Columbia River Smallmouth Bass

stayed at horsethief lake state park last week and fished horsethief lake a couple of days.  caught 8 smallies and 1 'eye.  thought about trying the Columbia but was unsure where to fish.  I guess I needed to check out your blog before I went! definitely will keep your blog in mind to check out before I go next time.

stayed at horsethief lake state park last week and fished horsethief lake a couple of days.  caught 8 smallies and 1 'eye.  thought about trying the Columbia but was unsure where to fish.  I guess I needed to check out your blog before I went! definitely will keep your blog in mind to check out before I go next time.

The road at Horsethief Lake goes over the railroad tracks next to the river, just past the petroglyphs, to a small boat launch. You can launch on the Columbia there and fish the rocky shoreline along the riverbank. The walleye fishing is supposed to be pretty good as well because the water gets deep near the shore.
You can find smallmouth bass just about anywhere on the Columbia, rocky shore lines with slow moving current or underwater structure or dropoffs are where you are most likely to find them.

Here's the video from the big smallmouth bass in this post.

Ron, as of late, your forum posts have been awesome. But I recently revisited your blog, and found it to be one of the most stoke-generating sites out there - for fishing and biking. Keep churning out the posts. Good stuff, man! Love where you've taken it.

Ron, as of late, your forum posts have been awesome. But I recently revisited your blog, and found it to be one of the most stoke-generating sites out there - for fishing and biking. Keep churning out the posts. Good stuff, man! Love where you've taken it.

Thanks for the kind words andyjade. I hope it encourages people to get out there and experience the outdoors.

Your blog is pretty sweet. I just took a gander and it has me itching to go find some smallies. A few weeks ago I hit the Umpqua River with NWKA'er Merz in hopes of scoring some AOTY points. He was hoping for upgrades and I was looking to land my very first SMB ever. We floated about a two mile stretch. I wasn't having immediate luck but once I figured out a retrieve that worked the action was non stop. I have never caught a fish with that much fight for it's size...pair that with the frequency of catching and I had one of the best fishing experiences of my life.
Thanks for the blog! It's motivating me to take another road trip!

What kind of biking?  I'll have to check it out when I'm on a real computer.

Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC

I wasn't having immediate luck but once I figured out a retrieve that worked the action was non stop.

When you retrieve your lure, if you stop winding and let the lure fall, often that will trigger a strike. On the rivers around here, casting against the shoreline, especially if it's rocky, is a good bet. Throw the lure as close to the rocks as you can, a couple inches away would be good. For fishing on the bottom with plastics, let the lure rest on the bottom for a while, even 30 seconds or a minute, reel up a few cranks and let the lure fall. Pretty good way to go when the water level is low or the water temp is high and the bass are hanging on the bottom in deeper water.
Smallmouth bass don't like sand, rocks and structure is what you are looking for.

What kind of biking?  I'll have to check it out when I'm on a real computer.

Mostly mountain biking. Road riding as well, but mountain biking is more photogenic. I'm an avid cyclist, but I prefer a paddle kayak, how about that? Of course if Hobie wants to sponsor me a Revo 13, I'm willing to change...

I love the mountain biking myself.  Wife and I just got new ones last week.  Mine got stolen a few years back and I finally got around to replacing it. We work from home now, so that gives us an extra two hours a day (three days of the week) and I could finally legitimize buying a new one. The hardest part is finding the time for all our hobies.  Gotta love  First World problems.

Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC

A few weeks ago I hit the Umpqua River with NWKA'er Merz in hopes of scoring some AOTY points. He was hoping for upgrades and I was looking to land my very first SMB ever.

I'm not much of a contest guy, but I understand the AOTY contest is based on length? If that's the case, with smallmouth bass you'll get diminishing returns. I think that most smallmouth bass enthusiasts would consider a 20" fish pretty much a trophy fish. Thing is, they don't seem to get much longer than that, they get "chunkier". One 20" fish can weigh 4-5 lbs. or so, another 20" fish, depending on the time of year, might weigh a pound or pound and a half more. The big fish have big heads. The smallmouth bass state records for Washington and Oregon are 8 lbs. 12 oz., the WA fish caught on the Columbia at the Hanford Reach, the OR record at Hagg Lake, no doubt because the fish was eating those hatchery trout. From my experience, I would say an 8-9 lb. smallmouth bass will be between 22-24" long, so catching a state record smallmouth on the Columbia River for either Washington or Oregon is a real possibility, every time you go out.

A few weeks ago I hit the Umpqua River with NWKA'er Merz in hopes of scoring some AOTY points. He was hoping for upgrades and I was looking to land my very first SMB ever.

I'm not much of a contest guy, but I understand the AOTY contest is based on length? If that's the case, with smallmouth bass you'll get diminishing returns. I think that most smallmouth bass enthusiasts would consider a 20" fish pretty much a trophy fish. Thing is, they don't seem to get much longer than that, they get "chunkier". One 20" fish can weigh 4-5 lbs. or so, another 20" fish, depending on the time of year, might weigh a pound or pound and a half more. The big fish have big heads. The smallmouth bass state records for Washington and Oregon are 8 lbs. 12 oz., the WA fish caught on the Columbia at the Hanford Reach, the OR record at Hagg Lake, no doubt because the fish was eating those hatchery trout. From my experience, I would say an 8-9 lb. smallmouth bass will be between 22-24" long, so catching a state record smallmouth on the Columbia River for either Washington or Oregon is a real possibility, every time you go out.

A 20" smallie would be worth 200pts. That is considered a trophy fish for sure. AOTY motivates me to target species that I normally wouldn't seek out. Prizes are cool, competing is always fun and it just makes fishing a little more interesting. Don't forget that your entry fee helps support NWKA...this is such a great resource and I'm happy to support the site and it's an added bonus that I get to have a good time in the process.