Couple of Willie Trips. 15 August 2021 out of Newberg and 21 August 2021 out of West Linn

[pdxfisher]

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! 

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

That river is loaded!!!!

 

thanks for the video 

[pdxfisher]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

That river is loaded!!!!

 

thanks for the video 

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!

[Sphynx]

6 minutes ago, pdxfisher said:

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!

That is a fact, and the Columbia can produce a few nice sized fish too, biggest ones I've seen are probably in the 4-5lb range, wouldn't be shocked if there was a couple of those in the Willamette too, if catching numbers of fish is how you define success, Oregon isn't a bad spot to get your kicks.

[pdxfisher]

1 hour ago, Sphynx said:

That is a fact, and the Columbia can produce a few nice sized fish too, biggest ones I've seen are probably in the 4-5lb range, wouldn't be shocked if there was a couple of those in the Willamette too, if catching numbers of fish is how you define success, Oregon isn't a bad spot to get your kicks.

 

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

 

 

[Kid A]

Wow, great write ups!  As someone who has had zero bank fishing luck on the willamette this last month this inspires me haha.  Will definitely be following your posts as a fellow Portlander!