Willamete river suggestions

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on fishing the Willamete river.  I typically fish for trout on small creeks up in the mountains.  I'm learning that bass on the Willamette can be quite good too.  Now that I'm trying out kayak fishing and I'm very close to the river (SE PDX) I figure I may as well give it a shot.  I was wondering if anyone had any general recommendations on techniques and flies to use.  What kind of habitat should I be looking for?  What time of day?  Any good books that I should take a look at?  Any suggestion would be most appreciated.  If you have not guessed, I'm not the most sophisticated fishermen so please keep things simple.  Thank you in advance.

Matt

I've been fishing on and off for a grand total of 1.5 years, actually just a few fishing days in there. Willamette bass can be pretty easy to catch, Ash Island near Newberg, just using a bobber and worm. Stick to structure, above and below water.

That's all I know and it has worked a bit so far. One tip about Willy bass, CnR. Toxic fish = no thanks for the dinner plate.

Jay

This is a gross oversimplification, but here are a few random thoughts from a not-very-knowledgeable bass angler.

Small mouth bass use lots of different habitat types, but the two big things to always keep in mind are 1) they are ambush predators, and like to have cover in which to hide (and in turn avoid larger predators), and 2) crayfish make up a huge portion of their diet.

Small mouth tend to like rocky areas with sharp drop offs and quick access to deeper water, as crayfish like to hang out in rocky areas like this (lots of little crevices and holes to hide in), and it gives the fish quick escape to deeper water.  Rip rap, boulders, etc... make good habitat for them.  They can also be found around logs/debris, piers, etc..., but rocks are generally the structure I look for.

Bass tend to be most active in the mornings and evenings.

In the late spring (May/June here in Oregon), small mouth move into shallow sandy/gravelly areas to spawn, and can be very aggressive at this time.  During the heat of summer, they tend to favor deeper water (though they are a warm water fish, they prefer cooler temps than largemouth bass).  A fish finder can be really handy at this time in locating deeper water and structure (and marking fish).

I've mostly fly fished over the last 10 years or so, just getting back into doing a little gear fishing for warm water species and salmon.  My suggested gear would be small spinner baits in the spring and in cooler water, 3" curly tail grubs on a jig head, or a rubber crayfish imitation on a jig head at other times.  Lots of folks get good results with tube jigs, gitzit worms, etc... but they require a little more technique to use properly.  Another year-round option is 4" or 6" curly tailed rubber worm with a bullet weight.  On spinner baits, go with chartreuse, white, or black in the appropriate weight to reach the depth you want when you are trying to cover a lot of water, and fish it fairly fast.   The grubs/jigs/worms work best when you are targeting a particular area, as they need to be fished fairly slowly.

I personally done use crank baits and plugs very much, and would really avoid them in the Willamette.  Too much wood and debris in the water to be losing lots of $5-7 lures.

On fly tackle, large wooly buggers or crayfish imitations on sinking lines are great.  If the fish are very active, poppers and other large surface flies can be a lot of fun.

Hope this helps.