Going west to the frontier

[MassBass]

I am going to a wedding near the beautiful frontier town of Portland, OR. I am staying in Troutdale, and I intend to fish the Columbia and nearby tributaries. I intend to use my 'river rat' tactics and techniques, that consist of bank fishing large stretches. I will be there the first week of August. Any clues that I should be aware of that time of year? Will water be low, allowing an easy rat? Is water usually clear or stained? From some research on this board, it seems like it can be a dynamite SM fishery. Anything else I could hook? Pike, salmon, or trout? Is that area tidal? thanks.    

[Glenn]

It's tidal waters there; generally clear.  The salmon will be running then, just be sure to check regulations as they're variable.  There aren't any pike, but there are pike minnows - junk fish that will readily hit your crankbait or spinnerbait.

 

Don't ignore the Willamette.  It can be very good smallmouth fishing, and may offer more bank fishing opportunities.

[WRB]

I would consider a float trip on the Willamette River, the Columbia River can be very windy and it’s a big wide River.

Enjoy your trip.

Tom

[Darth-Baiter]

I hired a guide to find me walleye in the Columbia river.  We were at the tail end of the bite but still boated some good ones.  It was fun.  Our guide was a bit of a deke, but he got it done.  

[MassBass]

On 5/30/2022 at 1:34 PM, WRB said:

I would consider a float trip on the Willamette River, the Columbia River can be very windy and it’s a big wide River.

Enjoy your trip.

Tom

Considered; the Willamette is a tributary of interest, as is the Sandy River, I wonder if anyone has fished the Sandy River and its delta complex? It is very close to my lodging. 

[MassBass]

Are there summer steelhead in fishable numbers anymore? 

[Gnarwhal]

On 7/8/2022 at 9:36 AM, MassBass said:

Are there summer steelhead in fishable numbers anymore? 

For steelhead, the last 2 seasons were all time bad.  This year is an improvement but still sucks compared to ten years ago..  Regulations are tight but there is opportunity.

 

The Columbia is tidal up to Bonneville dam.  Visibility is good this time of year.  The best fishing for smallmouth will be above Bonneville or The Dalles dams.

[Columbia Craw]

Get on Google Earth and look at the Oregon side of the Columbia.  There are numerous bank spots from Cascade Locks to well past Hood River.  

[MassBass]

Hey, reporting in. Thanks again for the leads. I made the travel from the Atlantic seaboard to the pacific north west. I arrived at my lodging in the afternoon, with the hazy blue sky and a dry sun. With plenty of time till sundown I unpacked my telescopic casting rod and made the jaunt to the Sandy River. I found swift current and shade under the highway bridge. The bank was big rock and chunk rock. Current would pull right along the bank here, with few eddies or pools. I started upriver towards a rail bridge, and, according to my map, a tributary. Some shade was forming along boulders obstructing the current. Beach revelers on the other side enjoyed the sharply cool water. The tributary that I had sought was not much to write home about. It slowly emptied into a still flat pool under the bridge. Where the main current bordered the stagnant pool seemed like a very likely spot, forming a defined seam with some debris. A small fish flicked on the surface. I couldn't turn a bite so I went back down river.

 

Further downstream there was a sliver of a pool in a steep bank along the otherwise aggressive current. Fry of something was lurking there. Then I got a hit- small, but something. A pike minnow. With the sun setting for The West, I would try another good looking spot, but not get another fish.

 

The next morning clouds would subdue the scalding sun, so I made haste to get to the water before they burned off. Same river as yesterday but the opposite bank. There was soon a small pike minnow caught and a good bite missed. A little downriver and the main river current tailed off into less turbulence. This would be a good spot and I caught several pike minnow, some decent sized. Exhausting available bites for the time being, I ventured further downstream. Past shallow sandy flats, to the woods of an intersecting stream guarded ominously by a black cat. Snakes slithered in the warm sand. The setting of a riffling stream in the Northwest woods was iconic. I wondered about the tales of when it was first charted, when you could walk across the river on the backs of the salmon and steelhead. My wandering mind was shattered by a silver flash and a strike, another pike minnow, and a few more for the day. I would try some previously fruitful spots on the way back, but by now the prevailing light conditions were bright and clear, and the fish were quiet and restrained. 

 

 

Another full day before the wedding festivities and I would again explore the Sandy. I would rat downriver all the way to the confluence with the Columbia. Near the beginning of the journey I would have a couple good bites in a beautiful pool, but not connect. I came upon an area with swift current, with a rut of a pocket near the bank, enhanced by scattered bits of timber forming breaks. There was a decent sized fish on one of the logs. I would present two different spinners in a likely manner, but it would not chase. Then I moved back right close where I could see the fish. I thought it was a trout, but it looked like a bass, which raised suspicion in me, for I had not encountered any bass in this coldwater river previously. I dropped the spinner into the gravel near the fish and let it sit. The fish was interested, and moved over and sucked the metal bait off the bottom. I eased into a hookset, and the fish was on, an excitable smallmouth bass. Happy with the catch I continued downstream.

 

The shoreline began to become more difficult, with open gravel bars replaced by thick bush and mud. I could see a major feature that looked promising. Where a long expanse of riffles tailed out into a major pool. From the shady brush I could see them, the pike minnow- big ones. My spinner presentation was good for a few flashy strikes, before the school lost interest and began to spook from my presence. But there was more good water close. There was a beaver establishment there, where I finally connected with one of the quality pike minnows. From there to the Columbia, it was shallow, sandy, and hot, with fewer fishy flows. 

 

 

At the wedding, there was dancing and drinks all around, and everyone had a good time. At twilight I went up the hill to the pond, with a spinner carefully selected for water clarity and prevailing light conditions. The pond was small, a long cast could easily cast across it three-fold. Near a gurgling inflow, I got a hard strike, and soon saw the slender fish as it fought enthusiastically, and I landed it in the green grass and took a picture before throwing it back. It has been a very long time since I have caught a rainbow trout, and to catch one on one of my homemade spinners was pleasing. 

 

The plan moving forward was to go onto the Columbia and leave the Sandy behind. I would hail an uber to a state park upriver from Troutdale, with two ponds advertised as being stocked with rainbow as well as harboring the usual warm water suspects like largemouth bass and bluegill. The Columbia was on the other side of the road. After arriving I went down to the pond. Tourists and revelers swam and splashed. Not overly impressed I decided to walk over to the big river while I still had a lot of time until dark. The road was a 4-lane freeway with no crossing access. Unintimidated by the roaring machines I made it to the other side. The bush was dense with no trails, and the water was much further than it had appeared on map. I emerged from the thickets to a grand view, and reached down for my phone...it wasn't there! Trying not to panic, the ~100° air combined with the rigorous ratting already had me clamoring for my liquid rations. I tried to follow my footsteps as best I could back to the highway, scanning for my device- my uber, my camera, my plane ticket, my phone. Maybe it came off my hip when I jumped the guard rails- wasn't there. So I went back the other way again. This time my path was more defined, and I looked thoroughly. Not finding it I fell prostrate before the Lord and prayed. Then, right near emergence to the open, there it was, dry and safe on packed mud. 

 

Rattled emotionally, I got to fishing the open river, casting thoroughly over what looked like a good rocky break, where birds had stood before I came along. No takers, no bass. The shore on this stretch was swampy, with aquatic grass reaching way out. There was some big carp deep in the grass, but I was unable to sight them again after having tied on a carp rig. The evening light will be just right for when I get back to the pond, so I hauled back to the highway, triple checking that my phone holster didn't unclip. I thought the pond would be a sure thing at twilight, but it was not to be. Plenty of baitfish in the water, flicking the surface all over, as the sun goes down over the rugged high wilderness, and a nocturnal bobcat takes to its patrol. 

 

On the final day I went to Clackamette park, where the Clackamas joins the Willamette in a confluence. After spending hours in an area under the bridge, with only a small smallmouth to show, I began the jaunt down the Clackamas to the Willamette. Despite the powerful flow, the river water was crystal clear. I could see little smallmouth, and a much larger fish, some kind of sucker, picking bits off the stones. I settled into casting at the confluence, meeting and talking with another angler. A large dark fish, some kind of salmonid, showed itself in the clear water while a big sturgeon broke surface, and some smallmouths were caught.

 

[El jefe]

Sounds like a good trip.... if I would have seen this post earlier I would have voted for a guided sturgeon trip.... they catch monsters up there.

[MassBass]

20 hours ago, El jefe said:

Sounds like a good trip.... if I would have seen this post earlier I would have voted for a guided sturgeon trip.... they catch monsters up there.

If I had one more day I would have gone back to Clackamette, with a nightcrawler on the bottom and the baitrunner set. Maybe a sturgeon would spool a reel of 14lb fluorocarbon? Back east here, sturgeon fishing is banned. 

[Darth-Baiter]

MassBass.  thanks for the fun read.  haha

 

good writing.  glad you found your stuff.