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I had a planned procedure for my hand scheduled for Friday which meant no fishing for me this weekend, thus I decided I better take a day off of work and fish while I could. I decided to go to my favorite bass spot, Stevenson WA. I decided to go even though the wind forecast was a bit brisker than I would have preferred - if you wait for conditions to be perfect you aren't going to fish very often 
The day started out slow for me. I figured the bass HAD to be up shallow give that the water temp was in the low 50s. I spent an hour unsuccessfully trying to prove that I was right. I continued to fish shallow off and on throughout the day but I never had so much as a sniff on a moving bait all day.
Fortunately I eventually conceded and started fishing my deeper water pattern. The first spot I hit was a fairly nothing 20' flat near a big commercial dock. I think it is a good staging area for prespawn bass since it is close to some shallows that look like good spawning grounds. My first cast with a drop shot brought my first fish of the day, a nice little 1lb 10oz bass. Getting the skunk off makes it so much easier to relax and fish!
That spot produced 4 more fish on the drop shot and then seemed like it died. I moved off of that spot and then went back to beating some shallow water (I really wanted to catch fish on moving baits). That of course was a dud and so I ended up at a small rocky structure in 25' that has been on fire for me this year. The magic spot did not disappoint. I caught 3 bass in pretty short order but decided that since the wind was out of the East that I should move to my Westernmost spot and fish my way back to this spot later in the day.
The next spot I went to is a popular spot and I was happy that no one was on it (not too surprising for a Wednesday). I tried the drop shot but the current in that spot made fishing the drop shot hard in the kayak so I switched to throwing a 1/2oz wobblehead with Zoom Z-craw trailer. That ended up being the right bait for the conditions and my top producer by far for the day. I relentlessly pounded that spot for several hours and pulled over 20 fish from that general area, once again in 20-25' of water. The wobblehead was perfect since I could throw it a mile into the wind, it go to the bottom quickly and I could fish it at a good pace while keeping it on the bottom.
The only change I made was at some point I switched from 1/2oz to 3/4oz because the current seemed to have picked up a bit. I also occasionally mixed in some casts with a Ned rig (1/4oz) but the wobblehead was the star.
So the bulk of my fish and all my best fish came off this spot. My best 5 was not great (only 13lb 6oz) and my best fish was only a 3lb 10iz but the action was fast and furious so I didn't complain. The only difficulty is that I had to slowly pedal all day long just to stay in place. If I stopped I would start drifting downstream at 2mph. So a little after noon I decided to fish my way back to the ramp. I of course immediately started fruitlessly beating the shallows again as I worked my way back upstream.
Eventually I got tired of all the casting and not catching so I went out to my magic rock. I had not caught a fish in the last hour or so of beating the shallows so it felt awesome with I hooked up on my first cast on the magic rock! I am not sure how many bass I pulled off that spot, maybe a 1/2 dozen or so but I had a stretch of 4 consecutive fish on 4 casts. Once again, the size was not impressive but the fish were hungry and they put up a good fight on my light spinning rod. Eventually I decided I should start to head home since I was getting tired from the constant pedaling.
As I headed towards the ramp I checked my fish counter and saw that I had 38 bass. I just had to get to 40 so as I was pedaling back I marked a fish on my graph. I cast out and immediately caught it. Now I just needed one more. Why is it so hard to catch that last fish!!
I tried 3 spots without a sniff and I was almost to the ramp. I decided I would carefully fish the point closest to the ramp. As I worked my way along the point I felt pressure when I lifted my Ned rig. Wow, "This has some weight", I thought. I knew I had something big on. Turns out it was a really big stick
However, I redeemed myself a few minutes later by landing my 40th bass and I called it a day. It was a lot of work but man was it worth it. I usually don't catch quite those numbers on the Columbia so that was a real treat. So my midweek trip was a big success and tehn my procedure on Friday went well (needle fasciotomy for Dupuytren's contraction) so it was a good week!
Here are pics of my two best fish and the video of the day.
The day started out slow for me. I figured the bass HAD to be up shallow give that the water temp was in the low 50s. I spent an hour unsuccessfully trying to prove that I was right. I continued to fish shallow off and on throughout the day but I never had so much as a sniff on a moving bait all day.
Fortunately I eventually conceded and started fishing my deeper water pattern. The first spot I hit was a fairly nothing 20' flat near a big commercial dock. I think it is a good staging area for prespawn bass since it is close to some shallows that look like good spawning grounds. My first cast with a drop shot brought my first fish of the day, a nice little 1lb 10oz bass. Getting the skunk off makes it so much easier to relax and fish!
That spot produced 4 more fish on the drop shot and then seemed like it died. I moved off of that spot and then went back to beating some shallow water (I really wanted to catch fish on moving baits). That of course was a dud and so I ended up at a small rocky structure in 25' that has been on fire for me this year. The magic spot did not disappoint. I caught 3 bass in pretty short order but decided that since the wind was out of the East that I should move to my Westernmost spot and fish my way back to this spot later in the day.
The next spot I went to is a popular spot and I was happy that no one was on it (not too surprising for a Wednesday). I tried the drop shot but the current in that spot made fishing the drop shot hard in the kayak so I switched to throwing a 1/2oz wobblehead with Zoom Z-craw trailer. That ended up being the right bait for the conditions and my top producer by far for the day. I relentlessly pounded that spot for several hours and pulled over 20 fish from that general area, once again in 20-25' of water. The wobblehead was perfect since I could throw it a mile into the wind, it go to the bottom quickly and I could fish it at a good pace while keeping it on the bottom.
The only change I made was at some point I switched from 1/2oz to 3/4oz because the current seemed to have picked up a bit. I also occasionally mixed in some casts with a Ned rig (1/4oz) but the wobblehead was the star.
So the bulk of my fish and all my best fish came off this spot. My best 5 was not great (only 13lb 6oz) and my best fish was only a 3lb 10iz but the action was fast and furious so I didn't complain. The only difficulty is that I had to slowly pedal all day long just to stay in place. If I stopped I would start drifting downstream at 2mph. So a little after noon I decided to fish my way back to the ramp. I of course immediately started fruitlessly beating the shallows again as I worked my way back upstream.
Eventually I got tired of all the casting and not catching so I went out to my magic rock. I had not caught a fish in the last hour or so of beating the shallows so it felt awesome with I hooked up on my first cast on the magic rock! I am not sure how many bass I pulled off that spot, maybe a 1/2 dozen or so but I had a stretch of 4 consecutive fish on 4 casts. Once again, the size was not impressive but the fish were hungry and they put up a good fight on my light spinning rod. Eventually I decided I should start to head home since I was getting tired from the constant pedaling.
As I headed towards the ramp I checked my fish counter and saw that I had 38 bass. I just had to get to 40 so as I was pedaling back I marked a fish on my graph. I cast out and immediately caught it. Now I just needed one more. Why is it so hard to catch that last fish!!
I tried 3 spots without a sniff and I was almost to the ramp. I decided I would carefully fish the point closest to the ramp. As I worked my way along the point I felt pressure when I lifted my Ned rig. Wow, "This has some weight", I thought. I knew I had something big on. Turns out it was a really big stick
However, I redeemed myself a few minutes later by landing my 40th bass and I called it a day. It was a lot of work but man was it worth it. I usually don't catch quite those numbers on the Columbia so that was a real treat. So my midweek trip was a big success and tehn my procedure on Friday went well (needle fasciotomy for Dupuytren's contraction) so it was a good week!
Here are pics of my two best fish and the video of the day.