It’s been a slow start to the 2015 smallmouth bass season for sure. After a few kayak fishing trips, we finally managed to get a couple nice smallmouth bass in the boat. The secret was to target another species of fish, then we were able to get some smallies. The last time out, we caught a bunch of northern pikeminnows. Since the bass fishing wasn’t so good, we figured we’d try to go after the pikeminnows and make a few bucks. Of course we didn’t catch a single northern pikeminnow this trip, but did manage to get about ten smallmouth bass, including a couple nice ones, as well as a few small sturgeon.
It’s been pretty hot and sunny the past few days, so we got an early start to avoid the heat and early summer sunburn. The wind was light and the water level in the Columbia River remains very low, especially for this time of year.
The fish weren’t exactly jumping in the kayak, but as the sun came up, we started to catch a few small bass and a couple small sturgeon. The time tested lures that always worked for us were not working today. When smallmouth bass are not hitting the lure you’re using, try something else. That’s what we did and, sure enough, the first cast with the different lure got slammed by the first decent sized smallmouth bass of the 2015 season.
A few more casts with what would turn out to be the lucky lure of the day resulted in another pretty good bass. Not the early season lunkers we were hoping for, but the way things are looking this year, you have to take what you can get.
It’s looking like it’s going to be a tougher than normal year for smallmouth bass fishing so you have to use all the knowledge you have to try and figure out where the fish are and what they will bite. The low water levels and higher than normal water temperature make the fishing conditions now what they would normally be at the end of August. What’s going to happen at the end of summer is anybody’s guess. We’re going to head upriver next week and see if we can do a little better in another location, so stay tuned.