Spinners on the Clackamas

Bohemian said:
Hi again -- I stopped by the river after work to practice some more with spinners. I have been using much of the advice you all have been giving me, but I also took the BC Angling's advice and used gold w/green spinners (they have been very good to me) and almost immediately had a fish on. Unfortunately it got off. After about 4 more casts I caught a nice fish -- 30" and 8 1/2 pounds. What a fight! What a rush!

Just wanted to share...thanks!

Sweeet fish! Good job on both man!!!!!
 
Nice fish!
Brass with green #4 spinners have been what I've caught a majority of my fish on this year. The water temp has stayed colder than it has been at this time in years past so they are definitely still biting green well.

Bill at B.C. really does know what he's doin. a lot of people like to slam on him because he is grumpy towards newbie fishermen, but he knows whats goin on.
He just hired a new kid that doesn't know anything/much about fishing, so watch out taking advice from the new guy. Though most of it will be second hand from Bill.
 
Nice fish, congrats!

Bill at BC is a good guy, and is a wealth of information. Between him and Jed Davis's book I have learned quite a bit, and enjoy making/experimenting with new spinners almost as much as the fishing its self.
 
hendrixfan said:
Nice fish, congrats!

Bill at BC is a good guy, and is a wealth of information. Between him and Jed Davis's book I have learned quite a bit, and enjoy making/experimenting with new spinners almost as much as the fishing its self.

Spinner fishing for Steelhead... great book
 
Yah, I was new to fishing on the Clack this year. I would usually fish the Sandy every now and then. I went into BC and bought around $80 worth of spinner parts (and I got 2 bags of hooks that were 2 hooks short each), and Bill didn't want to even tell me a park on the Clack to use them. I'd NEVER fished the Clack in my life, and I really didn't know where to even access the river. I stopped and just said, really, just give me the name of 1 park in the area where I can see the river and he told me Cross Park. That's all I needed to start, but it took 5 minutes of me begging for a place to go. I'm sure glad for this forum. I was turned off by it, but oh well. I like the stuff he sells. Bill also told me that there are lots of places to fish for Salmon in the upper Willamette above the falls and before Hebb Park. I'm not sure about that one.
 
Bill has gotten to a point in his career that he is getting burnt out on newby after newby trying to get all kinds of free info from him. If you go in there enough and share what you have been seeing recently, he is much more likely to do the same.

When we have current there are plenty of places to fish for salmon above the falls, before canby ferry. Not for you guys on the bank, sure. but plenty of opportunity for us in boats.

He has the hooks done by weight, you can't expect someone to sit there all day and count them one by one, if you want them to remain the cheapest in town.

sounds like he treated you the same as every other newby that walks in there, dont get burnt about it. The average fishermen does not share holes or tricks with people that are not their friends, and in many cases they wont tell their friends either.
 
Another spinner question...

Another spinner question...

Is it a waste of time to fish with spinners until it gets fairly light out? -- It's still pretty dark an hour before sunrise so it seems like a spinner wouldn't be a good choice to start with early in the morning? Do you use different colors early? Any thoughts on this?

Thanks
 
spinners work fine before there is much light on the water, and even work with no light (at night in WA). If you can see well enough to cast and know where your hitting, you can catch fish on spinners. Glow works decently while its still dark out. white, chartreuse, light green, lots of lighter paint colors work great early morning and dark foggy/rainy days.
matte silver, silver, nickel, brass, gold, most finishes work.

a lot of what drives fish to bite spinners isn't the ability to see them, but how they feel them. The electrolysis your spinner is creating is a big part as well as simply the noise and vibration.
 
Bill

Bill

I'm an experienced fisherman and would say I know my stuff pretty well, but am kind of young(25). I went to his shop b/c I've heard good things about it on this site. I am in no way a newbie nor did I ask any questions about where to fish, or for any reports. He still treated me like a p.o.s. Like he was some snooty fishing god. F that dude, Ill never go there again! Sorry guys but I call em how I see em and he treated me like S**T for no reason.
 
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I've heard a lot of bad things about Bill, but he's been nothing but kind and helpful to me everytime i've been in there. He showed me how to build a spinner and helped me pick out everything I would need to build my own.
 
Yep, thats bill. and you caught him on a good day.
 
hmmm

hmmm

:confused:
 
I am not going to defend Bill, he's my comp. but I will say this....He is the one that taught me how to build a spinner, and some of the basic principals I operate OFF of, along with Osmosis. Yes hes old and surley, but then after the amount of time he's been in the business and answering the same 20 questions over the years you'd be a little grumpy too. For those of you that don't want to deal with that, you know where to find me.;)
 
So im new to fishing as well but have been going to bc's for a while now... At first he was a lil....grumpy but after i have gone there and talked with him a lil he has opened up and does nothing but help me now evan told me he would show me how to tie a spinner if i needed it ( after tossen away quite a few of his bilt ones lol). He has also helped me with sturgeon a lil too now.... so all in all GOOD guy!
 
Kodiak said:
For those of you that don't want to deal with that, you know where to find me.;)

One day ill have the money to give them a try i promiss :lol:
 
I can't sit by and not comment on this bash Bill thread. Sure we all have our quirks but in all honesty I Like Bill quite a bit. He and Osmosis have been my primary go to resources on all things spinners. Prior to meeting them both, as I have stated many times in the past, spinners were not a item I had much faith in.

However for their tutelage it opened up a new component of productive fishing.

Perhaps I have thick skin, and /or am simply willing to let others to be who they are; I have never had a problem w/ Bill nor his perceived attitude. But that is just me. However I have taken seasoned anglers with me to BC and well, they didn't share my enthusiasm for the wealth of information and materials available.

Not to hijack the thread.. Great fish Bo, glad to see your getting into them with repeated success.
 
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Sounds like he needs to get out of the business! He is burnt out and might be turning people away from this great sport. I shouldn't matter if he has been in the business for a million years, he is in a customer service business and should run it that way. Now he could be a great person and help some people but to treat some poorly is not good especially for those just getting into fishing. Kodiak is always willing to help those learn new techniques on his river and that is what customer service is about he deserves their business. Just my 2 cents.
 
What he said ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

What he said ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

:clap::clap::clap:
 
Steelhead Stalker I couldn't have said it better myself. He is a businessman and that is no way to run your business! Could you imagine going to a shoe store and being told that ya I'll sell you the shoes but I aint gonna tell you where to get the laces!
 
Please stop talking trash about Bill especially those of you who never even met him. He might have his moments, but overall he is a really nice guy and we need local producers like him to be around.
 

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