Camas vs Cascade Locks

[Bluknight]

My recent unsuccessful outing in Camas made me wonder ............. What do you fine (and more experienced) bass fisherman think of the fishing quality between Camas and Cascade Locks area of the river.

Just my initial observation but from fishing the area from Reed Island down to the mouth of the Camas slough I'd have to say the Cascade Locks area holds a lot more "bassy" looking areas. It also appears (from searches here on Ifish) that more and more quality fish are caught further upriver.

Any feedback is appreciated. Partially I'm just justifying driving an additional 30 miles to get to Cascade Locks to fish

[Chester Allen]

I think the Columbia fishes better for smallmouth further upstream. I mostly fish about Hood River and further upstream near Sundale -- on the Washington side -- but I really feel like the bass fishing gets better and better upstream.

Originally Posted by Bluknight

My recent unsuccessful outing in Camas made me wonder ............. What do you fine (and more experienced) bass fisherman think of the fishing quality between Camas and Cascade Locks area of the river.

Just my initial observation but from fishing the area from Reed Island down to the mouth of the Camas slough I'd have to say the Cascade Locks area holds a lot more "bassy" looking areas. It also appears (from searches here on Ifish) that more and more quality fish are caught further upriver.

Any feedback is appreciated. Partially I'm just justifying driving an additional 30 miles to get to Cascade Locks to fish

[Tar Heel]

Indeed, once you get above Bonneville, the habitat significantly improves. Damn Dams are good for somthing other than power, I guess..

[Green Eyes]

I've also found better quality fishing above the damn dam, esp. for sm but have nailed some monster lm above the dams in the backwater ponds and sloughs. Very few other fisherman the farther up you go if your like some of us that don't like combat fishing like it can be close to P-town.