portland-area smallmouth opportunities

bacon_to_fry · 10-07-2003, 09:06 AM

hey guys,

i'm a recently relocated midwest wisconsin-born, minnesota-raised) guy who really misses surface smallmouth fishing, and i've been hearing the willamette, the lower clackamas and the columbia rivers are pretty good for copper thunder. what say you guys?

do i need a boat? (i'm confined to bank access for now) if not, i have no problem walking riverbanks, throwing poppers into little eddies. does the bite slow up dramatically in fall/winter (as it does before our rivers freeze over back home). do the fall fish migrate to deeper 20+ foot holes reacheable only by boat?

i've tried the john day and though it was a good looking river (needed water, however), i managed a few fish where i could wade. it's just a bit far for after work trips...

not looking for the "go to the third rock below X bridge, stand two feet upstream and cast 40 feet to the north" sort of directions, but any help on patterns (i primarily fly fish) or general access would be apprectiated. feel free to mail me if you don't want to post. thanks.

-bacon

hawgcatcher · 10-07-2003, 02:06 PM

There are a lot of places to get smallmouth on the Willamette and Columbia. I like the area around Clackamette Park as it is easy for me to get down to the river. Pick a spot, no problem. Several members fish at the Mary Young State Park which is in West Linn toward Lake Oswego. I know of others that fish the mouth of sucker creek at Lake Oswego.

Hagg Lake near Forest Grove has had the state record for smallmouth hit twice in a month. It is still open but low. I fished it recently and used a small jig from shore near the Boat ramp A area and had a ball with dinks on light tackle. There are bigger ones there too.

Contact the Oregon Bass and Panfish club for more info. They have a web site.

Good luck.

happybrew · 10-07-2003, 09:31 PM

In the springtime, or probably now for that matter, try a green wooly bugger in St. Louis Ponds, near Gervais. e-mail me if you want directions. Make sure you make reference to St. Louis Ponds or iFish in the title, as I get tons of spam and delete most of what I don't recognize.

happybrew

bucketmouth · 10-08-2003, 06:09 AM

You can access the Willamette River from the shore at Hebb Park on the upper end and from Mololla State park. Both areas will produce b ass.

bacon_to_fry · 10-08-2003, 10:18 AM

wow.

thanks guys for the help. you've got me pumped, as i thought my smallmouth days were over until i lucked my way into a boat. i'll check a few of those spots out and let you folks know if i do any good.

again, thanks for the start.

-bacon

onebadfish · 10-29-2003, 04:16 PM

what bait to use in the willamette?

halomidge · 10-29-2003, 05:48 PM

I've seen a lot of vehicles parked around rock island on 99E south of Oregon City. It looks like you can cross the RR tracks and poke around there from the bank. I've fished it from the boat side and it's fairly productive. What ever was working is probably changing as we speak with the weather turning like it has. But Brown zoom worms drop shot was working for the last 2 weeks. The fish are full of crawdads ... still see em poking out when you unhook one of those bronze backs.

M BASS · 10-30-2003, 02:09 PM

I fish rock island all the time from the bank & use most anything and get fish. I like that 4&1/2 inch camo powerbait worm on a 1/16th jighead. biggest one I have caught in those ponds was 5 1/2lbs. i fish it all year but you may have to get wet.

good luck
:tongue:

halomidge · 10-30-2003, 02:25 PM

M Bass - everytime I go by there I wonder about putting a float tube in ... is that a possibility? It looks like it should be full of Bass and obviously you've proved it.

bucketmouth · 10-30-2003, 07:21 PM

Another good bank access area on the Willamette is from Mary S. Young State Park. One has to park above the River and walk down via paved walkways to the beach. There are some rocks along the waters edge you can fish from and they afford some good fishing. Start fishing here as early as March and throughout the year til November. This area is however, on the lower stretch of the River below the falls. In summer months there is a bridge there that allows you to cross over to cedar oak island. inside the Island is cedar oak lagoon. this area is perfect for float tubbing. Crappie, perch and bass can be caught in the lagoon. Good Luck!

M BASS · 10-31-2003, 09:27 AM

You can fish that with a float tube but it can be hard moving from hole to hole with all that brush. If your fish the far side of that first island from a float tube and drop shot you can get gangs of bass. When the sun goes down I have been getting a number of good crappie 8-12 inches and real fat. I also like to fish those betel spins w/ white 3inc grubs. Any way you go lots of fish but I like that 3rd pond up on the left side it is 4-5 feet deep w/ a 12-13 foot channel that runs down the middle of it and has fresh water going into it most of the year. But if you�re going this weekend give me a call.
503-484-8646 my name is mike.

Tight lines

halomidge · 10-31-2003, 09:39 PM

M Bass- not going this weekend but may consider next Saturday AM. Do the ponds get a lot of pressure at this time of year?

M BASS · 11-04-2003, 12:53 PM

M BASS · 11-04-2003, 12:55 PM

no i havent seen anyone while i was there for quite some time