beetlespin
06-30-2006, 04:01 PM
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/PICT0006ed2.JPG
I finally caught a smallie big enough to post. It only took a year and a half but even a blind squirrel eventually will find a nut.
After two days of trying to learn how to salmon fish, I became so frustrated that I decide to go Cascade Locks this morning with the intent of trying to get some fishing confidence back.
What a beautiful day and the water was mirror smooth; pretty uncommon for the Gorge in the summer. It took about an hour before I finally located proper water and finally got a pickup. But the hook set never found flesh. In similar water I had a nice take right beside the boat, set the hook and this whale of a smallie broke water about three feet from me. I got him up next to the boat and got a very long hard look. I was guessing at least five pounds and was thinking about finding my camera when he took a hard dive and snapped the line on the side of the boat... Suicide was considered..
The rock structure was pretty small so I was pretty sure that I had spooked anyone else feeding there but gave it a try anyway. Had a large one follow my wacky senko to the boat and I landed it after the next cast. Given the size of the first one, I estimated this one to be about 2 ½#. He weighed out at 4 ½ # so that first one was a barrel. I picked up another 4# er on the same structure and decided to quiet while ahead.
Water was 65, BP, 30.0, clarity about 3 ft. They were in about 12 ft of water and all caught on a pumpkin 3” wacky senko (thanks Roger).
I finally caught a smallie big enough to post. It only took a year and a half but even a blind squirrel eventually will find a nut.
After two days of trying to learn how to salmon fish, I became so frustrated that I decide to go Cascade Locks this morning with the intent of trying to get some fishing confidence back.
What a beautiful day and the water was mirror smooth; pretty uncommon for the Gorge in the summer. It took about an hour before I finally located proper water and finally got a pickup. But the hook set never found flesh. In similar water I had a nice take right beside the boat, set the hook and this whale of a smallie broke water about three feet from me. I got him up next to the boat and got a very long hard look. I was guessing at least five pounds and was thinking about finding my camera when he took a hard dive and snapped the line on the side of the boat... Suicide was considered..
The rock structure was pretty small so I was pretty sure that I had spooked anyone else feeding there but gave it a try anyway. Had a large one follow my wacky senko to the boat and I landed it after the next cast. Given the size of the first one, I estimated this one to be about 2 ½#. He weighed out at 4 ½ # so that first one was a barrel. I picked up another 4# er on the same structure and decided to quiet while ahead.
Water was 65, BP, 30.0, clarity about 3 ft. They were in about 12 ft of water and all caught on a pumpkin 3” wacky senko (thanks Roger).