pdxfisher

Water I am fishing is brush that is in 25-30' right now and will be in 50+' later in the winter. By spring it will be over 60' deep. I use wacky rigged senkos in the spring but not in the winter.

I don't own any jigging spoons. Do you have any recommendations? Preferably cheap ones

Thanks for the tips. I had thought about a jigging spoon but I am already hanging up a ton with a drop shot and the CR. Maybe I can try that near the brush rather than in it. I have tried a wobblehead with a craw trailer without success. Maybe I just need to stick with it longer.

I fish a local lake several times during the winter. The fish are mostly in brush along a creek channel in 25-50' of water (spot gets deeper as lake fills in the winter). There is not much other cover in the lake. The spot is pretty snaggy. My success has come on either a drop shot or a Carolina rig but I am looking for other ideas. When I lived in PA in the late fall up until the ice formed I would usually fish a jig'n'pig exclusively but I have not had much success with that out here. I have tried a wobblehead the last few trips without any success. What is your goto winter tactic?

Thanks A-Jay! Now I just have to land a keeper kidney

I hit Hagg the day before Thanksgiving since it is a nice, not too strenuous way to get out on the water. I got to the lake a little after sunrise and was fishing before 8am. It was very foggy, eerie and quiet. There was a light wind swirling the fog around. I decided that I would start the day by fishing for bass. I went over to my favorite spot and on started fishing a drop shot. On my first drop, I felt some weight and then a tug and a snapped my rod tip up and felt a decent fish!! After a brief tussle I was able to haul a nice 2lb 9oz largemouth. I thought, "Oh man I a going to be on fire today!!". Of course, that was a liar fish. I spend about 3 hours total fishing on an around that spot and only landed one other dinky bass. Eventually I decided I would give trolling for trout a go for a while. I broke out my trolling rods and started slowly pedaling my way across the lake (towards Sain creek arm) and then made a left turn and headed towards the dam. I had just left the no-wake zone when I had a good hit. I plucked the rod out of the holder and slowly worked the trout in. As I went to net the trout I saw it had another line tanged in it, my other line (I had the 2-rod license). The trout was a nice one 14-16", I did not measure it just eyeballed it. I got the two lines untangled but when the trout had pulled the other line into my rudder. When I reeled that other rod in the lure got stuck on the rudder so I pedaled back to ramp C and got that unhooked and I was back in business. During the time I was dealing with that mess the wind picked up a bit (blowing from the dam) and I was shivering and cold. I figured I would troll up to the dam and troll in the wind shadow of the dam. That ended up being a bad call. Over the next 3 hours (troll to the dam, troll around for a bit and the trolling back) i caught one dinky little trout. To add insult to injury the wind did a 180 and was not blowing towards the dam (so getting out of the wind was a fail). I trolled most of the way back to the no-wake zone when I caught a nice trout (thought I was recording but realized I wasn't when I released it). Also, the wind died down and the sun even broke through. Things were starting to look up. I quickly hooked up again and again but kept losing the fish right at the kayak. That was a bit frustrating but it was really fun finally having some fast action! After a short while I had another takedown and landed another decent trout (probably about a foot long). I just kept trolling around the no-wake zone and getting bit. I missed most of the bites but I did land 2 nice crappie which is always a fun bonus catch when I am trolling for trout. At that point it was almost time for me to leave but I figured I would try to focus on crappie for the last 1/2 hour. Apparently the crappie only like me when I am fishing for trout I did not get a sniff fishing a crappie jig in that last 1/2 hour. All the trout and the crappie were caught on my favorite rig, a 1/24oz roostertail with a trailer hook and 1/2 nightcrawler threaded up the trailer. I think if I had just stayed in the no-wake zone I could have had a banner day but I still had a fun day. Having the best action to finish the day always helps erase the memory of the long fishless periods from earlier in the day. In other non-related to fishing news I am excited that I am finally on the transplant list!! I am still hoping that I will just miraculously recover but knowing that I am accepted onto the list definitely puts the mind at ease. The other good thing is that I felt pretty strong all day long while fishing. My bloodwork is not improving but I have to believe that feeling better and stronger has to mean something good. Well, here is my usual terrible video from the day.

I believe that bass change the coloration to whatever they feel gives them a predatory advantage. A rule of thumb (that is not absolute) is that bass in muddier water tend to be paler and more washed out (since they are harder to see with that coloration in those conditions). Bass in clearer water around rocks and scattered weeds tend to have more coloration (striping) to help disguise themselves. Fish under docks and weed mats tend to be dark to blend into the darkness where they are lurking. I am not sure how quickly bass can change their pigmentation. I certainly have caught plenty of fish that violate what I stated above but I would say that most fish follow the above pattern. I always think that a fish that violates the general rule of thumb is one that recently changed areas and has not adapted yet. I may be completely wrong but that is my experience.

I am hanging in there. I even did another fishing trip this past weekend. 6 dinky bass, 7 trout (trolling for them) including a 20" fatty and 2 nice sized crappie. It was a fun multi-species day which is what I like to do when I hit the local lake (Hagg) in the late fall. Kind of fun to mix it up.

When I take my kayak out I take 6 to 8 rods with me. Usually 2 spinning rods with 10lb braid and 10lb leader for drop shot and ned rig. Casting setups with topwater, swimbait, shallow crankbait, deep crankbait, jig'n'creature bait and often a jerk bait. At various times I will swap out one of the above for spinnerbait, or a chatterbait, or other lures but I like to have a variety of rods at the ready to really strain the water. Often I will fish a hump that tops off in several feet of water but drops off into 30' or more and I want to be able to completely cover it without retying. The rivers I fish are big (Willamette and Columbia) and probably more akin to fishing a lake with current.

That is encouraging!! Thanks A-Jay! I just take each day as it comes right now. The encouraging thing is that ever so slowly I am able to do a little more. I am the tortoise and not the hare, that means I should win in the end Thanks. The process to jump through the medical hoops is like trying to swim upstream through molasses, but every day brings me one day closer. Thank you!

Thanks everyone!. @Chris Catignani, I agree that those smallies are good medicine! That is a great way to put it. For a little while at least it is like everything is normal. Now if I just need to make sure I don't lose a kidney right at the boat

It has been a while since I have been fishing. Early this year I was diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure. Doctor's were blunt that things looked pretty grim. I seriously thought I would never get on the water again. My bloodwork was so bad my daughter's friends who are nurses said, "and he's still alive?" It has been a long struggle to regain some semblance of strength. At first I was so weak I could not even walk up a flight of steps . Things felt pretty dark but I kept thinking, "Let me just try to get a little bit better" each day. I am still at stage 5 failure and working to qualify for a transplant but I have been able to get myself to the point where I have enough strength to load my kayak into the truck and pull it up the ramp. I can barely do these things but right now barely is good enough! Enough about the bad stuff, lets get to the fishing report I hit the Columbia on September 24th out of Stevenson, WA with a friend of mine (who was determined to help me catch a fish!). The weather gods certainly seemed happy to see me back as the river was glassy calm all day long. I have never seen the Columbia be calm all day long, that was certainly a blessing. My friend launched before me and quickly found a school of fish (catching a couple). He raced over to the ramp to get me and put me on the fish, but of course, as is the nature of fishing, they were gone off the spot by the time we got back to it. That is not uncommon this time of year when the smallmouth are chasing bait. One minute there are fish everywhere and then a few casts later it is crickets. Undaunted, we hit the next spot he thought should produce and I caught my first bass in about 11 months (since last fall). Not a monster but, man, there is no better feeling than that tug on the end of the line when you were not sure you would every feel that again: Needless to say I was elated and for a minute it was like everything was back to normal, such is the magic of fishing. After that we moved from spot to spot and had success at some and nothing at others. The fishing was not fast but not bad either, we even had a double once. I ended up catching 10 bass on the day which was enough for me. My best was a respectable 3lb 4oz and was my only swimbait fish. My buddy bested that with at beautiful 3lb10oz fish that sucked up a Ned rig (the rest of my fish were split between a Ned rig and drop shot). In the early afternoon I told my buddy I was worn out and was calling it a day but I could not stop smiling as I pedaled back to the ramp. I was really dreading pulling my kayak up the ramp at the end. That ended up being hard but manageable. Overall, it was as perfect a day as could be scripted in a movie picture! Here is some video from the day. It includes me measuring my friend's fish

Willamette right here in Portland. Columbia River and John Day River to the east (in the gorge), Umpqua River in Southern Oregon.

Cool! I don't have any secret spots to share back but I am happy to share what I know about Hagg, the Willamette and the Columbia. Do you fish from shore or do you have a kayak or other type of water craft?

I hit the big C on Friday, September 3rd in hopes of having a killer day. That did not happen. It was a grind all day long. I had a few brief flurries of action and even some back-to-back fish but there was a whole lot of just casting in between. Wind was a bit of an issue with it being windier than forecast. Some white caps out of the East in the morning and some white caps out of the West in the afternoon. It was dead calm for a few hours in the middle which was really nice. The shad fry out-migration seems to be in full swing. There were tons of fry jumping around near the shore and I was marking massive schools of bait out over deeper water. I am sure that amount of bait played some role in my difficulties. The other thing that was even tougher to deal with was the amount of algae and pieces of weed that were floating around. With the ripple on the surface I could not see it and a lot of my casts came back all gunked up. Very frustrating but I am not sure what to do in that situation. I started the day tossing a Choppo and caught a small one and lost a decent one pretty quickly. "Everything is going according to plan", I chuckled evilly to myself. However just like in the movies, when the evil villain gets over confident their plans turn to ruin. After those first two quick bites I went a long time with no action. I moved spots a couple of times when I finally caught my second bass (another small one) and on the next cast I hooked and lost a decent size (~2lb) on the jump. However, that was it for that spot. How does it go from back to back bites to crickets? Asking for a friend Well I kept grinding away and finally found a spot of 15-20' rocky bottom where I was marking fish on the bottom. I hit that spot hard with a drop shot and caught quite a few fish in a short while, but only a few may have been a pound (and most well under a pound). That was at least a whole lot better than the casting practice I had being doing. I did try to see if I could coax a better fish with a wobble-head jig and a creature bait but the Columbia decided steal that lure from me within a few casts so I just went back to the drop shot. After that flurry of action the East wind finally died and I moved out to a spot that had been good to me over the summer. I kept switching between lures and depths when I saw a nice smallmouth come up and look at my Choppo and turn away (it was dead calm and sunny). I stopped the Choppo and it turned back towards it. When I restarted it, kapow! I had my best fish of the day (1lb 15oz, nothing to write home about but better than a treble in the hand). The fish put up a good fight and I was feeling really rejuvenated by that bite. I stayed on that spot for a while. I would occasionally see a fish splash here or there in the area but never consistently. Very random. I just kept covering that area with different baits and different depths when I hooked a really nice bass on a swimbait. It was so fast. It hit and I reeled like crazy trying to catch up to that fish and I don't think I had a good hook set or good pressure on it. It jumped to the side of the kayak and was gone. Back to grind, grind, grind but no more bites in that area. I decided to pedal upstream a ways and fish some new stuff. Almost as soon as I started out the dead calm was replaced by a wind building from the West. By the time I got up around where I wanted to fish there were small rollers and white caps across most of the river. I tried throwing a variety of lures and did miss a couple and finally catch on on the Choppo. However the weed/algae problem seemed even worse up this way (I was hoping that was going to improve). After a bit of casting, reeling and cleaning off my lure I decided to call it a day. It was not a total bust but the bite was much slower than I had anticipated. I ended up with 17 bass, but that was over a 10 hour period, and nothing over 2lbs. I fished my hardest but overall the Columbia was not impressed. I think all that algae and all those shad are making for some tough conditions. I have not fished the Columbia during the shad fry out migration in the past but had read it can make the fishing tough. I can certainly add my support to that theory. I did not take any pics on the day but here some video footage.

I check 3 separate wind sites and believe the worst but still can get it wrong. The windsurfers pray to the opposite god that we do

Good observation. That fish surprised me a bit. If you watch other vids I have posted, I am usually pretty good about giving that half second delay on the hookset but I definitely botched that one. I guess it was not all the fishing gods' fault

I have hooked myself enough times and had to push the hook through and clip that I do shudder when I read these posts. I am glad that in the overall scheme of things it was not too bad and that you're not too sore today.

Not my worst day by far but a pretty frustrating day nonetheless. Ha ha, I guess the positive attitude I had going in attracted negative juju Day just started and ended in a pretty frustrating and grueling fashion and was no picnic in the middle. It is just hard to fish in the kayak in those waves and wind. If the forecast is at all iffy I fish smaller waters. "If life hands you lemons then make lemonade", but what if life gives you a paper cut and squeezes lemon juice into it

I was so excited to finally have a decent looking wind forecast for the Columbia. Winds were supposed to be light in the morning and max out at only 6mph in the afternoon. A perfect day for some smallmouth kayak fishing - or so I thought.... I met up with my normal fishing buddy before first light and also ran into another fellow that I had chatted with online a few times. It was looking to be an exciting day! We all launched and I headed one way and they headed the other to start. On my first cast I had a strike on my topwater from what felt like a small fish but it quickly pulled off. I dodged the "catching one on the first cast is bad luck" curse but unfortunately the corollary is that losing one on the first cast is even worse luck, or so it seemed. I managed to lose the next 5 fish I hooked including a couple that had some really nice weight to them. Those fish where you set the hook and the rod tip does not move when you set the hook, the bend just gets deeper. They all felt like really solid hooksets but each time the hooks just pulled out. I did not lose them on a jump, during surface thrashing or anything like that. Each time the hooks just pulled out. I was starting to get pretty upset when I finally landed a modest 1lb 4oz smallmouth. At least the skunk was off! Unfortunately that was my last strike from that area so I raced downstream to catch up to my friends. They were not having any better luck than I and in fact had even slower action. We were all puzzled by our lack of success. I started working an area that has been good to me in the past and almost immediately landed a nice 2lb 7oz bass. Things were looking up! I did not get another strike from that area. My one buddy who was fishing nearby was also bit by the bad luck bug when he hooked and lost 3 bass (2 of which were nice sized) in a matter of 5 to 10 minutes. It was just a bizarre day. We decided to head further downstream but as we did the wind just kept getting stronger and stronger. After a short stint down there I decided I had had enough and I was going to pack it in. I texted my friend and started back up the river. I stopped at the spot where I had caught the 2lb 7oz and quickly caught a 1lb 3oz and then a 2lb 3oz which fishing in some heavy whitecaps and decent sized waves. I thought, "well alright now here we go!". Unfortunately, I did not get another bite. After about 15 fruitless minutes I finished the slog back to the ramp. Just to make things even more interesting, my pedal drive kept popping out every couple of minutes causing me to lurch awkwardly. I finally made it back to the ramp and I spoke with one of the windsurfers who had shown up. He said that the wind was 20-22mph (just a touch above the 6mph that was predicted). In all it was close to as bad of a day on the water as you can have. Lots of lost fish, getting blown off the water, tweaking my back while struggling to get back. Overall not a good day. So, I am not sure what I did to anger the fishing gods but if anyone knows of an arcane ritual that I can perform to placate them then please let me know ASAP. I am thinking of a goat sacrifice or something but I am just not sure :) Here is some video from the day that properly captures my frustration.

That is a good assessment. I agree we don't have the pigs that they do in the Great Lakes and other big waters like that. I think that in part we don't have as much easy food (like gobies). Our fish are definitely not as heavy per length. I am working on making a length/weight chart for PNW bass. All the ones I see on line seem to be for football shaped bass. Our fish are healthy but I think they only weight about 80% as much per length as compared to Great Lakes fish. The Columbia tends to have a little better size than the Willamette. A 3lber in the Willamette is not expected every trip. I am disappointed if I fish the Columbia and don't break 3lbs. I have not broke 5lbs yet in either river but have caught 4lbers in both places but definitely way more 3+lb fish in the Columbia compared to the Willamette. It seems like there are fish over 5lbs caught at pretty much every spring Columbia bass tournament. Not nearly as good for size as some of the East coast spots but big enough to keep me smiling

It definitely is! The funny thing is that it is considered the 4th best smallmouth river in the state. Most folks would place the Columbia, John Day and Umpqua above the Willamette for smallmouth. We have a lot of bass out here in Oregon!

I hit the Willamette out of Newberg on August 15. I had a bit of a topwater bite to start the day. I had to downsize to a Heddon Baby Torpedo to get that going - I did not get any hits on Sammy or a Choppo. After the brief topwater flurry the rest of the day belonged to soft plastic. Most of the fish came on a Ned rig, some on a dropshot and some on a swim jig with a creature trailer. I have started throwing the swim jig + creature more to try to increase the quality of the fish that I catch. That seems to work somewhat. My best fish did come on the swim jig and I don't seem to hook nearly as many dinks. I ended up with 41 bass with the biggest being a 2lb 1oz smallmouth. Most all of the fish came from deeper rock (10'-25). A good sonar goes a long way to effectively finding and fishing those structures. I hit the Willamette out of West Linn on August 21. There was cloud cover most of the day and the topwater bite was really good all day long. I started with a Sammy but after a few half-hearted strikes I switched to a Choppo and that seemed to be like switching from a tofu burger to a ribeye. The fish were smashing the Choppo all day long. I did spend some time throwing other lures, going back over productive spots with a Ned rig, drop shot, swim jig+creature, swimbait and spinnerbait. They all caught fish (just one of those wonderful days) but they seemed to hit the Choppo the best. Plus, I am not going to pass up a topwater bite! I put in a long 10 hour day but I ended up with 68 bass. The big was only 2lb 0oz but it was still a blast. The river was crazy busy with fisherman. Lots of bass boats and lots of kayaks fishing for bass. I am not sure how most other folks did. I had most all of my success out on the mid-river humps and it seemed like most folks were beating the bank. I guess there were fish there as well but it was nice to really have all the water I wanted to fish to myself on such a busy day. Funny thing is that I did not see much topwater activity (other than the fish eating my Choppo) all day long. I kept thinking that the topwater bite has to die soo but those fish were just nuts all day long. Usually when I am having a good topwater day I see lots of surface activity but I guess this showed that is not necessary. I have to say again that having the really great maps built up on my Garmin (made through Quickdraw) is incredibly helpful. Those maps coupled with a heading sensor, good 2D and SIdevu make for a deadly screen setup. It is easy to find those mid-river humps and to position myself exactly where I want to be on them once I figure out how the fish are setup. Most of the fish were in 5'-10' of water but I did catch some deeper as well. To be fair there may have been a ton of fish deeper as well but I am not going to seek out deepwater fish when I am having an awesome topwater day!

I hit the upper Willamette out of West Linn on Saturday, August 7th with a friend of mine and it was a repeat of my last several trips there. Tons of fish (43 bass and I was leaving biting dinks to search for better fish) but the big for the day was only 1lb 14oz. Most of the fish were under a pound with only a handful in the pound and a half to pound and three quarters range. I am not sure whether the inability to catch better fish lies with us or if it is the stupid fishes' fault. I will say that the river was a toasty 76 degrees pretty much all day long (75 and change first thing then a little over 76 by the end). I really did make a big effort to find better fish. When I caught dinks shallow I moved to mid-depths, when I caught dinks there I moved deeper, when I caught dinks there I went back to fishing shallow. I felt like I put in a sincere effort in my search for better fish but by and large I was denied. The best lure (for both of us) was a Ned rig. I was fishing crayfish-like colors (green pumpkin and some other brown and orange color) and my friend was fishing a more minnow-like color. Both of us caught tons but the dinks definitely dominated the catch. I did experiment a lot with other lures and caught only 1 on a topwater (I never saw fish splashing on the surface the entire day which is weird but maybe temp related), a handful on a swimbait (including my biggest) and a few on swim jig with a creature trailer (2 nicer ones and the skinniest smallmouth I have ever seen). I also caught plenty on a drop shot, but that is really similar to the Ned rig in terms of where I was fishing them. They both worked pretty much everywhere and I switched back and forth more out of boredom rather than need. I will say that even the small fish fight like demons this time of year so it is not like the day was not fun - it was a beautiful day on the water - but the lack of quality fish out of West Linn (again) has me a bit flummoxed and confused. I am not sure if the big fish have just moved out or if I am just not catching them. The lack of current may be a factor (and a reason to either head way upstream past the influence of the flashboards at the falls) or to fish the lower river (but the pleasure traffic on the lower is just insane in the summer). I know I will need to hit a different stretch of the Willamette (or get a low wind day and get to fish the Columbia, fingers crossed). Anyway, here is a nice frame grab of one of the fish I caught on the swim jig+creature bait: Here is a video of the day: If you have any suggestions please let me know! I just can't seem to find the better fish around West Linn this summer and it is usually much better for good-sized fish. Also, in the video you will see that I am starting to measure some of my fish and weigh them. I want to make a length/weight chart for the rivers around here. Most of the online ones seem kind of far off. I think those mostly come from lake fish that lead an easier life