Hot fishing on a hot day!

[pdxfisher]

I met up with my regular fishing buddy on the 20th (Saturday). We had not fished together yet this year. Sadly, he has been inflicted with a bad case of steelhead-itis and there is no known cure Anyway it was just really exciting to be back on the water with him again and we definitely made a good go of our chance to fish together. Between the two of us we caught over 70 bass. I did a little better on numbers but he had the two biggest (17.5" and 18.5"). The best I could manage was a 16.75". Other than not catching any real big ones the day was as perfect as could be.

 

The Columbia was glassy calm for most of the day. There was a slight breeze for a short while first thing in the morning and then a very welcome wind in the afternoon that freshened just as we were beginning to roast.

 

I caught fish on topwater (Sammy), spybait, jerkbait, swimbait, swinghead jit+creature bait, drop shot and Ned rig. The fish were actively chasing bait until about 11am and we caught our fair share of fish chasing the bass that were chasing the bait. It is so much fun to see bait skittering and the bass swirling and toss into that maelstrom and immediately get slammed. While we did do well fishing for those fish it was definitely not as productive - especially for size - as in my last few outings. I was really hoping we were both going to get a 20+ inch fish but you can't have everything.

 

Over the course of the day if one of us would get on some fish we would call the other over and hammer on them together. Just perfect teamwork. I would say I probably caught about 1/2 the fish on active baits and 1/2 on soft plastics. When we would get on them with the Ned rig we would often hook up doubles and that is just so much fun.

 

My only real disappointment on the day was when several really big fish were jumping all over each other trying to eat my topwater. After much missing (it is off camera but you can hear them splashing, jumping and churning up the water) I did hook one, had it on for 5 seconds and lost it. I guess I would have to say I ended up losing a ton of fish overall. Not quite sure why. I think probably partly because we were often chatting or I would be looking over to see how he was doing. A bit of a lame excuse but I am a fisherman and that's what we do best

 

Funniest thing is that three times over the course of the day I had gulls trying to eat my Sammy (a walking bait). The worst was one gull that kept diving at it as I reeled like crazy to keep it away. It kept attacking all the way to the kayak and I had to swing at it with my rod to scare it off. I guess that lure has a pretty realistic action!

 

Anyway, here are some pics from a wonderful day on the water and a link to the day's video at the end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Baron]

That sounds like a great day!😎  Have you been using whatever topwater bait the fish were missing?  Might be time to change the hooks.  If doing that, I’d add a feathered treble as well. 

[pdxfisher]

4 hours ago, The Baron said:

That sounds like a great day!😎  Have you been using whatever topwater bait the fish were missing?  Might be time to change the hooks.  If doing that, I’d add a feathered treble as well. 

 

I may try a plopper or popper, something less erratic. The walking bait draws the most exciting strikes but my conversion rate this year has been pathetic. Not sure why I am doing so much worse this year. The hooks are razor sharp, but a feathered treble is an interesting idea. I am not sure how that will affect the action but there is only one way to find out :l

[Swamp Girl]

What a day, PDX! I love your teamwork and your catching bass on seven different lures. I've seen Columbia when airborne windsurfers were skittering across it. That was crazy calm!

[fromthelogo]

I was about 30 miles up river in Hood River that day and the wind was whipping up white caps. 

[pdxfisher]

2 hours ago, fromthelogo said:

I was about 30 miles up river in Hood River that day and the wind was whipping up white caps. 

 

Wow.  That is brutal. Sorry you missed out on the calm. How was the fishing at HR?

 

12 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

What a day, PDX! I love your teamwork and your catching bass on seven different lures. I've seen Columbia when airborne windsurfers were skittering across it. That was crazy calm!

 

Thanks! The calm was a really nice change of pace!