Frustrating Day on the Water :(

[pdxfisher]

I took a day off work to fish the Columbia on Friday the 7th. I had not been on the Columbia since early April since I had not been feeling well enough to make that trip so I was really excited to have a big day.  I got to the water pretty early and it was as gorgeous as it could be. The sky was a beautiful pink as the sun was just about to rise and the water was flat as glass. Unfortunately, that was a beautiful start to a frustrating day on the water. 

 

It was not an awful day but too many things just went wrong. First, I forgot my lunch and given my health I don't have a lot reserves so I only ended up fishing the morning. Second, my video camera stopped recording video after a couple of hours and only recorded audio with a single frozen video frame for the rest of the day. 

 

In terms of fishing it was frustrating as well. Too many lost fish and no big ones (best was only a 2lb 4oz). It was not awful, I did catch 14 bass but only 3 were over 2lbs (biggest was 2lb 4oz). This time of year if I don't get a 20"+ (4lb+) fish I feel like I have failed. Another frustrating point on the day was all the junk in the water. There was just little bits of weed, algae and scum floating around everywhere. I was constantly cleaning off my lures. I think the junk is because the river has been fluctuating a bit and the current was running pretty good. 

 

Water temp was around 59 in the main river but in the low 60s in shallow spots out of the current. Clarity was pretty good (a couple of feet) in most places. The lure of the day was the Jack Hammer Stealthblade. I caught 12 of the 14 bass on that lure. I did not get a bite on any soft plastics but I did not throw them very much. The fish I was catching all looked to be post-spawn (long and skinny). I did not see any bass chasing bait but I did make a bunch of casts to what turned out to be some spawning carp. In a foot of water they sure do look like bass chasing bait from a distance

 

Anyway, enough complaining. Here is a pic of my first fish over 2lbs (only one before video froze). You can see how gorgeous the water was.

 

 

 

Here is a video of the first few hours.

 

 

 

 

[NorcalBassin]

Looks like a really good day and I'm glad I don't feel like a failure when I don't catch something over 4lbs. 😆

[Pat Brown]

Yeah - seems like you need to send a few of those dumb 2 lbers this way please.

 

You'll get the big ones again soon!  It ebbs and flows it seems like a little bit almost always!

 

Just keep hunting.

 

But yeah FedEx overnight in a big aerated tank to NC plz.  🤫😂😂🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[pdxfisher]

14 hours ago, NorcalBassin said:

Looks like a really good day and I'm glad I don't feel like a failure when I don't catch something over 4lbs. 😆

 

This time of year there are lots of big fish around. I can usually at least hook a big fish. We are lucky to have a good fishery. Tourneys around here this time of year require at least 20lb bags to win. 

6 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Yeah - seems like you need to send a few of those dumb 2 lbers this way please.

 

You'll get the big ones again soon!  It ebbs and flows it seems like a little bit almost always!

 

Just keep hunting.

 

But yeah FedEx overnight in a big aerated tank to NC plz.  🤫😂😂🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

 

As long as you send me some big NC largemouth in exchange

[AlabamaSpothunter]

20lb bags on the Columbia, learn something new every day.......that's the last place I would expect to produce big bags.    

 

All I know is your day beat mine on the Columbia River when I went......got skunked Steelhead fishing, and on top of that I paid to get skunked 😁

 

Fishing is the quintessential example of "the sweet's never sweet without the bitter".  It sucks, but if you want to experience the highs of fishing, you got to experience the lows as much if not more in order to get that dopamine hit.   

 

Baseball and Bass fishing are a ton alike, the sport is built around failure.    A great MLB hitter only hits 3 out of 10 plate appearances.  

[pdxfisher]

47 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

20lb bags on the Columbia, learn something new every day.......that's the last place I would expect to produce big bags.    

 

All I know is your day beat mine on the Columbia River when I went......got skunked Steelhead fishing, and on top of that I paid to get skunked 😁

 

Fishing is the quintessential example of "the sweet's never sweet without the bitter".  It sucks, but if you want to experience the highs of fishing, you got to experience the lows as much if not more in order to get that dopamine hit.   

 

Baseball and Bass fishing are a ton alike, the sport is built around failure.    A great MLB hitter only hits 3 out of 10 plate appearances.  

 

Wonderfully stated!

[Susky River Rat]

Seems like the forgetting your lunch and the camera malfunction are the worst things. You caught some fish. You came back safely. All wins in my book. Even if I get skunked it’s a good day as long as I get home safely and my equipment in one piece. 

[pdxfisher]

1 hour ago, Susky River Rat said:

Seems like the forgetting your lunch and the camera malfunction are the worst things. You caught some fish. You came back safely. All wins in my book. Even if I get skunked it’s a good day as long as I get home safely and my equipment in one piece. 

 

That is a fair comment. It was really that my expectations were pretty high and the day just fell well short of what I was looking for.

[Susky River Rat]

My expectations are always high but, a 2 at 10 is a 10 at 2. All joking aside I do get frustrated when things do not go as planned or I thought I would knock it out of the park. Then I have to remind myself of the things I mentioned and think boy it want that bad just not what I planned.