October is the month for walleye, especially under McNary

[Rifflemap]

Caught 51 fish in the course of 2.5 days. Gotta love October!

 

[billfisher]

OH MAN! I thought I was lucky having a freezer full of yellow perch fillets. That's some 5 star food right there! Nice going and thanks for the post.

 

[Gulfstream]

Where are you fishing? Sounds killer.That is a fish on my bucket list!Thanks

 

[Rifflemap]

We fished just below McNary Dam on the Columbia River. Chartreuse and silver were our best worm harnesses (spinners) drug behind bottom walkers. The biggest trick is finding their depth early on. On Friday barometric pressure was near 30-35 and the fish were in 20-25', on saturday it was lower pressure (20) and they were between 50-60', on Sunday it was somewhere in between and we caught 25 in 6 hours under the first pylon (oregon side) under the highway at 20-25' and 35-50'.

The larger fish were caught on plugs after dark on underwater ledges. Just troll your plugs slowly around the underwater hills and you'll get one eventually.

 

[bubs]

Nice job! What kind of bycatches,if any, do you get when fishing Walleye in Oct?

 

[Rifflemap]

We caught 5-6 pretty good size small-mouth bass. A lot of it has to do with the nightcrawler on the worm harness, you're essentially fishing with bait and trolling it slowly (below the dam you can drift with the current most days).

 

[Gulfstream]

Thanks,I would love to try that sometime!

 

[bass]

Great job! Also want to thank you for explaining your strategy.

 

[Rifflemap]

bass No problem, I love sharing information with people. There's plenty of fish in Oregon, no need to be super protective.

 

[bass]

bass No problem, I love sharing information with people. There's plenty of fish in Oregon, no need to be super protective.

I definitely agree with you there. My friend Brian says "Thinking that you have a secret sturgeon spot on the Willamette is like someone thinking that the location of their favorite McDonald's is a secret".

 

[Rifflemap]

bass I'm always looking for more like minded people to help create more content to share with others. If you're interested, shoot me a PM.

 

[MrGrumpFish]

I have heard the lower Columbia river near the I-5 bridge at the train crossing is a good trolling spot for walleye this time of year and that the upper river fishes best in the summer? I would love to fish lower this weekend if anyone with knowledge of the I-5 area thinks it would be worth while. Need to do something while I wait for winter steel to come in.

Thanks for any advice here!

Chris

 

[MrGrumpFish]

opcorn:

 

[steelhead_slayer]

Great post! thanks for sharing the info. one day I'm going to need to invest in a boat