Fishing/Scouting Reports April

Rauly · 04-05-2006, 09:00 PM

Well the bass are biting. Let's hear the reports.

Striper Club · 04-06-2006, 07:52 AM

April 1, 2006 (Saturday)

Location: Lower Willamette
Water Temp: 51 F
Visibility: 2-3 ft (Good color, a bit stained)

Rebell called me up at 08:30 on Saturday, and I just happened to be up finishing up a migration for work. Timing worked out well and we met at the ramp and got on the water around 10:30. Rusty nails one pretty much right away on a crank, while I was searching around with a lipless crank...no luck for my efforts.

We move to a nice current break with some woody shore--I was bumping a 6" Dinger along the bottom while Rusty was doing the same with a 4" lizard. Thump! He rattles off 2 fish right off the bat--One @ 18" and the other only slightly smaller (didn't get a chance to measure that one). I began eyeballing my box-o-lizards.

We then moved upriver a bit to more current breaks, shallows and other seemingly good spring spots with mixed results. At one of Rusty's favorite spots, he proceeds to get ahold of another very nice fish. Luck finally came my way as we had a nice double (I had already switched to a slightly larger lizard). Both fish were 18".

I soon after caught another fish @ 17", this time with a 5" Dinger that I had added a bit of chart coloring to.

Not to be outdone, Rusty lands the largest fish of the day at 18.5".

We tried a few more spots with Rusty catching a couple more decent fish and I came up empty. Then we got rained on yet still kept at it until around 5:00 and time for a burger and beer. All told, Rusty was the big winner for the day with 8 or 9 fish--none of which were under 15". My 2 fish were enough to make me happy. I have a couple shots of Rusty's fish, but need to U/L them...will do that tonight.

There were a couple of my nice fish, but there were some operator issues with the camera.

Here's to Terminator Stout!

rebell · 04-06-2006, 11:01 AM

Sorry about the camera foul Rich.

We will have to hit the river again soon, and I promise not to screw up with the camera.

Striper Club · 04-06-2006, 11:07 AM

Haha! Hey man, it is all good. There will be plenty of fine fish to take pics of. Gotta love the spring...

bucketmouth · 04-08-2006, 06:54 AM

Worked all week putting in 10 hours a day. Been such great weather I've been chomping at the bit to get out and do some serious fishing. So what happens this morning, during the only free time avaialable? Rain. Hey what a great reward for all the hard work this week and anticipation of getting out on the water today,Rain. oh yeah, did mention, rain. Hope the hard core guys out there are catching. Me, I just don't feel like being miserable pursuing my favorite past time. Bet the weather is nice next week, when it time to go back to work!

team doyle · 04-08-2006, 08:21 AM

i feel your pain bucketmouth.
i had every intention of checking out the
tournament boats on the upper willy today;
thought i might poach some new spots...
<font color="blue"> </font>
but now i'm double-pumping given the sour weather.

stay in touch,
joe

Striper Club · 04-08-2006, 09:39 AM

It's even raining in NY so I don't get to watch my baseball game. Lame!

Maybe tomorrow? Who knows...

nitrobass · 04-08-2006, 07:23 PM

Another tough day chasing largemouth. Water temps are warming up in the valley lakes though - nearing 50 degrees.

Guess I should have tried flippn and pitchn

Bassinator · 04-08-2006, 07:41 PM

The Largemouth are tough right now. Mabey its all this cold weather. Its just too cold. water temps are getting into the fifties so I'm getting more and more excited as the days go on. Hope you guys are doing better than I am. O and roger, I want to ask you a question but theres something wrong with your private messages.

ExBassGuide · 04-08-2006, 08:04 PM

Ask away, I hope I can help!
Roger

Fishin Addiction · 04-09-2006, 04:51 PM

Caught my first fish of the year out of Hagg Lake this morning and if you can believe it, it was my first trout ever out of Hagg Lake. I've caught everything else in that lake, but never a trout until today.

I caught it near Tanner Creek with a Blue Fox spinner with pink body. I released it so a bass could grow bigger.

Cheers!

Bassinator · 04-09-2006, 08:09 PM

Hey Roger,Delete some of your private messages because this is about a private spot that we talked about

soonerwolf · 04-10-2006, 08:24 AM

Fished the upper Willy, very muddy but starting to clear a bit. I had one fish grab my spinnerbait for a split second and dropped it just as fast. From the size of the boil it may have been a pretty good one. Saw alot of wildlife though including a coyote. Wed or Thurs should be good, supposed to hit 70s.

nitrobass · 04-10-2006, 09:25 AM

Got a little wet but the bite was on. Pitchn was the solution

Basscaster · 04-10-2006, 10:51 AM

Hey Nitro- nice fish. Did you release them? That big one looks like its not doing so good. Any chance you could tell us what you were Pitchn and where? How about a map?

bad habit · 04-10-2006, 05:18 PM

time to hit those lakes every weekend,that big bite will for sure sneek up on ya,,i cant wait for those 5lb + hopefully ill be headin to cottage grove/dorena real soon

Knot in leader · 04-10-2006, 05:28 PM

Nice Fish Nitrobass it is a fishy time of year right now.

BIG TK · 04-11-2006, 09:09 AM

The fishing has been excellent over the last week. Have been doing well at the ponds that I fish. Approx 30 fish in the 3 times I went out over the last 7 days. All lgmouth all over 2 lbs biggest being 5.75. Lots of 3-4lbers. Decided to try green peter and done all right, 3 13"- 14"ers temp at green peter was 50 on 4/7 and the ponds are up to 54-56 deg. Well thats the report that I've got for now hopefully helpful to someone. Good luck it will just get better from here. I know that the rain sucks but if you are out and a squall comes rolling in hang on cuz they will go crazy its a fair trade off. Lord, I love this time of year.

Bad Wood 75 · 04-11-2006, 10:51 AM

I am heading out to Vernonia pond a lil later today so I will post a report as soon as I get back. Wish me luck LOL.

Basscaster · 04-11-2006, 04:16 PM

Good Luck BW. Let us know what they are chompin' on. What is Team Youngunnerz?

Bad Wood 75 · 04-12-2006, 06:17 PM

I didnt catch anything. I saw quite a few nice sized blue gills getting caught off of a bobber and worm around the pilings. I had one decent bass come up and hit my senko when I was reeling it in. Lily pads should be completely up by the the end of the weekend. I am heading out to Hagg again tommarrow morning so see if I can catch something.

Striper Club · 04-12-2006, 10:47 PM

Here is a picture from the 4/1 trip:

That is a nice 18.5" Willamette smallie and some guy holding it up who really tore it up that day...Dang nice fish you got there, Rusty!

shalom · 04-13-2006, 08:31 AM

It looks like Rusty is crossing the bar at Tillamook , but i know Rusty well enoughn to know that he wouldn't do that in his boat . It is good to see your picture this spring .

Striper Club · 04-13-2006, 08:39 AM

Now I knew my photoshopping wasn't that good!

Rusty + fish - Lower Willamette 4/1
Background - Jaws O' Nehalem 8/2005

And he was driving the sled for the bar crossing, of course.

=)

shalom · 04-13-2006, 08:48 AM

I have been there and never caught very many Smallies ??????

Striper Club · 04-13-2006, 08:55 AM

At least not while trolling cut-plug herring! =D

shalom · 04-13-2006, 08:57 AM

Well said !!!! If smallies liked the salt , it wouldn't surprize me to catch them on a plug cut . I have caught them on some large offerings sometimes and wondered how big is to big . I have caught smaller fish on a bait that was as big , as they were ,and a lot longer that they were .

rebell · 04-13-2006, 12:50 PM

Nice work there Rich.

Just because we have a few doubles on one little flat..... :grin:

Striper Club · 04-13-2006, 01:23 PM

Nobody wants to see plain ol' Willie--Nehalem provides a much better backdrop...

Thecrease · 04-13-2006, 06:54 PM

Went to Foster today. I scratched up one small smallie and too many dink trout to count. The trout would not leave my plastics alone.

The water was 47 to 48 degrees. The one smallie I caught was in 4 foot of water. I lost another one in the same depth.

If you want to catch trout go right in front of the swim area in the stump flat they are in very shallow. I threw a tasmanian devil for 30 minutes and caught or got bit on every cast. They were only 10 to 12 inch models though.

Clayton

nitrobass · 04-14-2006, 03:33 PM

I managed to luck into a couple of the Younggunnerzs leftovers. Thanks men!

Basscaster · 04-14-2006, 05:18 PM

Nice bass Nitro. What is that bait? Do I need one of those?

BIG TK · 04-14-2006, 06:26 PM

Crease if you want some better action head up the hill another 10 miles or so and fish Green Peter. I was out(G.P.) there the same day you were at Foster (Thursday). We caught 8 L.Mouth and 2 S.Mouth. Temp. was at 51-55 deg. Just watch out for all the logs in the lake though as they are letting water out the lake is a mine feild. Good luck.

BassBuster · 04-14-2006, 07:10 PM

I broke a bad slump today on one of my go to lakes. I stayed with it during nasty squalls and it paid off. I found 54.6 degree water and landed nine fish with the largest being 3-6. My best five fish total was 12-5. Not bad seeing I haven't caught more than two fish in a single trip all year. My confidence is back

Thecrease · 04-15-2006, 03:15 PM

Thanks for the 411. I was thinking the same thing. I will probably hit it up on Wed or Thu.

Clayton

Basscaster · 04-15-2006, 10:46 PM

Nice fish BB. I think I saw you out there today. What model Ranger do you have?

Super Fluke · 04-16-2006, 08:07 AM

Nice fish.

Jon55 · 04-17-2006, 09:28 PM

I just caught my first bass of the year and my largest largemouth ever.

I fished a private pond with very ugly water (visibility less than one foot) with my 3" Fake-O rigged weedless and weightless, threw it toward a small grassy point and let it fall. When it started moving sideways I set the hook. Alas, I had no camera or scale but she was 23" long and 18" around.

What fun!

ExBassGuide · 04-17-2006, 09:32 PM

Thats a nice 7 pound pluss bass!!!!!!!
I knew you could do it! You are using the best lure

Jon55 · 04-17-2006, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Thats a nice 7 pound pluss bass!!!!!!!

...And now I know why they call them LARGEmouth. I pulled that little worm out of a cavern! Thanks EBG!

Basscaster · 04-19-2006, 07:35 AM

Nice Fish Jon. Congrats on doing it EBG style.

Team Downboyz!

Jon55 · 04-22-2006, 09:31 PM

TheCrease and I went to Green Peter on Wednesday. We got there as the sun was coming up and we got off the lake as it was going down so it was a long day. We fished the island, the two inlets that host the two boat ramps, the main arm farthest from the dam, and a few other places as well. We threw everything at them. For the whole day we got only two bites (and two fish, of course). Both were in the exact same place, about 4 hours apart, on the NE side of the island. Way up the creeks we saw some trout hitting the surface and so we had some fun catching a few. The water temp started out at 49 and got up to 53. In all a disapointing day from a bass standpoint. How did the guys do on Saturday?

Today, I took a friend and we worked the Willamette between Corvallis and Albany, hitting all the sizable eddies and quite a few of the smaller ones. All we had to show for it was two bites (and two fish, of course). Alas they were pikeminnows and not bass.

Both days were totally beautiful but the bass fishing was

1eyedsushua · 04-25-2006, 07:01 PM

WE FINALLY FOUND EM! Out on silver lake today and finally got into the fish. We fished several of the canals starting around 0900. We started hitting them when the water temp hit 60. Got six between two of us. Nothing bigger then 1.5 lbs. thats alright though, Was nice to finally catch some fish. :smile:

bass man · 04-26-2006, 11:32 AM

Those are some beauties Nitro Bass. Can you recomend a spot in the greater Portland area where I can find some hogs like that fishing from the bank?

bass man · 04-26-2006, 11:34 AM

Hi, can recomend any good holes?
I am new to the area.

Thanks,
Bass man

Thecrease · 04-27-2006, 07:50 PM

Hit the Willy in Salem area today. I caught lots of smallies on spider grubs, senkos, and 2 bigger ones on a xrap jerkbait.

Most of the fish were 1 pound jobbers with a couple of 2.5 pounders thrown in.

Clayton

eat, sleep, fish · 04-30-2006, 04:14 PM

Went out to Agate Lake today to try for some bass. Ended up catching around 25 or so today all from the same spot. Almost all of them were a pound or less, except for this one that was around 2 1/2lbs.

I caught the majority of them on a jig, and the rest, including the big one, came on a texas rigged lizard.

Hunt'nFish · 05-01-2006, 08:30 AM

Took the Blast'nCast Tracker out Sat and hit the Willey around the WestLinn area. My uncle "Grumpy Grupper" picked up a couple near shore fish right off the bat on a orng/brn small Rattle'n-Rapala that got us excited about the day.......and then nothing more came. Moved deeper and worked deeper cranks, nothing. Tied on a jig'n craw, nothing. Even split shot'd a Senko, nothing. Spinner bait, nothing.

Decided to check out the mouth of the Tualitian, maybe it's a bit warmer. By this time I'd resorted to "Ol' Black Magic" the black roostertail, 30min later I had FINALLY picked up 3 quick 1-1.5lbr's. (the females were still plump w/ next years fry, and all were released.) Don't have a temp gage on the boat so can't report the Tualitian's temp but it must be a tad warmer than the main Willey. (looking at USGS River Data the Willey was around 57F Sat morning and the Tualitian was 58F. Wouldn't think a degree would matter that much but I guess it does.)

Wasn't a super day but a little rod dance and lunch at McMen's had me back in good spirits for the week.
Hunt'nFish

BassinFever · 05-01-2006, 01:30 PM

0

nitrobass · 05-01-2006, 02:37 PM

Maybe he's 8 feet tall and that makes the bass look smaller?

However big it is its a nice catch. Looks like it hadnt been shallow very long.

BassinFever · 05-01-2006, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Maybe he's 8 feet tall and that makes the bass look smaller?

While fishing with Smiley this weekend, I continually over estimated nearly every fish I caught by about 1/2 #. Then I would weigh it and it would be 1/2 #`s lighter than I thought!

fishlipper · 05-01-2006, 03:20 PM

We did the same thing this weekend with over estimating fish, and then weighed every fish we caught. I would say that fish above looks about 1 1/2 of 2 1/2 lbs. My opinion, hopefully you weighed it before stating it was 2 1/2lbs.

eat, sleep, fish · 05-01-2006, 08:43 PM

Well i'm not quite 8 ft. tall but I am 6'6".

I figured it was between 2 and 2.5 #'s so I gave myself the benifit of doubt.

Knot in leader · 05-02-2006, 04:14 AM

nice fish

Sandz · 05-02-2006, 08:23 AM

Hit a little banking yesterday on a spot in Lake Oswego where the willy bends and caught 36. Mostly male, all smallies, all agressive and very fun!!! Dunno willy temp but my big fish of the day was only 3lb 2oz weighed on a digital scale. No pics though, didnt bother bringin a camera on this trip.

Thecrease · 05-02-2006, 02:14 PM

Hit the Willy this morning in the Salem area. I got 14 fish on spider grubs. Most of them smaller but I got 4 decent fish.

Clayton

Hunt'nFish · 05-05-2006, 02:00 PM

Clayton, did ya buy that Crestliner of Jason's??
Nice smallies!

Hit the lower Willey with Sandz out of Willamette Park and managed a few, mixed smallies and LM...all pretty small. A green motoroil Baby Brush Hog carolina rigged did best for me. We found some biting fish around sunken wood next to shore. Took one pic of Sandz w/ a little LM. Perhaps he'll throw it up.
Hunt'nFish

Thecrease · 05-05-2006, 02:53 PM

Yes! I bought it. It is working out great.
Clayton