pdxfisher

Thanks @A-Jay for your kind words. That first fish just completely flipped my day.

I had never fished for smallmouth in January before Saturday, but since I had caught my first December smallmouth 3 weeks earlier I figured I should give it a try. When I got to the Columbia I was a little dismayed. The forecast called for winds to be light and variable but it was blowing pretty good out of the East. I looked at the whitecaps and was doubting the wisdom of heading out. To further dampen my spirits the water near shore was pretty muddy. It had been quite clear a few weeks back and cold, muddy water is a tough nut to crack. "Oh well, I might as well give it the old college try" I said to myself and I was on the water around 8am. The day started out as I was anticipating it would. The wind was cold and biting and trying to fish delicately in the whitecaps and waves was extremely difficult. After 3 and half hours I had not had a bite and it had been raining for an hour or so by that point. I was cold, wet and dis-spirited and I was seriously thinking about calling it a day. I was already write the report in my head with things like "it is good to get that first skunking of the season out of the way on the first trip" and other similar phrases. I decided I would make one more pass through the general area where I had spent most of the day (and where I had caught all my fish in December). It was 11:30am and I told myself that I would fish until noon and then slink home with my tail between my legs. I really had give up emotionally and spiritually. I wasn't too cold except for my hands but my gloves felt like they weighed 2lbs each as they were completely saturated. It was indeed a pretty low point. Maybe the bass started to feel bad for me because on that supposed last drift as I was dragging my Ned rig along the bottom I felt a little "pop" on the line. I set the hook and there was a fish!!! I could not believe it. I carefully played and slid the net under a 2lb bass. I am not sure I have ever been so excited to catch a fish. The day went from disaster to awesome with one swing of the rod. You all know that one fish is like infinitely more fish than no fish and I felt that deep in my bones. It was all I could do not to pull up on shore and dance a jig! My wife had got me a new Bubba scale for Christmas and I was out there thinking that I would not get to use it (or even worse that it had bad mojo) soI was beside myself with joy when I got to weigh that first fish of the year. It was a solid 2lb smallmouth. The interesting thing is that the fish were a bit shallower than the previous trip. That fish came out of ~32'. I had tried to fish that shallow a little bit earlier in the day but had spent most of the day fishing deeper (35-60'). Well, I figured if lightning can strike once, why not twice. I went back up to where I started that drift and made another pass and caught another bass. The bite was not on fire but on most drifts I at least hooked a fish. However with each pass my hands grew number and colder. I had to watch myself grab the jighead when I unhooked the fish since I could not feel myself grabbing it, but it is a small price to pay to catch a bass in January. Finally, after two drifts that produced nothing I told myself I would make one last drift. By that point I had 6 bass and I was just walking on air. I started that last drift and went through the productive area without a sniff but I just kept the drift going past where I caught my fish. It was the last drift so i was going to milk it for all it was worth. I was just starting to think about reeling up when I felt a "thunk" and I lifted up to set the hook and was met with some really solid resistance. Just a short while earlier I had retied (which I am usually lazy about) and man and I glad that I did. I could tell right away that this was a better fish. I would lift it up a bit and then it would rip out drag as dove down. Back and forth we went until I finally got that brute up to the surface and was able to slip my net under it. I could not believe it! I had caught quite a few nice fish but this one dwarfed the others. I weighed it and it first it registered as 3lb 13oz, but I noticed it's tail was touching the deck so re-weighed and it settled at 3lb 15oz. I wish it would have gone 4lbs but I won't be ungrateful. It measured at 20" on the dot. What a great fish to end the day on! I decided that was enough after that beast. I thought it was cool to end the day on such a beauty. Well, what started out so terribly ended up being wonderful. Not a sniff for 3.5 hours, then 7 bass in the last 2.5 hours. My best 5 went 2lb, 2lb, 2lb 5oz, 2lb 11oz and 3lb 15 oz (the other two were a 1lb 7oz and 1lb 9oz). It was just amazing to me to catch bass in January, and then to have such good quality was just shocking beyond belief. Water temp was 45F and there was probably only a foot and a half of visibility (near shore it was like 6"). Not sure how many more trips I will make this winter but this one will keep me smiling for quite a while.

Out here I am fishing in 30 to 50' of water. Air temp makes no difference except for my comfort. I have also not seen any impact on cloud cover (except once again my comfort). I can imagine that the shallower you are fishing the more impact weather will have but in deep water I have not observed any impact.

I have tried using a drift sock but I have not found it to be very effective for me. I do use it when anchoring up for sturgeon but when drifting with yhe current the drift sock does not have any relative force since it is drifting at yhe same pace as the kayak.

Thanks @Swamp Girl ! You always have such kind words for everyone! I love being out in the cold and wet when I am dry and warm in my dry suit. Only my hands were a little cold from the wet gloves.

I used a heavier head but it was maybe 1/8oz. I just would match the drift speed of my kayak to the lure to stay pretty vertical. I would move to the top of the flat and drift through it. Lather, rinse, repeat. Current was only about 1mph.

Ha ha, so many of those fish were within a few ounces of 2lbs. Wish I could have crossed paths with a piggy but overall I was thrilled with the day.

I hit the Columbia in December for the first time. I had low expectations as I headed out since this was new territory and it had been a month since my last trip. The conditions were about perfect when I got there. Water temp was 46F, air temp was 38F and there was no wind and just a light sprinkle. I was nice and cozy inside my layers of clothes and my drysuit, in fact I was bordering on being too warm. I headed out to the general area I had caught them a month earlier and started fishing. Just painfully slowly dragging a drop shot while I adjusted my speed to keep me over my bait as the current (not much, about 1mph) moved me downstream. My first handful of passes did not yield anything so I started slowly moving deeper and deeper with each pass. On a pass that started on about 35' and dropped in 50' I was inching my way along when as I lifted I felt some weight and a little tug. I reared back and I was into a fish!! I really could not believe it. It was only about a pound but that fish was huge for me. I went from practicing phrases in my head like "Well, it's just nice to be out on the water" and "at least it is good exercise" to thinking I am going to catch me some bass! Over the next hour or so I landed 3 more including my best of the day, a 2lb 8oz. Once again, not monsters but good solid fish and just really stoked to be catching my first December smallmouth ever. It was pretty tedious fishing, controlling my drift to keep my kayak over my bait while gently sliding it over the gravelly bottom, but it was worth the effort! Of course then when things were going so well I made my only real bonehead move of the day. I went about 15 minutes with catching a fish so I decided to eat lunch and drift downstream a mile or so to another spot to fish. I should have just stayed in that first spot and continued to expand my search area a little but instead I went for the big move. To be fair, the spot I was moving to had produced more fish the previous trip but I violated that age old rule of bass fishing. Don't leave fish to find fish To add to my error I was really stubborn about it and just assumed the fish were just a little off of where I was fishing so kept expanding my search in that second area for 2 and half hours. Not a sniff in that entire time. Finally, I figured out that I was not going to be able to will a bite out of that area and I went back to my original area. It took too long to make that decision but at least it was the right one in the end. Pretty quickly I caught my 5th bass and that felt great after the long lull. The fishing was never torrid but it was nice steady action all afternoon. I stayed with the drop shot most of the day but after a while I was having a hard time getting a bite. Then an odd thing happened. I felt the thump of fish and lifted up to set the hook. For a few seconds I had another one on and then it popped off. When I reeled up my drop shot weight was gone. That made me think that the fish were still there but wanted something all the way on the bottom, not even a foot off the bottom, so I switched to dragging a Ned rig. That turned out to be really effective. On 4 consecutive drifts I caught 3 and lost one. That was the fastest action of the day by far. However, after that the bite died and it was getting a bit late and I decided catching 13 bass was enough for me. So I packed it up and headed back to the ramp with a big smile on my face - 13 is my lucky number! All the fish I caught were in 35 to 47' of water on bottoms that felt gravelly (but looked pretty smooth on the FF). The fish were tight to the bottom, I never marked any fish, but tended to around any tiny little bump on the bottom. Water temp was 46F (not too cold) and the clarity was good, several feet of visibility. I can catch a bass in December, Now I want to see if I can do it in January Here are few fish from the day and a video:

Great job! I love a blade bait in cold water. It is a great slow but fast bait. Fast spurts but isn't really moving very far very fast. I think of them as vertical jerk baits.

What an awesome season. Now you have to do even better next year Thanks for taking us along for the entire season!

I hit the Columbia on Saturday the 16th with some trepidation. The wind forecast was once again calling for light winds but after getting brutalized last week I was a little gun shy to say the least. I woke up on Saturday after not sleeping great and at first I rolled over and thought about just sleeping in and bagging it. However, after 15 minutes of intense debate with myself I decided I would probably be happiest if I went so I dragged myself out of bed and headed East to Stevenson. When I got there I almost wept tears of joy when I looked out over the glassy Columbia. I could not have been happier to start the day. I figured I was in for a tough outing after only catching 6 bass last trip but I figured I would just focus on enjoying be out on the water. I love this time of year because the air temp was 38 when I got there (with a high of 44 for the day) but the water temp was 53. I love when the water feels warm compared to the air on the cold days. I had low expectations and the first spot I fished me those expectations. I was fishing a point from shoreline out to 30' of water without a sniff. I was not too surprised since the previous week that spot had only produced a single fish. So I had a decision to make. I had not headed down river in almost two months so I decided to give that a try. I figured maybe the bass would be holding in some of their winter spots even though the water temp was still pretty warm. Pretty quickly after getting to the spot I wanted to fish I caught my first bass of the day. That first fish is so important, getting the skunk off is always a big step in a day of fishing. It was not a giant but I was really happy to have broken the ice. The area I was fishing is a big nothing flat in about 30' of water but for some reason the fish like to hold there in the later fall (and maybe the winter). I fished my way around that spot again and again and eventually was able to scrape up a total of 12 bass in 3 hours. Not on fire but it was pretty regular. No mad flurries just patiently fishing deep and being occasionally rewarded. Mostly on the drop shot but I did get on a balde bait and one on a Ned rig, but I was fishing the drop shot 90% of the time. By the time I decided to leave that spot I had already doubled my previous week's catch! The wind was starting to pick up a little but it was not too bad. Just a nice chop on the water - way better than last week! I was really stoked that the fish were biting and I was finding them. Once I went a half hour without a fish I decided to switch locations and planned on going upstream a mile or two to some of the spots that had produced so well this fall (except for last week). On my way upriver I happen to glance at my FF and saw a fish arch on a nothing stretch of river. I figured "what the heck" and decided to drop my drop shot down. As soon as it hit the bottom I lifted the rod and felt weight. I jerked up and had a better fish on! After a short battle (they are definitely fighting more lethargically in the cooler water) I had a bass that was just over 2lbs! All the fish I was catching from the first spot were pound to pound and a quarter bass so it was a pleasant surprise to get a better one. i pedaled back up to the spot from where I had drifted downstream and quickly caught a second nice bass but another 15 minutes without a bite and I decided to continue up to where I had been intending to originally go fish. I was about another mile upstream when I went to make an adjustment to my direction but my kayak did not turn. I tried turning hard right and then hard left but my rudder was not responding (more like randomly responding). I though "Dang it", here I was having a pretty awesome day and now was in the middle of the Columbia with no steering. If the wind picked up I could be in trouble so I quickly decided I should paddle and pedal my way back to the ramp and call it a day. It was a slow trip back since my kayak kept wanting to go every way except the direction I wanted it to when I tried to pedal assist my paddling. Eventually I made it back to the ramp and decided to head home. I pulled my kayak up the ramp to my truck and started unloading when I figured I might as well see if I could at least see what was wrong. In very short order it was obvious that the control disk that the rudder is attached to had come unscrewed. I screwed it back down and the rudder seemed to work. Now it was close to 1pm by now and I had to decided if I wanted to reload and head back out. I figured I should so that I could at least test the repair. Well, happy to say that everything was once again working flawlessly! I figured I might as well get back to fishing! I decided to make the run upstream to where I was about at when my steering failed earlier. Well, long story short, that was not a good idea. I fished a couple of the spots that had produced well a few weeks back without a sniff. At that point I thought I should head home, but I decided I would at least stop at the spot that had produced the two fish earlier even though the temp had dropped a little and it had started to rain - 42 and rain, just about as much fun as it sounds Well that ended up being a good decision. The spot was another huge flat in 30-35' of water with no real structure on it, but the bass were there. Once again, not fast action but over the final hour and half of the day I managed to pick up 6 more bass, with most of them being over 2lbs! I would fish for quite a while between bites but when I did get a bite it was a decent fish. By 3:30 The rain had been falling for quite a while and with the slow bite when I got my 21st bass I decided to call it a day. Overall, I was thrilled with day even though I did not catch any pigs. More than tripling last weeks catch was awesome and my best fish was an almost respectable 2lb 12oz fatty. I am so glad I decided to get out of bed! Here are a few pics of the day and some video:

Quite a stubborn (or maybe stupid) man

I hit the Columbia on Sunday the 10th. I was excited because my previous trip had been pretty great and the wind was forecast to be calm. After I got home I checked the definition of calm in the dictionary because whitecaps and waves do not fit the description I am used to Needless to say that after a brief start of light wind the conditions quickly deteriorated and I ended up spending the day bouncing up and down like I was fishing on a pogo stick. In the kayak that makes for some tough fishing. Every time I would try to really focus in on my rod and line I would get turned sideways and hit with a wave that would give me that sickening feeling in my stomach as I would tilt precariously to the side. Of course I could have just gone home but where is the fun in that. Plus, I am not sure if I will many more or any more trips out on the big C this fall/winter to chase bass so I did not want to cut the trip short, even though that would have been the smart thing to do. Once again, the day started out OK. At the first spot there was some foretelling of the conditions to come as the breeze and current made it hard to stay on a spot. After a while I caught a little pound-sized bass and missed a couple of others, but even though I was getting some bites I decided to head up river in search of greener pastures. That was my first mistake of the day. I fished a few spots without a sniff when I got to one of my favorite spots. The fish were not setup like they normally are but instead I found them a bit downstream of a big rock that comes all the surface but has 50' deep water behind it. I picked up 2 bass in that spot and was feeling pretty good but I wanted more and bigger fish so once again I left a spot with some fish to try to find something better. Mistake number 2. By that time the wind had picked up pretty ferociously and I gave serious thought to just heading back to the ramp. Instead, I cleverly decided to head another mile or two upstream into the teeth of it to a couple of other favorite spots. Normally, I go about 3mph upstream in that section but on Sunday my speed has bouncing between 1 and 2mph. Most of the time closer to 1mph than 2mph. Once again, part way there I thought about turning around but instead I just kept pushing on. I finally made it to the spot that has been my best producer for the last month and half. I thought, "Whew, that was tough but it is going to be worth it now". Narrator's voice "It was not worth it now" I fished that spot hard but I could not buy a sniff. I think a lot of the problem was that the wind was quartering to the current the weirdly the waves were quartering from a different direction. It was just a complicated mess and I just could not hold my position and watch my rod and line. The wind whistling in my ears was also not helping my concentration. After and hour or so I decided I would go even further upstream. I thought that the Columbia would reward my struggles but she was not impressed. At the final "good" spot. I once again worked my butt off to try and at least have a semblance of actually fishing. Finally I felt a thunk on my drop shot and set the hook. This felt like a good fish! After what felt like forever of keeping an eye on the waves while trying to concentrate on landing the fish I finally was able to slip my net under a big pikieminnow. That was disappointing. I think the Columbia was just really in a mood and wanted to mock all my efforts. I though, well that is better than nothing. I headed back up to the spot and kept rotating through a drop shot, wobblehead and blade bait. FInally after a long lull I felt something smack my blade bait and I set the hook into another fish. This turned out to be a little pound-ish smallmouth. Still, catching anything under those conditions felt like a huge victory by that point. Eventually I left that spot and decided to head back and fish a few other spots. At the first spot, I thought I might be marking fish but the graphs were so jaggy from the bouncing up and down that I was not sure. I flipped out my drop shot and worked it along for a minute when I felt a thump and I set the hook into a decent fish! I was stoked, hooked up on the first cast to this spot!. I worked the fish up and grabbed a decent 2lb smallmouth (only fish I weighed all day). I thought I must have finally landed on them but a fruitless half hour showed otherwise. I decided to continue my trip back and stopped at an earlier spot where I had not had any luck. However, the wind had eased up a little bit on the trip back so I thought to give it a try. Once again, I quickly caught a pound-ish bass on a wobblehead (my only wobblehead fish of the day) and then it was crickets. I finally conceded and decided to call it a day. I think that is the hardest I ever worked fishing and I only managed the 6 bass and the pikieminnow. My legs were burning by the time I got to the ramp and it was a struggle to pull my kayak up it. Even as I write this the next day I feel the ache in my legs. I think part of the issue is that I have been reduced to getting IV fluids only onece a week. There is an IV fluids shortage due to the hurricane that hit NC (where apparently they make like 90% of it). Hopefully they get up and running again soon because these last few weeks have been extra tough. Well enough complaining. Here are some pics of half the bass I caught and a short video.

Wobblehead is what I have been catching my better fish on. I use a Zoom Zcraw and a 1/2 or 3/4oz jighead depending on depth and current. FYI, I am fishing the Bonneville pool. I catch some pikieminnow on it but probably 9 smallmouth for every pikieminnow.

Nice! Is that a spot or a largemouth?

That is a good lifetime. Crazy good for a season.

Sometimes the sprint bite is not happening and you have to slow down to a jog bite

Wow! Your reports are always fantastic but seeing the whole year in one post is just mind blowing! So awesome that you have all that success from a canoe with no electronics. Your efficiency on the water on your trips is just humbling. You have by far the fewest casts per fish of any angler I have ever heard of. Congrats!

I have been using a Zoom Z-craw in GP but I think any creature bait would work just fine. I have been fishing it just slow enough to keep ticking the bottom. I go back and forth between a steady retrieve and a stop-and-go retrieve. In your kind of water I would fish a Carolina rig or a slider head (with various soft plastics) to cover water. Those were my go tos in NC and PA.

Some days when I am out on the river I look around and I just can't believe how lucky I am to get to fish in such a beautiful place! Losing that big one really hurt but I will just have to catch an even bigger one next time

Was the grass matted to the surface or was there a few inches of water over top? If there is even a few inches I would try burning a baby 1 minus (if they still make those). If the grass is to the surface I would try a johnson silver minnow. I like silver with a light colored pork frog trailer. You can real it over top of the grass and let it flutter down in any pockets. These are old lures but I am an old guy

I hit the Columbia on Saturday the 26th and what a day! There was sun, rain, clouds, rainbows, low-flying planes and plenty of hungry bass! Just a great day to be living in the PNW!! The bite was great, 24 smallmouth and 3 pikiemninnows, but getting to fish in such beautiful conditions is just beyond expression. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words so here you go: Does it get prettier anywhere on earth than this? The past few trips it had taken me a while to catch my first fish but on Saturday there were quite a few bass stacked up on the first point that I fished. I had blanked on this point the last 3 trips but it was loaded up on Saturday. The fish were out in about 25' of water and were happy to sample my dropshot. No big ones in that group but still a lot of fun on the dropshot rod. For the rest of the day I had spots that were red hot 2 weeks ago that produced very little, spots that were red hot and still red hot and spots that were dead two weeks ago that were on fire. That is fall smallmouth fishing in a nutshell. Man those fish sure do love to move around the river. I did all the damage on the smallmouth with either a drop shot or a wobblehead. The bass were set up on rocky points and humps in 15-25' of water and when I found a group they seemed eager to bite. I had some lulls but lots of back to back fish as well. One thing that was really cool was fishing the downstream edge of a hump with a drop shot. I was not marking any fish but as soon as I hooked one the sonar screen just lit up. Those fish were just hugging the bottom so tight I could not see them until I disturbed them. I ended up catching 3 bass in a row of that spot which was just really cool. The only downside to this kind of fishing is that you have to be willing to pay the price in lost gear. With the drop shot it is not too bad because I just lose the sinker (pinched on hollow core lead that I cut to length) but with the wobblehead it is the jig and the bait. I think I lost about 4 wobbleheads on the day but the price was worth it! It could have been my best day ever except for some heartbreak to end the day. It was getting late in the day I was heading back to the ramp and decided to stop and make a few casts at one of the spots that was good to me earlier. On my second cast with the wobblehead I felt the thunk of a big fish. I don't know how to describe it but there is just something different when a big fish sucks that thing in. I set the hook and whiffed but then that fish must not have like seeing that wobblehead screaming away because it came back and grabbed it. It felt like I set the hook on a boulder. That fish did not budge. I could not believe I was going to end the day with a monster. I leaned hard on that fish and after a few drag ripping runs I had it next to the kayak. I could not believe the size of that fish. It dwarfed the 5lber I caught a month ago and I think it was a fair bit bigger than my PB smallmouth (5lb 14oz). I had my net in my hand and it thrashed at the surface before diving back down and ripping drag. I tried to pull it back to the surface when POP. The battle was over and I was crushed The loop of the knot around the eye of the hook had basically broken (looked like it had been cut). If I had loosened my drag a bit I probably would have landed that fish but I always keep the drag on the wobblehead rod mashed down pretty tight so I can get a good hookset. When I got home I did look up the Knot Wars videos on fluro and they all said you should use a know that loops around the eye multiple times. I will be doing that in the future Other cool and interesting things that happened during the day. I got to see the rainbow in the above picture form. That was the first time I had seen a rainbow being born. You can watch it happen in the video. Just amazing. There was a float plane that flew past me that was very low. It was really cools watching it go by well below the top of the gorge. The last cool thing was a fishing thing. After I drifted off one of the humps I noticed that I had marked some fish in 50-60' of water. I was wondering if they were walleye so I dropped a blade bait down to them and started jigging it. In short order I felt a good thump and I had a decent sized fish on. I was a little disappointed when I got it to the surface and say a big pikieminnow. I dropped down two more times and caught two more big pikieminnows. It was pretty cool catching them out of deep water like that but I decided after the 3rd fish that I could either spend the rest of the day doing that or go chase down some more smallies. The smallies won out Overall it was one of the best and most interesting days I have every spent on the river. Tons of bass in the two pound range and two over 3lbs. Big bass was 19" and 3lb 9oz. I am so happy I get to live in such a paradise, remember to stop and smell the roses! Here are some fish from the day: Here is a way too long video.

Great video once again!

What an awesome trip! Thanks for the write up and the beautiful pics. Those bass are getting nice and fat! And those perch are really chunky too! One of the best trips I have ever read!

... you never know what you are going to get! I hit Hagg on Saturday the 19th for a day of trolling for trout. I had not been to Hagg in a long time and was looking forward to battling some feisty trout. I was surprised how many folks were already there when I got there around first light. I remember usually arriving to an empty parking lot. I was hoping that meant the fishing was going to be on fire. The day started out according to plan. I quickly caught a 14" trout (before I turned on my video camera), then a 16" trout, lost one right at the kayak then caught one around 12". I also missed numerous bites. I thought I was going to catch a zillion trout, but those fish in the first hour were the only trout I ended catching all day. Occasionally I missed strikes that seemed trout like (they were hitting quite violently!) but I just could not stick another trout. Fortunately Hagg has a lot to offer in terms of variety. Throughout the rest of the day I caught 2 small largemouth bass (unfortunately not 2 large smallmouth bass), 2 big bluegill and a ton of crappie (best was a hair over 12"). I really spent a lot of the day trolling back and forth through the huge school of crappie I had found since catching them was a ton of fun. I was getting bit every pass through that spot (missed plenty but with that many bites I caught plenty as well). In terms of how I was fishing, all the fish I caught were caught by trolling. I had a Strike King BItsy Minnow on one rod and my usual roostertail + 1/2 nightcrawler on the other. I had them set out 50' most of the day (occasionally trying longer distances for a spell but eventually coming back to 50') and I had a 1/8oz weight on the dropper of my spreader (really just to avoid line twist). I caught the trout trolling 1.2-1.3mph and I caught my first crappie at that speed as well. I did find though that slowing down to .7mph really improved the crappie bite. Not sure if it was the change in depth or the slower presentation but that speed was the deal for the them! So, the day did not go as planned but it was still a blast catching 4 different species of fish. I did waste a lot of the middle of the day searching (fruitlessly for trout) going all the way up past boat ramp A but in the end every fish I caught came out of the no-wake zone in 15-25' of water. Perhaps spending more time over deeper water down closer to the dam would have paid dividends but I never got a bite in water deeper than 25'. Overall it was the kind of a day that makes Hagg special in my book. 16" trout: A couple of crappie: And one of the big bluegill: Here is some video from the day: