Rivers Tualatin River Fishing Reports

[nikita_pdx]

I was down there Tuesday afternoon throwing tubes and neds. Not a single take. The water has become warm and stained, plus kayakers never help fishing.

 

[PhoFish]

I haven't caught a small mouth since i was a kid

 

[pdxflyguy]

I agree about the T. It’s better downstream past fields bridge park. Clearer, narrower, quicker.

 

[nikita_pdx]

There’s plenty of fish, not big, but for sure in the lower stretches

 

[PhoFish]

plenty of public access points too? I see a couple around Fields bridge park, just wondering where I can expect to get on the river for non-boat fishing

 

[pdxflyguy]

Spent an hour on the lower Tualatin again, almost at the mouth, throwing wacky rigged brown senkos on a weightless hook with my spin rod near the Pete’s mtn bridge. Very first cast , pulled in a little 10” smallmouth bass. He hit it while I was talking to my little son and I barely felt the bite on my ultralight rod with 6# line. Next few casts yielded a couple of bites & a couple snags, pulled one more smallie in about the same size , and then we had to go because my wife showed up with pizza and beer. And juice , my kids are little. This was at like 4pm when it was hot out & the sun was shining on the water so my expectations were not high. The two I caught seemed to come from the middle -ish of the river , not bank or rocky shore, but they both definitely hit it after the lure had sunk to the bottom.

any advice on extending casting distance when you’re throwing such a light setup? There was some very fishy looking shade across the other side of the river but I couldn’t get it that far.

My next step will be catching one with my fly rod although that area isn’t super conducive to casting so I’ll have to move upstream, or wade in & cast directly up/ downstream.

 

[pdxflyguy]

plenty of public access points too? I see a couple around Fields bridge park, just wondering where I can expect to get on the river for non-boat fishing

Plenty of bank access at fields bridge park. Just walk the paved paths that go along the river & you will see plenty of spots. I haven’t fished there much but I live walking distance from that park and take my kids bike riding through there all the time.

 

[PhoFish]

I am not sure if it would work with your setup, but when i fish flies on my spinning setup i use an a-just-a-bubble and fill it a bit with water depending on how much cast/buoyancy i want

 

[Admin]

any advice on extending casting distance when you’re throwing such a light setup? There was some very fishy looking shade across the other side of the river but I couldn’t get it that far.

Dropshot.

P.S. It would be really cool if you post pictures of those spots you fish.

 

[pdxflyguy]

Yeah I keep forgetting to take pics.

The problem with adding weight is that the entire reason I’m using this setup is so the silicon worm & light line sink slowly after the cast. If I was okay with accelerating the sink I’d just use an 1/8 oz jig and toss it all over the place.

 

[PhoFish]

you can just fill the a just a bubble with a very small amount of water and it should not make the line sink any faster... at least that is how it works when i have a dry fly on the end.

 

[fromthelogo]

All other things remaining equal, a longer rod will increase casting distance.

And another way to increase casting distance is to use braid with a fluorocarbon leader.

 

[PhoFish]

I watched a couple senko videos, nevermind on the a just a bubble

 

[pdxflyguy]

I watched a couple senko videos, nevermind on the a just a bubble

Yeah no worries - i was not using a fly setup, it was spin.

That area by the mouth of the river seems like it would be Very productive if you knew where all the snags to avoid were. And there are many.

 

[Admin]

if you knew where all the snags to avoid were. And there are many.

use offset hooks

 

[pdxflyguy]

That’s cool. Is there a way to do it while wacky rigging?

 

[Admin]

That’s cool. Is there a way to do it while wacky rigging?

put a hook not in a head, but in the middle part

 

[PhoFish]

I plan to try my luck with Senko for some bass this week - thanks for the idea ! Love learning new stuff.

 

[fromthelogo]

You can also use a weed less wacky hook like the Gamakatsu Weedless Finesse Wide Gap Hook.

 

[bass]

I used to fish the big T a ton from the shore before I got my kayak. My goto lure was a 3" curly tail grub on a 1/8oz round jighead (unpainted). I would attach that to a safety pin type spinner harness. That is a super cheap lure that catches a ton of fish and is partially snagless. That whole rig probably cost less than $2.

I would cast it and let it sink to the bottom and then slowly reel it in. I would usually lose a lure or two each trip but by dragging it through the wood on the bottom I would catch fish.

I recommend fishing something that is pretty snagless and not expensive. I would stick to the above lure, a shaky head or a texas rigged plastic worm. All of those are pretty snagless so you can fish them where the fish are and they will all catch fish. I used all three of those but the safety pin spinner was my favorite.

Another lure to try (I did not fish these back then) would be Ned rig with a weedless jig head.

As mentioned above a wacky rigged senko is always a good lure, but the Tualatin always seemed a little murky and the wacky rigged senko did not get deep enough. You can weight it but the issue is that with the soft plastic orthogonal to the line it hangs up in the wood too easily even with a weedless hook.