Columbia 5-04-Report

The day started out great after I left my house with gear and yak at 5:30AM.  The temperature was 29' and frost had to be scraped off my pickup windshield.  I found it hard to believe, but still expected to be in 70' degree weather soon.  I left the house without my camera, oops.  I also left a newer Penn #4 with new 65lb braid sitting on a rock in my yard, oops-oops.

Nothing to turn my truck around for though, I still had my two go-to sturgeon rods fully rigged and ready to rock.  I pulled into My Buddy's place north of Redmond and loaded his yak.  We invited a friend from work to join us, he had expressed much interest in the adventures we were having, so we set him up in a OK Scrambler.  Our friend has sturgeon experience, but had never used a kayak before.

We loaded everything up and were out the driveway just after 6AM heading north to the Columbia River.  We arrived just after 8:30am and were at the Deschutes boat ramp at the mouth setting up the three yaks along the sandy shore.  It was already warming up, nearly 50 degrees.  There were some USFS bios at the motor boat ramp eyeing our group.

They were being shuttled across the Columbia to the Island for sagebrush studies.  Their shuttle was a guide with a large jet sled.  The bios had a long wait for their ride, as they were in two groups and the first group was stuck on the sand bar out off the mouth of the river.  They did get unstuck eventually.

The three of us paddled out down river, it was refreshing with the sun on us and no wind.  Our friend was gaining confidence and appreciated the wide OK we put him in for stability.  The paddle out over the sand bar was under the watchful eyes of a large  bald eagle, he walked around the edge of a small spit of exposed sand.  We drifted by and he didn't fly off, it was his island,evidently.

The Columbia was running a bit high, but nothing like the earlier trip months prior where I almost capsized using my anchor system.  We found our sweet spot and I deployed anchor in 24 ft. of water along the sharp edge off the sand bar.  I had our new kayaker clip on to my kayak, not a time or place for him to try anchoring on his own.  My anchor held fine, and I we cast out fresh squid for offerings.

It was about 30minutes into the fishing and dealing with the pesky sculpins giving little hits on the squid when I had a real tap tap.  I hooked into a nice sturgeon and was just undersize.  Release and reset.  My Buddy had a carp take his squid, about 5lbs. of mudpig.  There was a lull in the action so we pulled anchor and paddled down river to another spot off the lower end of the sand bar.  An old channel is sometimes the hot spot, usually in the warmer summer months.  I set anchor, the current is very minimal at this spot, and My Buddy used just slowly drifted around using his 10oz. weight to slow his drift and swirl.

There is a channel marker of pilings with an osprey nest just above where we were fishing.  It was nice to see the nesting pair of osprey making use of the pilings set up for them.  They were a magnificent pair and had obviously been putting alot of work into the nest.

My Buddy using the drift drag around technique promptly hooked up with a nice sturgeon, just undersize.  He then hooked up again! Another nice sturgeon and just undersize.  Seems all our fish were right at 40 inches, we really wanted to hog 50-54 inch fish.  Then I had a nice hit and landed another nice, yep 40 inches.  All very nice healthy fish being released.  My Buddy then lands a sqawfish that was HUGE. 

It is just after 12noon and the fishing is hot, and the weather was hot too (74 degrees).  We had one our friends in The Dalles show up with his motor boat, he treated us to Sausage and kraut dogs with cold beers.  Now we were feeling the luxury of a mothershipping.  Nice.  There were four more sturgeon hooked up, one made it into the slot limit, so we had a keeper.

My Buddy explored the shoreline (OR side) adjacent to the hole we were fishing.  He reported sighting monster mudpigs sunning themselves.  They were not bothered by the yak drifting naturally over them, only spooking when the paddle hit the water.  He said they could probably easily targeted by flyrod.  That could be alot of fun.  We also discussed making some sweet spears and going survivor man on them. 

The bite turned off after 1:30pm and we had called it a great day at 4:30pm.  We paddled back up the the launch, quite a workout, and loaded gear.  There were some bikers in black leather taking a break at the launch, and when they saw us quickly left.  Kayaks with a big fish can make people nervous.

It was a really, really fun day.  We tried to get our new kayaker into a fish but it wasn't to be.  He did say a he a kayak was definitely in the near future for him, and asked if he could go on the next trip.  Oh, no...created another monster. 

-Scott     

Great imagery Scott!  I was right there with ya.  One of these days I need to get my priorities straight and take you up on an open call.

-Spot-

Great story. 

 Great write up! Could you explain what a mudpig is?

Now that's a fishing report.  Well done.

I've looked at the Deschutes ramp before during Fall salmon season.  Do you have to pay a use fee, or is that only for jet boats running up the Deschutes?

Mudpig = carp

While carp mostly get a bad rap in the US, they can actually be pretty damn challenging to catch, especially on fly gear. They can be quite skittish and hard to stalk, selective about what they eat, and are brutes when you do hookup. Imagine hooking something the size of a medium springer on a 5wt! It's actually a hoot.

I usually end up fishing them if nothing else is cooperating. Early in the year they'll move in to the shallows and be accessible when everything else is still sulking in the deep.

I tried to be more descriptive on the write up because I didn't have any pics (we do love our pics ) and other members have been writing up some really great stuff.  As far as launching from the mouth of the Deschutes, there is a $1 launch fee to the Columbia.  The fee is rated #people x #days x $1 = fee.  It's basically a day use fee.  Not too bad since a separate raft loading/unloading area right at the water is available.

And you are correct sir, carp are affectionately (or not) described as mudpigs.  They are an invasive, destructive horde.  Mudpigs are very powerful and great to hunt.  They are not stupid.  They are smart and extremely powerful.  I strongly suggest targeting them when they are in the shallows, tailing.  I like small nymph patterns, haresear, beadhead prince, and pheasant tail.  If your lucky enough to land a 20lb carp, you will have a new appreciation for their strength.

All in all, I basically have declared war on the mudpig.  Kill Piggy, like in Lord of the Flies.  I will not hesitate to lay down the flyrod and go after them with a spear, trident, tranny,poops, or whatever.   I've tried the bow but am a crappy shot.  If any noobs don't know about the tranny and poops rule, well...I probably shouldn't say more.

Kill Piggy!!!
-Scott

 

Excellent write up.  I have targeted carp on Sauvies.  Dang things get to be monstrous. I would be a great time to hook into a large one.  I like the Lord of the Flies reference.  So  "Piggy"  they shall be named.

On another note, my wife and I just completed a house purchase in North Redmond. Would be awesome to have a hookup sometime in the future.