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I hit the Columbia out of Stevenson, WA on Saturday the 6th. The wind was forecast to be light - and it actually was! The only downside was the smoke from the wildfires was pretty terrible. I thought with all that smoke (like a heavy overcast all day long) that the bass would be shallow and eating topwater. I started out throwing my usual waking bait but did not get a sniff. I was really surprised. I switched over to a spinnerbait and picked up two small bass pretty quickly up shallow and then nothing.
I was pretty confused because often on these kinds of days I pick up my topwater and never put it back down. The next spot I fished I had a couple of bites on the spinnerbait that did not stick. After that I decided I should try some deeper water spots, even though I was sure that was not going to yield anything.
I arrived a nice structure that is a point that drops off into about 30' and then has a rocky hump that pops up to about 23' deep. I started tossing around the wobblehead with Zoom Z craw trailer and could not get a sniff. I thought I was marking some bass so I was once again surprised. I was thinking the fishing would be on fire and I had just gone an hour with nothing to show for it. I decided that since I thought I was marking bass I should not leave.
I picked up a drop shot and that was equally fruitless. My fishing was so fruitless I thought I was detecting the onset of scurvy
I almost left but instead thought I should give the Ned rig a shot. That turned out to be a good call. It is always hard to say if the bass just started biting or if it was the change of lure but I started getting bit and catching some fish. No big ones but after an hour of nothing the pound to pound and half fish feel pretty awesome. After a while of moving around that structure with the Ned rig the bite seemed to slow and the wind picked up a little bit.
I decided before leaving I would give the wobblehead one more try since it is so much easier to maintain bottom contact with it. So on the same structure that had yielded no bites on the wobblehead an hour before I was all of a sudden not able to keep them off of it. Maybe they just wanted to sleep in that morning. Every fish I caught for the rest of the day came on the wobblehead. I would occasionally pick up the Ned rig or drop shot for a dozen casts before going back to the money. In the end, I found a couple of spots within the spot where the bass were concentrated.
The one spot was the downstream end of the one hump. Those bass were in 26-35' of water (next to 50' of water). Another was the upstream tip of the hump in ~26' of water. The last was the tip of the point in about 22' of water. I was surprised they were that deep on an overcast day but the old saying of "don't tell the fish where the should be" perfectly described the day.
When that spot eventually died I head upstream further. I had to skip a couple of spots that had bassboats sitting on them but eventually I made it to the spot where I had caught the 5lber two weeks prior. That spot was similar to the first structure in that it was really the spot within the spot. I fished that place for about 1/2 hour (it is also a big structure) before I found them. Once again upon finding them the fishing was fast and furious.
I have to say that those fish are starting to fatten up and they seem to be getting stronger by the week. I almost lost my rod late in the day when a bass nearly ripped the rod out of my hands on a violent strike on the wobblehead as I was reeling it off the bottom for the next cast. I had quite a few hits that way. I assume they were tracking it along the bottom and when it took off towards the surface it triggered them to bite it like they were filled with rage.
The best part was the size of the fish I was catching on the wobblehead. I ended with between 10 and 12 bass over 2lbs (by the end I was not weighing some of them). My best 5 went 14lb 4oz. I had a tie for big fish with two 3lb 2oz bass. The amazing thing is that one of those 3lb 2oz fish was only ~17' long - that is a fatty!
That was an awesome day on the water!!
Here are some pics of some of the fish:
Here is video from the day:
I was pretty confused because often on these kinds of days I pick up my topwater and never put it back down. The next spot I fished I had a couple of bites on the spinnerbait that did not stick. After that I decided I should try some deeper water spots, even though I was sure that was not going to yield anything.
I arrived a nice structure that is a point that drops off into about 30' and then has a rocky hump that pops up to about 23' deep. I started tossing around the wobblehead with Zoom Z craw trailer and could not get a sniff. I thought I was marking some bass so I was once again surprised. I was thinking the fishing would be on fire and I had just gone an hour with nothing to show for it. I decided that since I thought I was marking bass I should not leave.
I picked up a drop shot and that was equally fruitless. My fishing was so fruitless I thought I was detecting the onset of scurvy
I almost left but instead thought I should give the Ned rig a shot. That turned out to be a good call. It is always hard to say if the bass just started biting or if it was the change of lure but I started getting bit and catching some fish. No big ones but after an hour of nothing the pound to pound and half fish feel pretty awesome. After a while of moving around that structure with the Ned rig the bite seemed to slow and the wind picked up a little bit.I decided before leaving I would give the wobblehead one more try since it is so much easier to maintain bottom contact with it. So on the same structure that had yielded no bites on the wobblehead an hour before I was all of a sudden not able to keep them off of it. Maybe they just wanted to sleep in that morning. Every fish I caught for the rest of the day came on the wobblehead. I would occasionally pick up the Ned rig or drop shot for a dozen casts before going back to the money. In the end, I found a couple of spots within the spot where the bass were concentrated.
The one spot was the downstream end of the one hump. Those bass were in 26-35' of water (next to 50' of water). Another was the upstream tip of the hump in ~26' of water. The last was the tip of the point in about 22' of water. I was surprised they were that deep on an overcast day but the old saying of "don't tell the fish where the should be" perfectly described the day.
When that spot eventually died I head upstream further. I had to skip a couple of spots that had bassboats sitting on them but eventually I made it to the spot where I had caught the 5lber two weeks prior. That spot was similar to the first structure in that it was really the spot within the spot. I fished that place for about 1/2 hour (it is also a big structure) before I found them. Once again upon finding them the fishing was fast and furious.
I have to say that those fish are starting to fatten up and they seem to be getting stronger by the week. I almost lost my rod late in the day when a bass nearly ripped the rod out of my hands on a violent strike on the wobblehead as I was reeling it off the bottom for the next cast. I had quite a few hits that way. I assume they were tracking it along the bottom and when it took off towards the surface it triggered them to bite it like they were filled with rage.
The best part was the size of the fish I was catching on the wobblehead. I ended with between 10 and 12 bass over 2lbs (by the end I was not weighing some of them). My best 5 went 14lb 4oz. I had a tie for big fish with two 3lb 2oz bass. The amazing thing is that one of those 3lb 2oz fish was only ~17' long - that is a fatty!
That was an awesome day on the water!!
Here are some pics of some of the fish:
Here is video from the day: