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Hey all!
Although the Covid crazyness, the wildfires, and the election have REALLY screwed up 2020 for me, it looks as though the Ranch on the Columbia will become my new home within a few weeks!
My Brother and I were on our annual fishing trip to Bank's Lake for his birthday at the end of September. I have never seen the fishing so bad there. Hot, weird orange sky all day, and not even a whisper of wind in 3 days. We caught a few smallmouth, tons of small perch, but not one Walleye (not even a dink). I knew something was up when my usual walleye hotspots were filled with the small perch, which means the walleye weren't there.
So, we decided to go dump the boat into the Columbia at Elmer City to head down and check out the shoreline at the Ranch. It was the WORST conditions for Trout (Hot, dead still, little current, and 2 pm), but hey, may as well try. After checking out the access and our 3300' of shoreline, we tied up to an old snag and waited for the 3 boats fishing to pass by us. They all said it was dead. On my second cast, the trout in the picture hammered home. Great fight on a pretty light rod, although had it been much bigger I likely wouldn't have gotten it in as I was using 6lb leader (water is crystal clear). It weighed 8 lbs. My brother then got very interested and got his gear out and soon he had a fat 5 lb'er. Over the next hour, I caught and released 3 more triploids from 4-6 lbs, and my brother caught a nice 6 lb'er that he also released, and a 4 lb'er that he kept for our Dad. We quit before the "bite" stopped, but every fish was so packed with huge crawfish that they were puking them up and the 8 lb'er had 12 in it's belly that were 3-6" long (all soft shell)! I can't believe they were still hunting, I guess it's just their nature.
We were so pleased (and HOT) that decided to head back to camp. The water was so clear, we could see fish swimming on the bottom. I saw several fish that were easily 12-15 lbs LAZILY swim under the boat, my brother swears he saw one that was "3 feet long" which doesn't surprise me. "You are going to catch the new record" he said later. Also saw several schools of the biggest carp I have ever seen, and I have guided most of the lower Columbia River and seen/caught/bowfished them up to 25 lbs.
I am really excited to start my retirement in my new home. Every fish we caught we could have easily caught from shore, and we never tried any other spot along our shoreline, even though much of it looked to me like great spots for many species. I'm like a kid waiting to open my Christmas gifts under the tree, and hopefully I will soon be posting great photos all the time. 20201002_142457 (2).jpg I'm really looking forward to figuring out the Burbot, as I have never even fished for them.
Tight lines All!!
 

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