Battle Ground Lake report 7-17-08

Just a quick report from old Battle Ground Lake this morning.  I fished on Tuesday from my power boat (don't tell anyone on this site I have one OK) in Stevenson, WA on the Columbia River.  This morning I needed another fishing fix but wanted a greener version and did not want to line the Oil Companies pockets any further so I stayed local and paddle powered it.

I was on the water by 0645 and started by working shore line for bass.  I've been told several times that there are bass in there.  I threw everything at them (senkos, rattle traps, craw plastic patterns, spinner baits)  Weird thing was I could see the little buggers come out from the cover (lots of downed trees) but they weren't having it.

After two hours of that I noticed the normal trouty folks were trolling and catching so I switched gears.  I've never been much of a troller but the two gents in a raft said they were using a red bodied spinner.  I worked my salmon pattern panther martin for about an hour and nothing.  I switched to a brown and black roster tail and it was game on!  Trolled for another couple of hours and picked up about 8 trout.  A couple nice ones and all others just standard size planters. 

All in all a beautiful morning and unfortunately I have to say I caught more darn fish from my kayak today then from my power boat on Tuesday!

Any one have any suggestions on making those bass bite?

Nice fish, great photos.

Looking at that FF, is that a standard mounting adapter in the Scotty mount?

Jay

The few bass I've caught so far this year have been off a 4" brown worm.

How are you rigging your soft plastics?  For finicky bass I would recommend that you try Texas rigging sans weight and work it slow.  90% of the bass I have caught this season have been either on the drop or after the rig has sat motionless for about a minute or so.  If that doesn't work change up your speed until the bass tell you how they want it.

Try using a 3 or 4"(I can't remember which one it is, but they only sell one of 'em) Yamamoto twin tail grub in green pumpkin w/ black flake.  My other favorite is a 5" Yamamoto Senko in pumpkin w/ red & green flake or black flake.

Beautiful trout you've got there... at least you brought something into the yak!

steelheadr - yup it's a standard adapter.  I can't remember which kayak fishing website I purchased it from but it works great so far.  There is just enough play in the mount to get the left to right cant I need to see the screen.

Alkasazi and Yarjammer - thanks for the input.  I did try Texas and wacky rigged on the senkos.  I would venture to say I did not allow the bait to sit for very long.  A slower presentation may have been the key.  Not sure why I didn't think of that.  Maybe too much coffee on board to work that slow?!?!

Great view off the bow!

That's my favorite part of kayak fishing.  Fish are a plus....