021 at 12:48 PM, pdxfisher said:

I hit the upper Willamette on Saturday. I was a little worried since the water temp had dropped from 68 to 61 over the course of the previous week. I was not sure what kind of mood the bass would be in and even what stage they would be in (spawn, post-spawn, summer).

 

To make a long story short it ended up being an amazing day. The topwater bite was on fire through lunch time and the fish kept biting well all day long. All my topwater fish came on a Sammy (stick bait). I through a plopper style for a brief period when the wind picked back up but the Sammy was the deal for me. I caught 57 smallmouth on the day with a 3lb 0z being my largest. 

 

One of the many things that made the day special was the huge number of pound and a half to pound and three quarters sized bass. There were certainly plenty of dinks but I think this may have been a record number of fish over a pound and a half in a day on the Willamette for me.

 

The day was pretty magical from the get go - nature activity was firing on all cylinders. Early in the day, right after I watched a beaver swim by I got to watch two otters climb up on a dock and frolic around. There is a little footage of that  in the video. Multiple times during the day an osprey came swooping down for my topwater. You know you are doing something right when that happens!

 

In addition to seeing bass chasing bait all over the river I saw several carp jump and I believe I even saw one sturgeon jump (which is rare in the upper river).

 

The bass never stopped biting all day long. When the topwater bite would slow for a bit I would start catching them on the 3" white swimbait or a Ned rig. Just crazy good fishing all day long. 

 

Here is a picture of my first fish of the day:

 

 

Here are a couple of pics of the 3lber:

 

 

 

 

You can see the double I had on right before I lost one of them:

 

 

Here is a jumper near the end of the day:

 

 

Here is some video from the day. On it you can see that it was not all rainbows and unicorns. Plenty of missed bites and I lost a really big fish.

 

 

 

Nice. I just subscribed.

I love some cloudy day topwater! Gets my heart racing when they strike

9 minutes ago, Bluegillslayer said:

I love some cloudy day topwater! Gets my heart racing when they strike

Still startles me

1 hour ago, huZZah said:

Still startles me

Yeah, I jump every time lol

You sir are a lucky man, can't beat the topwater bite 

Great day, glad you enjoyed. 

Hoping for the same tomorrow morning when I hit the river. 

Thanks everyone! That was a really fun day on the water. I love when we get those ideal conditions that allow the topwater bite to last most of the day. The smallmouth around here really love that stickbait on a calm day. I throw a Sammy in American Shad since it imitates the smolt (baby salmonids heading out to sea) that are in the river right now. Match the hatch!