C_Run
Well-known member
Nice. Did you go get a tetanus shot?
Willamette River Fishing Reports
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bass
Most Featured
No @C_Run I did not get a tetanus shot. The lure was pretty new and the hooks pretty clean. When all the COVID stuff settles down I should go get a booster though.
fromthelogo
Active member
@bass, thanks again for the write up. I think it is realistic that I may not be able to get out until late in the season. Glad you had success catching some fish. Stay safe.
bass
Most Featured
Thanks @fromthelogo . I was pleasantly surprised by how active the fish were. Nothing more fun than catching them on active baits.
I was really amazed that several of the fish jumped during the fights and they all put up a good fight. I was glad the one was on vidoe. I am sure this cooling trend were are in now is not good for the bass fishing but I am looking forward to the next patch of sunny days.
I was really amazed that several of the fish jumped during the fights and they all put up a good fight. I was glad the one was on vidoe. I am sure this cooling trend were are in now is not good for the bass fishing but I am looking forward to the next patch of sunny days.
troutdude
Moderator
"That was even less fun than it sounds."
"Brings a whole new meaning to barbless on the Willamette. "
Perhaps the 2 funniest lines ever written on OFF! LOL
As the unOFFicial Mayor of OFF'sville...I dub thee the Pat McManus of OFF'sville!
"Brings a whole new meaning to barbless on the Willamette. "
Perhaps the 2 funniest lines ever written on OFF! LOL
As the unOFFicial Mayor of OFF'sville...I dub thee the Pat McManus of OFF'sville!
bass
Most Featured
Thanks @troutdude ! I am glad that you can laugh at my suffering along with me 
N
newfydog
0
I know I can go fishing and maintain social distancing....I just don't want to get hurt and use any medical care and equipment. I seem to be good at getting hurt wading, last year dislocated an elbow.
Good job handling it yourself. Thanks for the report!
Good job handling it yourself. Thanks for the report!
F
Fred
0
You guys have any advice on how to fish a rattletrap?
fromthelogo
Active member
For learning about bass fishing techniques, I Google YouTube videos. I’ve found that the ones by KVD are usually very very good.
bass
Most Featured
newfydog said:
Good thinking! I think wading is definitely one of the most dangerous ways to fish. I generally feel pretty safe in kayak as long as I keep my stupidity in check
bass
Most Featured
Fred said:
The great thing about a rattletrap is that there is no wrong way to fish. I fish it a variety of ways and let the fish tell me what they want on a given day. I caught most of the fish this last time on a steady retrieve. I often mix that up with pauses and jerks but some days, like last Sunday, a steady retrieve was king.
To outline it clearly (in no particular order).
1. Steady retrieve at a slow to moderate pace.
2. Burn it in as fast as you can.
3. Reel and stop, works with 1 and 2.
4. Jerk it in. Fish it like a jerkbait but faster. Gives a very erratic result that on some days is dynamite.
5. Combinations of all of the above.
The other thing that is pretty surprising is that even though they have two trebles the way the line attaches makes them snag up way less than you would think. I always bring a lure retriever but I did not need to use it on Sunday even though I was often ticking the lure off of rocks and whos knows what else.
bass
Most Featured
fromthelogo said:
KVD is awesome!
F
Fred
0
I like tacticalbassin's youtube vidoes.fromthelogo said:
F
Fred
0
Thanks for the info. What kind of lure retriever do you use I could save a lot of money if I got one lol.bass said:
F
Fishnsleep
Active member
Planned to get up at 5:00 a.m. and drive to Willamette Park to fish for salmon in the Willamette River by Sellwood Bridge. Decided to “sleep in” and finally got about about 6:00 a.m., opened the garage door to a steady rain, then decided to go back inside and watch the news and drink a cup of coffee. The fishing has been very slow so I figured maybe not worth the effort. Then I remembered the very expensive, but great, Simms jacket and bibs I had…so a little rain!
Finally launched about 7:00 a.m. and started fishing about 7:30 with a pro troll and spinner, I was fishing alone. Wanted to try different positions for my rod, the angle, to make the action on the pro troll better. I though I had it looking pretty good. While letting my spinner down to 32’ on the line counter, the depth I like with pro trolls, I felt a sudden tug, then another, I engaged the drag, and after a few very exciting minutes had a hatchery springer in the boat, I was ecstatic.
It was only about 8:45 a.m. so I figured I would troll towards downtown until 11:00 a.m. and enjoy my success. About 10:00 a.m. I heard something, the drag on my reel going out, my first thought was how did I get snagged on the bottom? and I looked at my depth finder, about 65’, then I comprehended the situation! I grabbed the rod and put a slightly larger hatchery springer in the boat. Incredible, from saying the heck with fishing today, to one of the best springer days I have had. Like they say, you cannot catch them from the couch. Wonder if I can do this again? Sure is fun trying!
Finally launched about 7:00 a.m. and started fishing about 7:30 with a pro troll and spinner, I was fishing alone. Wanted to try different positions for my rod, the angle, to make the action on the pro troll better. I though I had it looking pretty good. While letting my spinner down to 32’ on the line counter, the depth I like with pro trolls, I felt a sudden tug, then another, I engaged the drag, and after a few very exciting minutes had a hatchery springer in the boat, I was ecstatic.
It was only about 8:45 a.m. so I figured I would troll towards downtown until 11:00 a.m. and enjoy my success. About 10:00 a.m. I heard something, the drag on my reel going out, my first thought was how did I get snagged on the bottom? and I looked at my depth finder, about 65’, then I comprehended the situation! I grabbed the rod and put a slightly larger hatchery springer in the boat. Incredible, from saying the heck with fishing today, to one of the best springer days I have had. Like they say, you cannot catch them from the couch. Wonder if I can do this again? Sure is fun trying!
T
troutmasta
0
Nice Work! That's a good Springer day
F
Fishnsleep
Active member
Thanks! Think luck is definitely a factor, but I'll take it.
jamisonace
Most Featured
Great day! Not sure how I feel about you plucking them out before they get to the McKenzie though. LOL
bass
Most Featured
I had not been out on the Willamette for 8 weeks. I did not want to go out until most of the ramps were open in the hopes of not having to deal with any crowds. This past Saturday (May 16) was perfect. The forecast was for rain which I knew would help keep away the pleasure boaters. @portlandrain and I decided it was the perfect storm, so to speak, for getting out on the water together
I got to the ramp a little before sunrise. @portlandrain was already on the water and there were a couple of empty trailers in the parking lot. After such a long absence I was chomping at the bit to get out on the water and start kicking some bass.
It felt so good to be on the water again. There is just something that is so healing about bobbing around in the water in my kayak!
Conditions were calm and I started out throwing a topwater (stick bait). On my second cast I had a small fish swipe at it and miss. That is usually a good sign. I kept throwing that bait and every time I started thinking about switching up I would get a hit from a small bass. After a bit the wind picked up a tiny bit so I switched over to a whopper plopper. Overall, the first hour and a half of topwater fishing I had a total of two tiny bass to show for a lot of effort.
I switched over to underwater lures and kept working along the shoreline. With the water temp around 57 degrees I figured the smallmouth would have to along the shoreline either in prespawn or starting to spawn. I kept cycling through a variety of lures: jerkbait, swimbait, ned rig, wacky rig and a spinnerbait. Other than a ton of moss and the occasional tiny fish all I was doing was getting in casting practice.
Even my favorite point on that section of the river only yielded copious amounts of algae. @portlandrain was having slightly better luck having caught one nice fish. I was swapping out my jerkbait for a rattletrap and trying to decide what to do when I saw a bass chasing some bait out on mid-river hump. I zoomed out there and started working over a hump that topped out around 5-6'.
Within a handful of casts with the rattletrap I had just tied on and I had my first real bass of the day.
It had taken me about 3 hours to get that first decent fish and it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I yelled over to @portlandrain and he came out to join me on the hump. Within a few casts I caught another on the rattletrap:
Of course, not every fish was a bass but I don't mind catching these guys either:
@portlandrain caught a couple as well. I thought we were going to sit on that spot all day and hammer them but then the bite slowed. Even when they were biting it was tough fishing. There was a ton of algae coming down the river and more often than not we would get slimed on the retrieve and have to clean off our lures.
After fishing that spot for a while with no hits we moved upstream to the next hump and had a similar repeat We each would catch a handful of fish and then the bite would slow down. They seemed to like that rattletrap but it was hanging up so much so I decided to put a similar but shallower running lure (baby bull shad) on a different rod and give that a try. For me that was a really good deal. It picked up less gunk (only had to clean it off after every 3rd cast instead of after most casts) and the bass were loving it.
That type of pattern continued for most of the day. The thing that we noticed was that when the wind would die down the bite was definitely much slower, especially as the day went on. When there was a ripple on the water they bit well. The bass seemed to be in small schools. So many times during the day I would catch 2 or 3 bass on consecutive casts and then nothing for a half hour to 45 minutes before finding the next group. Even if not on consecutive casts I don't think I fished a spot where I caught only 1 bass. There was always at least a second fish within a handful of casts of the first. The fish were mostly a mix of 1 and a half lb fish and 10 inchers.
If either @portlandrain or I caught a fish it was almost always the case that we would move close to each other and each catch them good for a short while. The two lures I was toggling betwen were the baby bull shad in rainbow trout color and my old standby a 4" white swimbait on a 1/4oz head.
In the middle of the afternoon the bite had died once again so we decided to head up and fish around Rock Island and it sloughs. Out in the main river near the mouth of a slough I pulled up to a nice current break. I thought to myself, "there has to be a nice fish right there". I tossed a Ned rig out behind that rock and hooked into a beast. That fish had to weigh at least 4lbs. I stupidly turned and tried to turn on the video camera and that fish came out of the water like a rocket, violently shaking its head. I think it partly jumped so it could look me in the eye and laugh as it threw the hook. I felt sooooo stupid. I could not believe I had let that fish escape. It takes some extra special talent to lose a hooked fish on a Ned rig.
Shortly after this I head @portlandrain yell "Oh dear"
Oops, I guess that was "oh, deer"
I fished out in the main current for a bit longer and only managed another dink. We decided to head up into the sloughs. The water in the sloughs ended up being a couple of degrees warmer in there (~60) and the fish seemed to be more active. I started throwing a wacky rigged Senko on a drop shot with a tiny weight on the dropper (probably about 1/16 oz). I just wanted the lure to get down a little more quickly than an unweighted dropshot.
I started fishing a promising spot when I saw my line jump. I set the hook and the rod tip did not move as I jerked up. For a moment I thought I was snagged but then that snag started to move. The fish took off and started ripping drag. It stayed deep and kept making runs in different directions peeling drag off my spinning reel. I yelled out that I had a good one on and that I was worried that I had snagged a carp.
Once the fish started to tire a bit I reached back and turned my camera on. I was really careful to keep my line tight this time As I worked the fish to the surface I could see that it was a good smallmouth. I was so stoked. I carefully finished the fight and was able to lip a very nice 3lb 7oz smallmouth - the scale bounced between 3lb 6oz and 3lb 7oz and I am shamelessly taking that extra ounce
I spent the next hour or two tossing that little drop shot rig. It was working really well for me since the lure was staying clear of any bottom gunk and there was little to no algae other than what was on the bottom. The best spot I found was along this little rocky hump/island. I landed 5 decent fish off of that one little area. @portlandrain fished ahead of me and was doing well on a Ned rig. He caught a nice 2lber near some folks fishing the opposite bank.
As it got to be late in the afternoon @portlandrain decided to leave. I left the slough as well but decided to see if the fish were still on the humps on the way back. They were
It was just a great day on the water for us. The best days for me are the ones where you have to really struggle to figure out a pattern but you get rewarded for putting the effort. I was on the water for over 11 hours and I ended up with 25 bass and a handful of pikieminnows. That is for sure not a red hot catch rate, We definitely worked hard for each fish we caught but it will stick out in my memory as a special day.
Here is some video footage that really shows off my complete lack of video editing skills:
I got to the ramp a little before sunrise. @portlandrain was already on the water and there were a couple of empty trailers in the parking lot. After such a long absence I was chomping at the bit to get out on the water and start kicking some bass.
It felt so good to be on the water again. There is just something that is so healing about bobbing around in the water in my kayak!
Conditions were calm and I started out throwing a topwater (stick bait). On my second cast I had a small fish swipe at it and miss. That is usually a good sign. I kept throwing that bait and every time I started thinking about switching up I would get a hit from a small bass. After a bit the wind picked up a tiny bit so I switched over to a whopper plopper. Overall, the first hour and a half of topwater fishing I had a total of two tiny bass to show for a lot of effort.
I switched over to underwater lures and kept working along the shoreline. With the water temp around 57 degrees I figured the smallmouth would have to along the shoreline either in prespawn or starting to spawn. I kept cycling through a variety of lures: jerkbait, swimbait, ned rig, wacky rig and a spinnerbait. Other than a ton of moss and the occasional tiny fish all I was doing was getting in casting practice.
Even my favorite point on that section of the river only yielded copious amounts of algae. @portlandrain was having slightly better luck having caught one nice fish. I was swapping out my jerkbait for a rattletrap and trying to decide what to do when I saw a bass chasing some bait out on mid-river hump. I zoomed out there and started working over a hump that topped out around 5-6'.
Within a handful of casts with the rattletrap I had just tied on and I had my first real bass of the day.
It had taken me about 3 hours to get that first decent fish and it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I yelled over to @portlandrain and he came out to join me on the hump. Within a few casts I caught another on the rattletrap:
Of course, not every fish was a bass but I don't mind catching these guys either:
@portlandrain caught a couple as well. I thought we were going to sit on that spot all day and hammer them but then the bite slowed. Even when they were biting it was tough fishing. There was a ton of algae coming down the river and more often than not we would get slimed on the retrieve and have to clean off our lures.
After fishing that spot for a while with no hits we moved upstream to the next hump and had a similar repeat We each would catch a handful of fish and then the bite would slow down. They seemed to like that rattletrap but it was hanging up so much so I decided to put a similar but shallower running lure (baby bull shad) on a different rod and give that a try. For me that was a really good deal. It picked up less gunk (only had to clean it off after every 3rd cast instead of after most casts) and the bass were loving it.
That type of pattern continued for most of the day. The thing that we noticed was that when the wind would die down the bite was definitely much slower, especially as the day went on. When there was a ripple on the water they bit well. The bass seemed to be in small schools. So many times during the day I would catch 2 or 3 bass on consecutive casts and then nothing for a half hour to 45 minutes before finding the next group. Even if not on consecutive casts I don't think I fished a spot where I caught only 1 bass. There was always at least a second fish within a handful of casts of the first. The fish were mostly a mix of 1 and a half lb fish and 10 inchers.
If either @portlandrain or I caught a fish it was almost always the case that we would move close to each other and each catch them good for a short while. The two lures I was toggling betwen were the baby bull shad in rainbow trout color and my old standby a 4" white swimbait on a 1/4oz head.
In the middle of the afternoon the bite had died once again so we decided to head up and fish around Rock Island and it sloughs. Out in the main river near the mouth of a slough I pulled up to a nice current break. I thought to myself, "there has to be a nice fish right there". I tossed a Ned rig out behind that rock and hooked into a beast. That fish had to weigh at least 4lbs. I stupidly turned and tried to turn on the video camera and that fish came out of the water like a rocket, violently shaking its head. I think it partly jumped so it could look me in the eye and laugh as it threw the hook. I felt sooooo stupid. I could not believe I had let that fish escape. It takes some extra special talent to lose a hooked fish on a Ned rig.
Shortly after this I head @portlandrain yell "Oh dear"
Oops, I guess that was "oh, deer"
I fished out in the main current for a bit longer and only managed another dink. We decided to head up into the sloughs. The water in the sloughs ended up being a couple of degrees warmer in there (~60) and the fish seemed to be more active. I started throwing a wacky rigged Senko on a drop shot with a tiny weight on the dropper (probably about 1/16 oz). I just wanted the lure to get down a little more quickly than an unweighted dropshot.
I started fishing a promising spot when I saw my line jump. I set the hook and the rod tip did not move as I jerked up. For a moment I thought I was snagged but then that snag started to move. The fish took off and started ripping drag. It stayed deep and kept making runs in different directions peeling drag off my spinning reel. I yelled out that I had a good one on and that I was worried that I had snagged a carp.
Once the fish started to tire a bit I reached back and turned my camera on. I was really careful to keep my line tight this time
As I worked the fish to the surface I could see that it was a good smallmouth. I was so stoked. I carefully finished the fight and was able to lip a very nice 3lb 7oz smallmouth - the scale bounced between 3lb 6oz and 3lb 7oz and I am shamelessly taking that extra ounce I spent the next hour or two tossing that little drop shot rig. It was working really well for me since the lure was staying clear of any bottom gunk and there was little to no algae other than what was on the bottom. The best spot I found was along this little rocky hump/island. I landed 5 decent fish off of that one little area. @portlandrain fished ahead of me and was doing well on a Ned rig. He caught a nice 2lber near some folks fishing the opposite bank.
As it got to be late in the afternoon @portlandrain decided to leave. I left the slough as well but decided to see if the fish were still on the humps on the way back. They were
It was just a great day on the water for us. The best days for me are the ones where you have to really struggle to figure out a pattern but you get rewarded for putting the effort. I was on the water for over 11 hours and I ended up with 25 bass and a handful of pikieminnows. That is for sure not a red hot catch rate, We definitely worked hard for each fish we caught but it will stick out in my memory as a special day.
Here is some video footage that really shows off my complete lack of video editing skills:
fromthelogo
Active member
Great write-up as always. Looks like you were above the Falls. I’ve taken the same approach as you with waiting for more ramps to open. I’m planning on going Wednesday for the first time this year. Going to launch at Willamette Park - Portland and fish to LO.
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