September Smallmouth Fishing on the Columbia River.
While most anglers are out chasing king and coho salmon in September, I am still fishing for smallmouth bass. My fall salmon fishing usually does not kick in until October because the bass fishing is just so good and I have the river all to myself. This week I put my Hobie PA 360 12' kayak in near the mouth of the John Day River for a quick 2 hour fishing opportunity.
As expected the topwater bite was electric. I started out with a Whopper Plopper and actually had one blow up on it on my 2nd cast - that's when I knew it was on! I hit my Plopper against a rock and cracked it so I had to switch to a Tiny Torpedo in frog color.
As I worked down the edge of the river, I had so many blow-ups on the Torpedo that I quit counting. Many missed it and came back to hit it again, sometimes two at a time smacked at it and a few swirriled on it and never came back. It was text book September on the Columbia River topwater bite. I did not catch anything big, but lots of 11" to 13" fish with a couple around 15 inches.
Mr. Coyote watching me fish.
As the sun cam up and hit the water, the topwater bite died off, so I switched off to soft plastics. I started dragging a Z-Man TRD BugZ that looks like a young crawdad in about 10 to 15 feet of water. At one point I was 7 fish for 7 casts on this set up - they just loved it. It was a gorgeous September day and I hated to leave but I only had two hours to fish so I had to head back to the truck. As I paddled back, I noticed a coyote on the bluff above me watching me fish. Just another spectacular day in the Pacific Northwest!
Thanks for reading
Bill