Rooster Rock State Park

My plans for Laurence Lake on Mount Hood fell through today (due mostly to my inability to get out of bed).  So instead of taking the kayak out to flyfish for rainbow trout, I headed out this afternoon to a state park on the Columbia River to try my hand at gear fishing for smallmouth bass.

Rooster Rock is a small slough off the main channel of the Columbia, maybe 20 miles east of Portland.  It is a big park, with camp grounds, picnic areas, a 3-lane boat ramp, and a huge parking area.  Given that it was 90 degrees here in Portland today, it was very, very busy.

I explored the channel leading out to the Columbia, poked around in the Columbia itself a bit,  made a hasty retreat back (there were literally dozens of power boats and jet skis roaring around the mouth, and some of them were accidents waiting to happen, but thats another story...)

The depth of the slough averages 5-8 feet.  I tried a variety of baits, including a 4" curly tail rubber worm (motor oil color), a 3" motor oil grub with a chartreuse tail, a small chartreuse crappie spinner, and a 1/4 ounce bright yellow bass spinner bait.  I got a few taps on the rubber worm, but not solid takes.  One fish on the crappie spinner (a small mouth that ran about 12"), and two very nice small mouth on the spinner bait (2-3 pound fish).  All the fish came from rocky areas.

Kind of a neat place, but I probably won't be back, at least on a weekend.  The boat traffic was just too crazy.  On the upside, in addition to the fish, I got to see a few osprey and kingfishers, and this was the first trip where I took my dog with me on the kayak.  Had a 45 pound cow dog riding on the back deck.  She did great.

If I can get motivated tomorrow, I'll head up to a Mount Hood lake and try my hand at trout.