Springer Shakedown (Now with pics)

I took advantage of the beautiful weather we had yesterday for a Springer Shakedown on the Columbia.
The recent favorable reports had the powerboaters out in force.  Even with all that bait in the water I only saw 1 fish landed and heard of 2 others in the area I was fishing.

I spent the morning doing some recon on the Washington Side of the Columbia.  While it was hard to overcome the jones to be in the water, the recon was fruitful.  In comparing what I'd seen on Google Earth and Bing Maps to the actual terrain, I was able to locate 4 great places to launch a kayak, two of which had no fees and no powerboats to deal with.

After checking out the lay of the land, I settled on the access that put me dead center on Davis Bar. 


The tide was on its way out all morning and into the afternoon.  Given the heavy current and volume of traffic, I had no choice but to paddle to the top of the bar and troll the nearly 2 mile length with the current.  At the end of the run I'd pull up, paddle back to the top and do it all over again.

I was able to get 4 1/2 passes in before the sprints into a nearly 3MPH current took their toll. 


I can't wait to try it when the fish are here in force!

-Spot-   

2 more weeks and there should be catchable numbers.  having said that I might give it a go next weekend. I am thinking much farther downstream.

Scott

I'm actually going to be able to fish next Saturday. Time for some springer action.

Hey Spot---how was the wind chop???

Hey Spot---how was the wind chop???

Wind chop was minimal on Sunday.  Winds were light and though they were moving opposite the current they didn't create much soup.

Boat traffic was heavy so there were a lot of wakes.  I'll post pictures tonight.

-Spot-