hobster
Well-known member
A buddy of mine caught quite a large smallie on the McKenzie. We did some flyfishing this evening with little luck. Anyone heard of smallmouth in the McKenzie river? Water seem to really warm too. Kind of scary.
Smallmouth in the Mac
Markk
Active member
bad news
hobster
Well-known member
Bad news indeed
troutdude
Moderator
I agree. Bad news. Would seem to me to be an illegal transplant; possibly that is.
Would that whole system be way too cold? For a warm water specie.
Would that whole system be way too cold? For a warm water specie.
hobster
Well-known member
It sure used to be that’s what is so alarming. He caught it in some frog water, so I imagine it was warmer than the rest of the river. He contacted ODFW to see if this is becoming more common place, but hasn’t heard back yet.
O. mykiss
0
I bet it’s not a transplant. The willamette has them, all it takes is for the fish to swim up the McKenzietroutdude said:
plumbertom
Active member
Smallies are very tolerant of cold water, much more so than Largemouths.troutdude said:
O. mykiss
0
I’ve caught smallmouth out of the grande ronde in March and April when the river is at flood stage and all snow melt. They were feeding like crazy on outmigrating smoltplumbertom said:
R
River pirate
New member
I'm sure if someone caught a smallmouth bass it's no doubt a illegally stocked fish! I just hate anyone illegally transplanting fish. This practice literally permanently ruined Foster Reservoir's largemouth potentially trophy Largemouth bass fishing!hobster said:
S
Snopro
Active member
See the irony?River pirate said:
troutdude
Moderator
Smallies are seen throughout the Willy system drainage basin. So it/they migrated up the Mac. Ergo, no illegal introduction that I can think of.
SilverFallsAndrew
New member
Interesting. Whenever I've floated from Armitage on the McKenzie up to Harrisburg, I've only caught trout and pikeminnow.troutdude said:
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