Well, maybe perfect is an exaggeration but it was pretty darn close to perfect! I mean come on, look at this:

 

 

 

I guess to be honest the day briefly started out pretty far from perfect but in the end that just made the whole day even sweeter. The night before when I was loading up my truck I noticed that I had frayed almost all the way through. When I got to the ramp and got my kayak in the water the line rudder up/down line snapped and my rudder was not fully deployed. I almost left but I guy I know (Tommy, https://www.youtube.com/@tommymilsapfishing) was there and suggested I just yank it down and that worked. I knew I was going to have trouble with the rudder hanging down when I left but I decided that was a problem for future me

 

As you can see in the above photograph, the day started out even more beautiful than normal. The river was like glass which almost never happens in the summer on the Columbia. Even more amazing is that it stayed glassy calm until early afternoon!

 

With that water you just know that there is going to be a topwater bite and with the partial cloud cover I was seeing you know it is going to last for a little while. I was almost vibrating with excitement as I started working my walking bait. After a handful of casts I had a couple of fish come up and swipe at it but I did not hook up. I just kept working that bait though because I knew it had to be the deal.

 

A few casts later a decent fish sucked down my Sammy and it was game on! After a nice battle in the predawn gloam I was able to slip my net under a nice first fish, a 17" 2lb 5oz beauty. That's the way to start a perfect day! After a few more misses I saw fish swipe at the Sammy so I slowed it way down. That bass almost gingerly sucked it down. It made so little disturbance that I thought it was a dink but when I set the hook it was clear that it was another decent fish.

 

After a brief tussle I got the net under another 2lb+ fish. I don't have an exact weight because after I freed the hooks from the net and reached for it to weigh it, that bass decided to see itself out and jumped out of the net and back into the river. I had to admire its effort

 

The next fish was just a  little guy but they still fight so hard in that 73 degree water! That was all I could tempt from that first spot. The next spot produced a couple of bites but no fish. After that I skipped a bunch of weedy areas and pedaled my way about 10 minutes upstream to another good looking spot. The first half dozen casts were fruitless but then I had a violent strike and it was game on again! That fish really fought hard, I was sure it was a 3lber while I was fighting it but it turned out to be just 2lb 4oz and 16.75".  That was a stocky, muscular fish!

 

The next fish came just a few minutes later and was about a pound and a half but it was hooked with the trebles in both jaws. I ended up breaking off one of the trebles in trying to unhook that fish. Turns out it was the last topwater fish of the day for me anyway so I guess that just worked out fine!

 

After that I went upstream to a nice steep point. I almost skipped it because I saw a bass boat fishing it for a good while when I was downstream but I figured it was at least worth a few casts. I did not have a sniff on the topwater so I picked up my Ned rig. I figured I would just briefly give that a try. That ended up being the right call. I picked up 4 or 5 bass of that point including a 17.25" 3lb 1oz bass that made my drag sing! Oh what a beautiful sound on a still morning!

 

The next spot produced a couple of fish but nothing major. I then made my way to one of my favorite spots. Shortly after I arrived Tommy pulled up and we chatted and fished drop shots together for a bit. Tommy caught a couple of not bad sized ones when I hooked up to a decent fish. Tommy said "That looks like a good one" and I said I think its around 2lbs. Turns out I made a pretty good guess and it was a 2lb 2oz fish Kind of proud of that!!

 

Tommy left around then to go hit some other waters (he was in his bassboat although he often fishes out of a kayak). Not being as mobile I stayed and fished that spot for a while. It was never on fire but every 10 or 15 minutes I would catch a fish. Just often enough to keep me there. Eventually though that bite dwindled to nothing and I headed further upriver.

 

I was heading to my favorite spot about another 1/2 mile upstream but a bass boat pulled up just as I started out. Well, with that beautiful weather it was not surprising since there were a lot of folks enjoying that glassy calm water. I was hoping they would hit it briefly and bolt but they ended up sitting on that spot for a couple of hours. I can't blame them because that was surely my plan as well

 

So I pedaled past that spot upstream to another good spot. It is a close second to my favorite spot. Once again, I had seen a bass boat fishing that spot for a few hours while I had been fishing downstream but I figured the spot had rested long enough. I got up to the spot and started probling with a wobblehead and drop shot. The wind was starting to pick up which made the kayak control difficult but it was a hot day and I welcomed the breeze.

 

As I was patiently probing the spot (it is a good size structure with a ton of good spots on it) I saw a fish swirl in the current. I figured that maybe I could catch something on a moving bait (all of my fish after the topwater bite had come on either drop shot, Ned or wobblehead). I tried a swimbait first but got no love. I then picked up my spy bait. Now in years past this has been my go to moving bait in the summer but this year I just have not been able to catch hardly anything on it and to be honest I had lost a lot of confidence in that bait.

 

Usually I throw either American shad or ghost minnow but for some reason the chartreuse shad really caught my eye when I was tying on. You know how sometimes a lure just calls to you? You just know that it is the right thing to tie on. That is the feeling I had earlier when I picked that one out. 

 

On my 3rd cast (I was really bombing that thing with the wind-aided help) I had just made a couple of turns of the reel handle when the lure just stopped dead cold. I jerked back and the rod tip did not move at all. "Snagged" I thought but then it turned into the proverbial snag that started to swim. I knew I had a good one on. That was a pretty brutal battle with that fish really testing my tackle in the waves, current and wind. I just kept my cool and maintained a good steady pressure. I whooped out loud when I got that baby in the net. Now it was not a monster but it was an 18.5" 3lb 8oz, thick, muscular fish.  Just a beauty!

 

It was the spy bait redemption arc. After not really doing squat with those spy baits all summer I now had my biggest fish of the day on one! I quickly weighed, measured and released that fish and then zoomed back up to the spot. Two casts later I had another hard thump and it felt like another decent fish. It was a 17.5" 2lb 5oz bass.  I was in love with the spy bait all over again

 

I picked up a few more fish on the spy bait when I hooked a small fish (about a pound and a quarter). When I got it close to the boat I could see a GIANT smallmouth trying to take the lure out of the smaller bass' mouth. I kept that fish in the water for a few minutes but after a couple of failed attempts the big one slowly swam off. I quickly unhooked the little guy and quickly cast back out but it was not meant to be. I wish I had gotten that on video but unfortunately I had turned the camera off when I ate my cherries and had forgotten to turn it back on. Oh well.

 

After that I picked up a few more fish on the wobblehead but nothing of particular note. Overall it was a really awesome day of summer smallmouth fishing. I ended up with 24 bass with the best 5 going a decent 13lb 7oz and 87.5". Not a monster day but a good day for August! If I had caught the monster it would have been a really awesome day but I can't complain with the numbers and quality that I was able to catch.

 

By the time I headed back to the ramp the wind had picked up a serious amount and it was quite a slog, but the wind and spray felt great on a broiling hot day. Sort of a perfect end to a nearly perfect day!

 

Here are some picks and the video:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love reading  your trip reports, PDX, and always marvel at your memory and how many different lures you employ. I wish we could fish together. I'd learn a lot from you.

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

I love reading  your trip reports, PDX, and always marvel at your memory and how many different lures you employ. I wish we could fish together. I'd learn a lot from you.

 

Thanks! It would be a blast to fish together and if we did I would learn a ton from you.