Best large bass lake in the NW?

[brackshooter]

In your opinion ifishers, what do you think is the best bass lake in the NW for size of fish? I have been bass fishing for 25 years, but 99% of my fishing has been in the Willamette Valley. All my largest have come from sloughs/backwaters of the Willamette river. I have done well the few times I have fished Tenmile and Tahkenitch, as well as Cooper Creek, and saw a couple hawgs at Plat I resevoir as well. So what do you guys think? Best place for monsters in Oregon/Washington?

[Green Eyes]

Hagg for smallies, upper Columbia (above bonneville) backwaters for LM.

[codeman]

Originally Posted by Green Eyes

Hagg for smallies, upper Columbia (above bonneville) backwaters for LM.

I have caught some absolute monsters out of oxbow reservoir, on the snake below brownlee, all from the bank. It is catch and release fishing until aug, then just 2 fish after that. As for large mouth, the upper end of owhyee reservoir had some monsters. I've seen several in the 10# class come out of there over the years. most of those were caught on crappie jigs.

[fishlipper]

Brackshooter, there are only small fish in those last two bodies of water you mentioned

[tnj8222]

Have seen some beast lm just shy of 11 come out of the potholes sand dunes.

[raptorschild]

Originally Posted by codeman

I have caught some absolute monsters out of oxbow reservoir, on the snake below brownlee, all from the bank. It is catch and release fishing until aug, then just 2 fish after that. As for large mouth, the upper end of owhyee reservoir had some monsters. I've seen several in the 10# class come out of there over the years. most of those were caught on crappie jigs.

Codeman,

This is an interesting post....

I wouldnt put Oxbow reservoir in my top 20 lakes in the NW to go after QUALITY smallmouth. Terrel, Chelan, Potholes, Moses, Columbia (McNary to Hanford Reach), Washington, Sammamish, Hagg, Dworshak...etc..etc.. are all waaaay better producers of big smallmouth...talking 5-6+ smallies)

There's a few things that sound hard to believe about catching 10lb largemouth on crappie jigs. The skill required to catch a fish that big with gear light enough to cast a crappie jig is mind blowing. Furthermore, Bass don't get that big by expending energy to eat something that small.

Any pictures?

[tsorrels]

siltcoos or selmac

[built2fish]

Definitely St. Louis and Wilsonville Ponds.

[brackshooter]

Originally Posted by built2fish

Definitely St. Louis and Wilsonville Ponds.

Uhhhhhhh......no

[brackshooter]

BTW, Fishlipper, you need to tell me how to fish Plat I, last time I was there I got skunked, though there was no shortage of beasties swimming around. Any pointers you can offer? pm if needed. thanks

[MXRacer105]

Originally Posted by built2fish

Definitely St. Louis and Wilsonville Ponds.

Seriously. Just giving away all of our secrets huh? Wow.

You still have your boat moored at Wilsonville Pond?

[BlackBass]

Dexter reservoir!

[BlackBass]

Originally Posted by raptorschild

Codeman,

This is an interesting post....

I wouldnt put Oxbow reservoir in my top 20 lakes in the NW to go after QUALITY smallmouth. Terrel, Chelan, Potholes, Moses, Columbia (McNary to Hanford Reach), Washington, Sammamish, Hagg, Dworshak...etc..etc.. are all waaaay better producers of big smallmouth...talking 5-6+ smallies)

There's a few things that sound hard to believe about catching 10lb largemouth on crappie jigs. The skill required to catch a fish that big with gear light enough to cast a crappie jig is mind blowing. Furthermore, Bass don't get that big by expending energy to eat something that small.

Any pictures?

I have seen very large green ones caught on crappie jigs, my biggest on a crappie jig was pushing 7lbs. The fish tried eating my bobber the first cast, so i pitched the jig out without the bobber and he took it . Yes the little jigs with miniature tube bait . Proper tackle and some prayers and its easier then you would think, in open water. Lots of guys drop shotting for largemouth with 4-6 lb test.

[codeman]

exactly right. In most of these bodies of water i fish, it seems like most of what they eat is fairly small. I find huge bass full of small crawfish all the time, also full of grass hoppers and mormon crickets. in open water, it is actually quite easy to land huge fish on 4 pound line. That mono stretches like you wouldnt believe. I always buy the cheap cabelas pro line, for like 6 bucks a spool, and that is around 3000 yards i believe. Dont ask me why this line is so good, but ive tried every other brand, in all cost ranges, and nothing seems to be as tough as this stuff. I wouldnt use it to brake any line class records, because frankly i dont think the line would test right under there braking tests. numerous times i have snagged lures while using this line, tried everything to get the snag off, given up, and grabbed my spool walked backwards to brake it off, only to have my hook or jig actually straighten instead of braking off. this stuff stretches so much. I change my line evertime i go. I use my 5 foot ultral light ugly stick for almost all fishing that i do. the exception being targeting large cats, who, quite frankly dont care what size line you use. I was laid off all of last year, i caught 12033 fish and all but about 300 were caught on this set up, all with the same 6$ spool of line. all of those caught on 4# included my largest bull trout, right at 31 1/2 inches (measured by where it touched on my pole, i released it really quick and never took in out of the water) estimated about 8 pounds, caught out of the east fork of the south fork salmon river, near yellow pine, id. I also landed a chinook, about 18 pounds right below hells canyon dam, off of my crawdad crank bait throwing for smallies, and a chinook of about 15 pounds, caught in the selway river in idaho. I also caught several catfish in the 5 -8 pound range off of crappie jigs and crawdad cranks. the craw dad cranks i use are only 1 1/2 inches long, but with 4# test they'll actually dive down to almost 10 ft. Everything over there eats craw dads. Id bet its the largest part of all thier diets. I think it is a big misnomer that big fish, expecially bass, will only eat big baits. We consistantly out fish guys near us who are using huge 4 or 5 inch baits on heavy 10#+ line. And its not because were just better at presenting or something. most of these guys are terrific fisherman, they just use a very limiting technique. Big fish will hit big baits, but only big fish will hit them, and only some of the time. big fish will hit really small baits too, and wouldnt you want to catch all the other fish in between those big ones?? One time at the upper end of owhyee, near the hot springs, we beached the boat and were catching crappies about 30 ft from shore. everytime we reeled them in, we must have been crossing the lmb spawning beds, because huge 8+ lbs bass would grab our whole 1 + lbs crappie in thier mouths and carry them back out to deeper water, then release them. We could watch the whole thing happen. It was pretty cool. They werent trying to eat them, just keep them off of their beds. I know there are some huge bass in there. Now if i hooked one close to sunken sage brush or something, i'd be toast. But in open water, you can land them in 2-5 minutes, pretty easily.

[raptorschild]

Codeman....true about open water vs. Brush. I was thinking you guys must be pitching the jigs near brush.

Now....lets see some of the pictures of these fish you are nailing! Those sound like some HAWGS!!!!

[codeman]

Originally Posted by raptorschild

Codeman....true about open water vs. Brush. I was thinking you guys must be pitching the jigs near brush.

Now....lets see some of the pictures of these fish you are nailing! Those sound like some HAWGS!!!!

unfortunately i havent fished the upper part of owhyee in quite awhlie. Been taking my boys (12 and 10) out to dry creek to hammer the crappies. Back in college my buddy had a boat. I dont have access to one anymore, so the upper end is out of my reach. I just purchased a sit on top kayak, so im hoping this spring to make a trip up resevoir from leslie gulch. Hopefully, i'll be able to post some good pics. problem will be if i trust myself to take the digital out on the yak.
ya, ive only caught a handfull of 5 plus pounder smallies out of oxbow over the years. most fish though, are around 3 lbs or so. but, you can litterally catch 300 of them a day. i would personnally rather catch 200 fish around 3 lbs, another 100 around 2lbs and maybe 1 over 5, rather than just a handful of fish, all over 5 pounds. so i guess it all depends on your definition of "trophy bass waters." I have no problem with people who target only huge fish. more power to ya. Im not that patient. My absolute favorite bass water is the owhyee river at 3 forks. Me and my buddy this last summer just hammered them again. We walked/floated/swam about a 2 mile section of the river below the hot springs and back to camp. it took us 4 1/2 hours. we called out by number every bass we caught. our ultralights with small 1 inch while curly tails. We caught 750 between the two us, stopped fishing and swam and walked back to camp. The fishing is that incredible up there. Had the whole place to our selves too. mixed in with the bass were some huge red banned trout up to 25 inches, some squaw fish, carp, and a couple of huge suckers. to me, that is the definition of trophy waters. of course, almost all the fish were only 8 - 10 inches.

[codeman]

hey raptorchild, i see youve already caught a 10.5 lb triploid this year. I went last year for the first time. Those things are fun to catch!! My cousin lives in spokane, and finally talked me into making the drive last year. Largest one i caught was around 7 lb. We were stuck on the bank though. I seen some guys in boats absolutely slay them out in front of us. don't think i'll make it over there this year though.

[fisheliminator]

I try to spend a couple of weeks each year at Hells Canyon. The fish are not huge but you can get into areas in the canyon were you can fish all day and only see one other boat. The crappie are also hot there. I love the fact we can stay in an Idaho power campground on the water and have a dock 100' from the RV.

[codeman]

I agree. from Brownlee dam, down to below hells canyon dam on the river, is my favorite 40 miles on earth. I could spend the rest of my life there. Well, maybe be able to fish owhyee too!! I live here in st helens, and spend alot of time over in your neck of the woods. I go out on vernonia alot in my float tube. I just bought a sit on top kayak, so Im looking forward to trying that out there too. Do you fish there much at all? Ive noticed the fishing has really gone down hill there over the last few years. I used to be able to catch some monster blue gill and crappies out of there. Now there are tons of them, but they are all dinky. Ive seen alot of people keep alot of large bass out of there the last 5 years. I think thats the main problem. This last fall was really tough. I had never seen the pond so low before. it was hard to find anywhere above the weeds to fish. I hope this spring is back to the normal.

[lab1]

Hands down Lake Oswego

[Green Eyes]

Originally Posted by lab1

Hands down Lake Oswego

Have heard it has some toads,,,,,, but is also private except for a small part of shoreline????

[brackshooter]

Hey, anytime you need a backseater to fish Oswego, let me know, I am in!

[Dave Smith]

Originally Posted by codeman

unfortunately i havent fished the upper part of owhyee in quite awhlie. Been taking my boys (12 and 10) out to dry creek to hammer the crappies. Back in college my buddy had a boat. I dont have access to one anymore, so the upper end is out of my reach. I just purchased a sit on top kayak, so im hoping this spring to make a trip up resevoir from leslie gulch. Hopefully, i'll be able to post some good pics. problem will be if i trust myself to take the digital out on the yak.
ya, ive only caught a handfull of 5 plus pounder smallies out of oxbow over the years. most fish though, are around 3 lbs or so. but, you can litterally catch 300 of them a day. i would personnally rather catch 200 fish around 3 lbs, another 100 around 2lbs and maybe 1 over 5, rather than just a handful of fish, all over 5 pounds. so i guess it all depends on your definition of "trophy bass waters." I have no problem with people who target only huge fish. more power to ya. Im not that patient. My absolute favorite bass water is the owhyee river at 3 forks. Me and my buddy this last summer just hammered them again. We walked/floated/swam about a 2 mile section of the river below the hot springs and back to camp. it took us 4 1/2 hours. we called out by number every bass we caught. our ultralights with small 1 inch while curly tails. We caught 750 between the two us, stopped fishing and swam and walked back to camp. The fishing is that incredible up there. Had the whole place to our selves too. mixed in with the bass were some huge red banned trout up to 25 inches, some squaw fish, carp, and a couple of huge suckers. to me, that is the definition of trophy waters. of course, almost all the fish were only 8 - 10 inches.

Haven't been on here in a while- glad to see everything's normal and good
Wow: 750 bass in 4 1/2 hours! That's 2.77 fish per minute, for 4 1/2 hours!
I agree, too, that I would personally rather catch 200 bass in one day around 3 pounds (oh, and another hundy around 2 pounds the same day- oh, and the bonus 5 pounder; the fish of a lifetime for 95% of us) as that would easily be a world record and I would be on the front cover of Bassmaster Mag!
Carry on, guys and don't go changin' I love this site!

[codeman]

I hope people dont think im exaggerating, or flat out lying. I am also not trying to proclaim myself some great fisherman. Those kinds of numbers are out there if you are willing to leave the crowds behind. Im nothing special, I just like to go where there are ALOT of fish and little to no pressure. I LOVE stupid fish. You dont need an expensive bass boat, nor expensive gear. I fish from the bank, with a 40$ combo spinning outfit, super cheap line from cabelas, and usually a cheap crappie kit from walmart. I caught thousands of fish last year, and all my lures together that i used up wouldnt add to more than 15$. In the previously mentioned 750 bass in 4.5 hours, between my buddy and me, we went through im guessing less than a dollars worth of jigs and line.

[brackshooter]

I gotta say, I have fished the upper owyhee for the last 25 years, and the most I have personally caught is 130 in about 4 hours.....after that I was so sick of catching them I gave up, plus my thumb was about to fall off from grabbing so many. The fishing up there can be unbelievable, and the ranch I hunt/fish off is all private, so many of them are completely unaquainted with any fishing pressure. Most of them run about 10-12 inches, though I have caught them to 4 lbs, mostly in the spring. Some nice cats there as well, up to about 6-7 lbs.

[codeman]

Ya we hammer the cats when we fish at birch creek, which is only 10 miles or so above the reservoir. Not sure how many cats are up at 3 forks area. Weve fished alot up there and never hooked any. My buddy has thrown night crawlers around alot with some of his city friends who dont fish alot and never hooked a cat up there either. around birch creek is fantanstic catfishing though. Largest ive seen is around 10 lbs. most are just a couple of pounds though. Its amazing how many bass congregate right at the hot springs. Where they dump into the river, they form a little pool right in the middle of some thick reeds, and lots of weeds grow under the surface. From what it felt like standing near it, im guessing the pool is about 8-10 degrees warmer the surrounding river, at least when we were there in late june or early july. We stood in one place, casting into that tiny 8 ft by 8 ft pool, and caught fish on every cast for an hour. you could easily catch 4 or 5 fish minute. we finally had to leave and work our way back down stream to get to camp before it got dark, as we werent sure how long it would take. At all of the tail outs we hammered fish, but in the long slow deep sections you couldn't buy a bite. I bet we caught over half of the fish in that first hour. There are lots of hot springs in this area too. I bet if we would have just drove up to the hot springs (which you can do, but we walked the road, which goes away from the river for about a mile, so we could fish the inaccessable canyon on the way back to camp) we could have caught a couple of thousand of fish in a half a day easy. Now we know, that the canyon is ok, but not really worth the effort. I know exactly what you mean about the thumbs. I had the whole year off of work this last year, and I spent most of may and june chasing crappie and bass. I still got scars on my thumb tips!! Worth it though.

[Rawbd]

Originally Posted by codeman

I have caught some absolute monsters out of oxbow reservoir, on the snake below brownlee, all from the bank. It is catch and release fishing until aug, then just 2 fish after that. As for large mouth, the upper end of owhyee reservoir had some monsters. I've seen several in the 10# class come out of there over the years. most of those were caught on crappie jigs.

But the record for smallies is 8lb 10oz out of Hagg, 1o + how come 1 of these have'nt made the books ? got pics ? I pic everything worthy.

[ling killer]

Originally Posted by tnj8222

Have seen some beast lm just shy of 11 come out of the potholes sand dunes.

speaking of potholes...

i like fishing those potholes, from north of waldport, all the way to coos bay along side the road. Shhhh. don't tell anyone

[BuKuBass]

Originally Posted by Rawbd

But the record for smallies is 8lb 10oz out of Hagg, 1o + how come 1 of these have'nt made the books ? got pics ? I pic everything worthy.

When you're catching a different smallie every 45 seconds (Remember there were two guys fishing, each better than the other) for hours on end (And that doesn't take into account the time spent covering those two miles out and back), you don't have time to take a picture.
Time to take off the hip boots and put on the chest highs.

[codeman]

first of all, my post clearly states those 10 pound fish were large mouths. small mouths in oxbow, large mouths in owyhee. I am frequently in and out of the water, so i seldom have my digital camera on me. I used to buy those cheap water proof disposable cameras, but the picture quality really sucked. Plus i really didnt like having them in my pocket. I never caught one that large, but seen several caught in my boat, and other boats around me. I have also seen pictures of huge bass that appear to be in the 10# range taken from owhyee. As for the owhyee river, there is really no easy way to fish from the bank, its really brushy. You can, but you are limited to just a few spots. We don't bother with waders or anything, the water is fairly warm and its usually pretty hot out. just shorts, t-shirt, and a cheap pair of tennis shoes. The main fork of the river that time of year is only about 50 or 60 feet across. in alot of places, its only knee or waist deep. In others, its well over your head. so, you wade, walk, swim, your way down stream. Hense, no digital camera with me. The north fork of the river is smaller yet, only 10 -15 feet acoss. Its significantly colder as it is far shorter and more gradient. This arm too is loaded with bass, but also has huge red banned trout in it, up to 24 inches. We usually average around 10 trout apiece each day. We could catch more if we targeted them, but just catch them while bass fishing off or our small curly tails our if the weeds permit, ultra small craw dad cranks. The trout really love those. I've long wanted a totally water proof digital camera, but really cant afford it. plus i have tons of pictures from previous years, so dont really need more pics of the same. Not sure if i have any digital photos, but i'll check. most were regular pictures from a disposable.

[codeman]

i forgot to mention, there are so many hungry, stupid bass in there, that while "swimming" down stream on your back through some of the deeper holes, you hold your reel above you and out of the water. sometimes your jig will only be a couple of inches under the surface, back by your feet and bass still wont leave it alone. its interesting unhooking a bass when you cant touch bottom and dont want to dunk your reel. My reel always ends up under water, so i guess i shouldnt worry about it.

[CRD4Liberty]

Largest LM bass I've caught were in Silver Lake, Cowlitz County, WA and Silcoos Lake, OR.

[bassnbass]

Bethany lake. saw someone landed 10+ LB twice there.

[Dave Smith]

Originally Posted by BuKuBass

Time to take off the hip boots and put on the chest highs.

[KStock]

Originally Posted by built2fish

Definitely St. Louis and Wilsonville Ponds.

Matt, how could you forgot Commonwealth pond in Beaverton?

[larry the jeep guy]

hagg lake is a great one

[Snopro]

Davis lake

[Tred73]

Bellinger Ponds!!!!! I still think it holds the record in Oregon for LM. Fished it when I was a little kid and all those break offs were 10 plus pound fish or at least that is what I always thought.

[Greg516]

Selmac!!!

[boblag]

Originally Posted by codeman

unfortunately i havent fished the upper part of owhyee in quite awhlie. Been taking my boys (12 and 10) out to dry creek to hammer the crappies. Back in college my buddy had a boat. I dont have access to one anymore, so the upper end is out of my reach. I just purchased a sit on top kayak, so im hoping this spring to make a trip up resevoir from leslie gulch. Hopefully, i'll be able to post some good pics. problem will be if i trust myself to take the digital out on the yak.
ya, ive only caught a handfull of 5 plus pounder smallies out of oxbow over the years. most fish though, are around 3 lbs or so. but, you can litterally catch 300 of them a day. i would personnally rather catch 200 fish around 3 lbs, another 100 around 2lbs and maybe 1 over 5, rather than just a handful of fish, all over 5 pounds. so i guess it all depends on your definition of "trophy bass waters." I have no problem with people who target only huge fish. more power to ya. Im not that patient. My absolute favorite bass water is the owhyee river at 3 forks. Me and my buddy this last summer just hammered them again. We walked/floated/swam about a 2 mile section of the river below the hot springs and back to camp. it took us 4 1/2 hours. we called out by number every bass we caught. our ultralights with small 1 inch while curly tails. We caught 750 between the two us, stopped fishing and swam and walked back to camp. The fishing is that incredible up there. Had the whole place to our selves too. mixed in with the bass were some huge red banned trout up to 25 inches, some squaw fish, carp, and a couple of huge suckers. to me, that is the definition of trophy waters. of course, almost all the fish were only 8 - 10 inches.

I think this belongs over on the "Alabama Crappie" thread. Seriously, though, I'll buy all of it, except the 200 3-lb'ers. Maybe it's time for a new scale. Other than that, it's easy to catch several dinks/minute on the John Day, S. Umpqua, etc.

The best big bass lakes in the NW? The ones that guys like Dave Smith, Hunter9, and Superfluke are tight-lipped about. I would start with lakes that are known for big bass, like Dorena and Hagg, or unpressured ponds.

[Slayer12]

hahaha alabama crappie.... hahaha

[Slayer12]

Originally Posted by lab1

Hands down Lake Oswego

Is there a public ramp there?

[fishnfun]

no

[Tuna Chaser]

Originally Posted by BlackBass

I have seen very large green ones caught on crappie jigs, my biggest on a crappie jig was pushing 7lbs. The fish tried eating my bobber the first cast, so i pitched the jig out without the bobber and he took it . Yes the little jigs with miniature tube bait . Proper tackle and some prayers and its easier then you would think, in open water. Lots of guys drop shotting for largemouth with 4-6 lb test.

There's an old saying I'd like to mention here. "Elephants eat peanuts".

[RussB]

Personally I feel Lake Chelan and the tri-cities area of the river have the largest smallmouth in the state of Washington. As far as largies go man thats hard to say there are so many good small bodies of water in both Oregon and Washington that have loads of toads in them that I cant pick just one. Some that come to mind would be Pipe Lake, Sawyer, Morton, Potholes in Washington.

Russ

[fishingbob]

I wandered about those potholes for years. thanks for the info.

[blksteelhead]

Selmac lake, there are some bass in that lake

[Basshound]

Dorena, Fallcreek, cooper creek, selmac, triangle, McKay, Oswego, Slough's on the willy and several others that escape me right now.

[lab1]

Originally Posted by Slayer12

Is there a public ramp there?

No there is not a public ramp and the keep a close eye on the shores

[_Bassmaster_]

There are a couple 12#ers in Silver Lake. They were found during the shock program last year. That's a state record ready to be caught!!! Whether or not they will ever bite our lures....who knows. I tend to think that these Hawgs swim way back in the deep grass where the water is several inches and find some little pools or something. My buddy who hunts on Silver told me he beaches his boat and walks back in the brush and he said there are several channels that run back there and hit pools. I am not talking about the few islands that have goats on them but the other parts that you cannot access by boat...

[fishn machine]

I have not fished it for bass in years but believe it or not Dexter lake can be REALLY good in the late spring and summer (or used to be at least) .. Growing up in Fall cr. we used to fish there alot using black maribou jigs we have caught some absolute pigs on the N.E side of the lakes Behind the houses where the tunnel comes in to the lake.. Serveral over 5# and my dad caught one that went over 10#...

[Senko86]

FREEWAY LAKES

[Tred73]

Originally Posted by fishn machine

I have not fished it for bass in years but believe it or not Dexter lake can be REALLY good in the late spring and summer (or used to be at least) .. Growing up in Fall cr. we used to fish there alot using black maribou jigs we have caught some absolute pigs on the N.E side of the lakes Behind the houses where the tunnel comes in to the lake.. Serveral over 5# and my dad caught one that went over 10#...

SHHHH don't tell everyone the hot spots!! Just kidding, but up the way at Look out Point also holds some nice Bass if you know where to go.