Smallies on the Willamette

[bbbass]

No boat for me. Always used to fish for em in smaller creeks wading with a fly rod. Sometimes even down to a 2 wt. Hit em with wooly buggers and nyphms with rubber legs, or grasshoppers on top, or drag a crawdad pattern or sculpin through the silt using a sink tip.

If you had a boat, you'd be in Fat City!... Fishin from the bank is a rough go.

After a few years off, I'm anxious to get back to fishin. ODFW wants a significant contribution tho, then there's the cost of fuel. Sigh.

 

[bbbass]

It got so small mouth bore me or something. I absolutely love large mouth though. Maybe if I lived in large mouth country I'd feel the same about them? And crave smallies?

It's like hooking a bull vs an antelope I guess?

View attachment 455754

Wifey digs Large Mouth too!

View attachment 455755

We don't get to fish large mouth that much. This is Wifey's best at 5.4 pounds.

NICE!!!!

My biggest is 11lbs caught out of Unity Reservoir on a huge oversize Fat Rap. Next biggest was 10lbs caught in N. Carolina caught on an 11" purple worm. Largemouth fishing is too slow for me anymore. I like catchin a bunch of smallies cuz the wiggle on the line is the giggle for me. If I want heavy fish, I go for steelhead/salmon. It's all good!!!!!!

 

[Mister Bisley]

When I used to fish for them, regularly, in the Willamette I would go by when the river hit 53 degrees for three days, it was time to go. Fish places just off channel with slight current, rocky bottom, or rocks nearby. Fish right up into trees and black berries. If the water was muddy we'd use black as it shows up as a silhouette better. Black 6" worms, fat black 4" grubs, both with chartreuse tails. Clear(er) water I used mostly cammo colors in 4" grubs. 1/4-1/8 oz jig heads.

I haven't fished smallies much in the past few years. I liked the Oregon City to Milwaukee stretch. Towing the boat down and back from there, during rush hours, got to be too much of a hassle with PDX moron drivers. Some people get intop them in the harbor. I never got the hang of getting them in the harbor though.

Thanks for the sage advice

 

[WAYNO]

If you had a boat, you'd be in Fat City!... Fishin from the bank is a rough go.
.

I think the most smallmouth I've ever seen in my life was at the Cottonwood boat ramp on the John Day River outside of Wasco. It was like fishing in a hatchery, with no boat required. Throw ANYTHING, and the little bass will absolutely climb on the bait. Way too many bass here, so a pounder is big.

 

[Mister Bisley]

I love fishing Smallies because I grew up in the mid-Atlantic and spent a lot of summers in FL as well, where we didn't have a whole lot of Smallmouth action.

We were all about Largemouths and Stripers(we call the Rockfish in the Chesapeake region). My biggest Largemouth was a 12 lb 8 oz monster, caught in less than a foot of water, in a retention pond by grandparents house in FL.

I'm kind of new to river fishing and Smallmouth are a great species to get your feet wet with. I plan on going for Steelhead and Salmon eventually, as we had zero of either back east.

 

[Geardo]

If you had a boat, you'd be in Fat City!... Fishin from the bank is a rough go.

After a few years off, I'm anxious to get back to fishin. ODFW wants a significant contribution tho, then there's the cost of fuel. Sigh.

Its ok. I like it rough .

 

[Flymph]

I caught an 8lb largemouth in lackamas once, they're like dragging in a bucket... smallies are a lot more fun!

 

[slimmer13]

I caught an 8lb largemouth in lackamas once, they're like dragging in a bucket... smallies are a lot more fun!

Especially on 4lb test

 

[Flymph]

Especially on 4lb test

I use 6lbs test and 10lb test, since the places i fish have averages of 2lb fish and go up to about 5lbs.

 

[slimmer13]

I use 6lbs test and 10lb test, since the places i fish have averages of 2lb fish and go up to about 5lbs.

I don't eat the fish out of there, but the most fun fishing I've ever had, was pulling a 4 lb smallmouth out of Long Lake with a red jig and a half a worm on 4lb test. I like to feel them run.

 

[bbbass]

Its ok. I like it rough .

I heard that about you... just earned yourself a trip to "Quotes taken out of context".

 

[No_Regerts]

I use 6lbs test and 10lb test, since the places i fish have averages of 2lb fish and go up to about 5lbs.

I got 40# braid on my flipping stick....

I have a boat set up for bass and walleye fishing. I am pretty open to anyone joining me if you're not a weirdo.

 

[Geardo]

joining me if you're not a weirdo.

Dangit

 

[Mistman]

Speaking of light line, a bud of mine (who owns Wasatch Custom Rods in New Mexico and is also Gary Lewis's uncle) and I used to light line Steelhead and Salmon. Got a 13 lbs native winter hen on the upper Kalama on 4 lbs test w/a custom 12' Fenwick Noodle from the bank. Fishing the upper Clack for summer Steelhead one year and started catching trout drifting a single rubber egg. I switched to 4 lbs leader and hooked an 8 lbs Steelhead on the next cast. I ended up about 1/3 of a mile down river through heavy current before I landed it in some slack water.

I was fishing the narrows on the N Umpqua years back, I think there were my cousin and 4-5 other guys fishing the slot. I was using 6 lbs test and a custom Sage 9' drifter, everyone else was running 10# in clear water. I hooked 5 and landed 3 during the day, one other guy hooked one but can't recall if he landed it. They were giving me a hard time about light lining heavy water but I knew what I was doing and after a few hours I didn't hear a peep out of them. I basically started out Steelheading w/light line. The rod builder I started fishing w/grew up on the Kalama, his parents owned property on one of the best holes on the lower river. When St. Helens blew and all the Toutle fish came up the Kalama Steelheading was rediculous. You had to work on not foul hooking them. That's when he started light lining and building rods, I met him around the same time and he turned me onto to it. He was ordering competition line from France in 3 and 3.5 lbs test. We'd just put a little tiny cluster of eggs on a little hook and throw it into a tailout holding a smear of fish. Landing them was the hard part but there were so many we didn't care if they broke off, we'd just tie on another hook and get another one. A couple years later I caught a 20 lbs chrome buck on 6 lbs test out of his drift boat a mile above 1-5, that was 45 minutes on the watch, weighed it and got pictures at the store there by the RR bridge. I watched my friend land a 12 lbs Chinook and a crazy Silver which I got into the net before it got ballistic on 4 lbs test. We didn't always use light line, I have some 12 lbs in my vest. I always drift fish the Deschutes w/8 lbs leader or use 8 lbs on a spin rod and have landed up to an 18 lbs hen. They run but that's part of the fun, hooking them is the most important part. Fish can be more line sensitive than people think especially when the bites slow.

I've got 12 rods made by him, he helped me build a couple of them. Mostly Sage, a couple Fenwick, a Loomis and a Lamiglass. Always had a lifetime warranty, if I broke one he fixed it, I've broken a few. I've fished a lot of farm ponds for bass for giggles, 3 lbs my biggest. I hear there are some bruisers in the lake in Vernonia, I fly fished it for pan-fish but never seriously for bass.

sorry 'bout the derail, just started typing......

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I used to guide on Table Rock Lake outside Branson, MO. It is a Corps of Engineers lake up to 200' deep in places, 70 miles long and averages about a mile wide. There are lots of gravel bars and dead cedars in the water. This time of year crank baits would take both smallmouth and largemouth. The most fun about right now would be top water. A Rapala or a Rebel stick minnow thrown in among the dead trees and just twitched now and then would pretty quickly result in an explosion, as a fish would hit it hard from down below. That's lots of fun. But my favorite bait was a Zara Spook. I used to be pretty good at "walkin'" it.

 

[Mister Bisley]

Speaking of light line, a bud of mine (who owns Wasatch Custom Rods in New Mexico and is also Gary Lewis's uncle) and I used to light line Steelhead and Salmon. Got a 13 lbs native winter hen on the upper Kalama on 4 lbs test w/a custom 12' Fenwick Noodle from the bank. Fishing the upper Clack for summer Steelhead one year and started catching trout drifting a single rubber egg. I switched to 4 lbs leader and hooked an 8 lbs Steelhead on the next cast. I ended up about 1/3 of a mile down river through heavy current before I landed it in some slack water.

I was fishing the narrows on the N Umpqua years back, I think there were my cousin and 4-5 other guys fishing the slot. I was using 6 lbs test and a custom Sage 9' drifter, everyone else was running 10# in clear water. I hooked 5 and landed 3 during the day, one other guy hooked one but can't recall if he landed it. They were giving me a hard time about light lining heavy water but I knew what I was doing and after a few hours I didn't hear a peep out of them. I basically started out Steelheading w/light line. The rod builder I started fishing w/grew up on the Kalama, his parents owned property on one of the best holes on the lower river. When St. Helens blew and all the Toutle fish came up the Kalama Steelheading was rediculous. You had to work on not foul hooking them. That's when he started light lining and building rods, I met him around the same time and he turned me onto to it. He was ordering competition line from France in 3 and 3.5 lbs test. We'd just put a little tiny cluster of eggs on a little hook and throw it into a tailout holding a smear of fish. Landing them was the hard part but there were so many we didn't care if they broke off, we'd just tie on another hook and get another one. A couple years later I caught a 20 lbs chrome buck on 6 lbs test out of his drift boat a mile above 1-5, that was 45 minutes on the watch, weighed it and got pictures at the store there by the RR bridge. I watched my friend land a 12 lbs Chinook and a crazy Silver which I got into the net before it got ballistic on 4 lbs test. We didn't always use light line, I have some 12 lbs in my vest. I always drift fish the Deschutes w/8 lbs leader or use 8 lbs on a spin rod and have landed up to an 18 lbs hen. They run but that's part of the fun, hooking them is the most important part. Fish can be more line sensitive than people think especially when the bites slow.

I've got 12 rods made by him, he helped me build a couple of them. Mostly Sage, a couple Fenwick, a Loomis and a Lamiglass. Always had a lifetime warranty, if I broke one he fixed it, I've broken a few. I've fished a lot of farm ponds for bass for giggles, 3 lbs my biggest. I hear there are some bruisers in the lake in Vernonia, I fly fished it for pan-fish but never seriously for bass.

sorry 'bout the derail, just started typing......

I really enjoyed your write up...I could sit around and read(or listen) to this stuff all day

 

[Mister Bisley]

I used to guide on Table Rock Lake outside Branson, MO. It is a Corps of Engineers lake up to 200' deep in places, 70 miles long and averages about a mile wide. There are lots of gravel bars and dead cedars in the water. This time of year crank baits would take both smallmouth and largemouth. The most fun about right now would be top water. A Rapala or a Rebel stick minnow thrown in among the dead trees and just twitched now and then would pretty quickly result in an explosion, as a fish would hit it hard from down below. That's lots of fun. But my favorite bait was a Zara Spook. I used to be pretty good at "walkin'" it.

Walking is an excellent technique to have. I could use a little practice

 

[bbbass]

, I fly fished it for pan-fish but never seriously for bass.

sorry 'bout the derail, just started typing......

In North Carolina, I used to fish for largemouth with a 9' flyrod and cork poppers. Topwater hits are soooo impressive! Fun!!

Excellent derail/diversion... Thank you!!!

 

[Mistman]

I really enjoyed your write up...I could sit around and read(or listen) to this stuff all day

and I'm one of those guys that can lose 1/2 a day shooting the bull, can probably tell from my long winded posts.......

 

[bbbass]

and I'm one of those guys that can lose 1/2 a day shooting the bull, can probably tell from my long winded posts.......

Most long posts I can't get thru... maybe I got Adult ADD, but I read every bit of yours on fishing with light line.