Willamette Bass on a Monday Evening

KRTGrumpy · 06-09-2009, 07:44 AM

A buddy and I got on the river last evening and got 5 nice fish including this 3 pounder. We had several missed fish as well so all-in-all, it was a fun evening (going to put bigger hooks on the cranks). The Storm shad crank bait seemed to be getting the most hits but the biggest fish came on a jig-head and split tail.

1bigfish · 06-09-2009, 10:37 AM

Nice looking smallie. Be carefull about changing the hook size on those cranks. It can change the action of the bait.

Twothirteen · 06-09-2009, 10:47 AM

Hey there you go man, nice fish and looks like you guys were having a good time..

Were the fish all spawned out already?

KRTGrumpy · 06-09-2009, 10:48 AM

Good point.. didn't even think about that... Maybe all I need is some patience or a quicker hook set.

1bigfish · 06-09-2009, 10:57 AM

Upsizing the hook will change the action but sometime the change can be a good thing. I would try it and see if you(and the fish) like the new action.

I know not everyone will agree with this but when I fish cranks I use a side sweep to set the hook. I have played around with my hookset on just about every bait I toss and what I have found that works for me is a side sweep with treble hook and for single hooks I pull strait up. Of course there are a few exceptions to that but for the most part that is my rule of thumb. Your results may very.

KRTGrumpy · 06-16-2009, 08:02 AM

I went back out yesterday (trying to go every Monday this summery) but it was TOUGH fishing yesterday. Weather was great but water level was down about 4+ feet from last Monday. Nothing worth taking a picture of... big ones are hard to get at. Tried everything I could think of... and lost a lot of gear looking for big fish.