First time Willamette from the boat

[Ingraham]

Hey everyone,
A buddy knows I’ve been doing a lot of smallie fishing since spring and wants me to go out with him on his boat tomorrow and teach him how to smallie fish. We are going to put in at Boatworks (across from Wilsonville) and I was thinking about fishing between the mouth of the Molalla and the Tualatin rivers, maybe even up to Rock Island. The problem is that I have only bank fished the Willamette because most my fishing is in my pontoons on the smaller rivers. The last good post on this stretch of river was in the spring so I’m not sure what has changed on the bite. He also just toled me his trolling motor is out of commission which may make things a bit more tricky. Any advice?

[Hunt'nFish]

Move, anchor...move, anchor........maybe drift a bit as well.
I do most of my fishing while anchored out deeper of the area I intend to fish. I leave the bowmount deployed and simply raise the anchor, move a bit via elec and gently drop the anchor a few yards up/down river and work it a bit and move on again.
Hunt'nFish

So I've always liked having a "drift boat" style anchor ratchet system.
Here's a pic of my setup: http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n122/Mike_in_Oregon/DSCN3468.jpg

[R-fishin]

I agree with Hunt'nFish. I usually put in at the ramp in Newberg and work my way down the river drifting, then anchoring when I find a spot I think would be worthwhile. I havent spent much time lately in that stretch, but I have seen and heard good things.

Rich

[Ingraham]

Thats what I was thinking as well as far as drift and anchor. Side question: I picked up a cheep Rapala spring scale the other week and was wondering what the best way to weigh a smallie is with doing the least amount of damage to the fish in order to get it back in the H2o as quick as possible?

[Hunt'nFish]

My digital has a hook large enough to go through the back of the gill plate (above the gills) and into the mouth. Doesn't harm fish at all.

If yours doesn't have a very big hook, make one & replace it and re-zero scale for increased hook weight.
(it may/may not have a zero adjust, but most have some sort of tension adj.)
Check the calibration by weighing a milk jug of water....1 gallon of water equals 8.33 lbs. 4qt = gal, 1 quart is 2.0825lbs, 2pts = qt, Pint = 1.04lbs
Should get you close.
Hunt'nFish

[WetBait]

Some people will use a plastic grocery sack for weighing. I'm not sure this is the best way, but it's probably less harmful than a fish flipping around suspended by a hook in its gill plate. I tend to bring my fish in fast so they're still a handfull on the boat maybe others don't have that problem.

I don't weigh anymore, just a quick measure if deemed necessiary. At least until I get an xTools scale in my box.

[Ingraham]

Thanks guys,
I will let you know how tomorrow goes and take plenty of pictures if there is any thing worth taking a picture of! If I tell you I caught monsters but have no pictures you can know I am full of crap!!!:laugh:

Went out today in Canby and bank fished the Willamette but got skunked so my confidence is a bit low going out tomorrow but we'll fish hard and see how it goes!

- Peter

[Ingraham]

Sort of ended up being a crappy day on the River Friday. We did OK with out the trolling motor but as we started the day my friend was having a problem with his battery staying charged. basically we did all our fishing with the motor running which I think is what spooked the fish. We all caught 4 or 5 little guys but nothing great. The largest fish we caught I almost didn't want to take a picture of but for what it's worth this was the "Trophy" of the day. (it wasn't even big enough to hide a fully extended arm behind to make it look like a nice 4 pounder, ha ha).

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y68/pingraham/phtoshopfish.jpg

There were fish stacked up on the finder at around 20' but either they didn't like the motor or didn't like what we were tossing. The fish I caught were all on a D/S Wacke Rigg Yum Dinger but we tried about everything in the arsenal.

Better Luck Next Time I Guess...

Oh, Huntn'Fish I had a question for you: I spooled up some 8# Fire line on my Shimano SYMETRE spinning reel and it was coming off in a wad every now and again which I didn't quite expect. I think I've read you have used this before, any thoughts or suggestions.

[1bigfish]

Sort of ended up being a crappy day on the River Friday.

I wouldn't quite say that. You spend the day on the water with a friend, caught a few fish, and made it home safely. Sounds like a good day to me. As for why you weren't catching more?:shrug: I'm sure the motor had something to do with it, but it might be that you were smiling too much, or maybe not enough?

BTW is that a Tracker boat?

[Ingraham]

BTW is that a Tracker boat?[/quote]

Yea it is a tracker. I'm not sure how long it is however. It was my first time fishing from a bass boat and I really liked all the standing area to fish from. He ended up taking the front trolling motor off for his anchor system because he's not really a bass guy, even though he has a bass boat. Nice boat anyway...