The Columbia River area wind has not been kind to kayak fishermen this smallmouth bass fishing season. There have only been a very few calm days where we have been able to get out on the Columbia River to go fishing. Whenever we’ve been able to go fishing, the fishing has been pretty good. Still looking for that big 20″ trophy smallmouth, but it’s been a while since I caught a really big fish.
Some of the best smallmouth bass fishing spots on the mid Columbia River are also the most windy so whenever the wind is predicted to be moderately calm, it’s a call to make a seventy five mile drive to go fishing. We lucked out and were able to get two and a half days of fishing with good conditions between wind events. It was really hot here in eastern Washington in the afternoon and the smallmouth bass will bite day or night, so we got an early start to the fishing day by the light of the moon when the wind was most calm.
It was a little more than a half moon, and with the rising sun in the east, it was light enough to see by 5 AM. We knew our fishing time would be limited by the afternoon wind, so we were on the water well before sunrise. By the light of the moon there was plenty of fishing action. We caught the biggest smallmouth bass of the fishing trip just before sunrise each day so it was worth getting up early and getting out there. It was also nice and cool on what would be a swelteringly hot summer day.
As the sun came up the fishing remained hot and we caught a lot of smallmouth bass. Most of them were “one pounders”, but we did catch a number of bigger fish. Smallmouth bass are great fighters and it always seems like there should be a bigger fish at the end of the line. Even the small bass put up a great fight.
The water temperature of the Columbia River, especially the side bays and shallow sections is warm and getting warmer. That means the smallmouth bass are moving to deeper water and the river vegetation is taking over. There is the usual seaweed, but the real problem is slimy green algae that is covering just about everything under the water. If your lure touches anything, it’s coated with algae and the fish won’t bite.
As the sun rose on another still very long PacNW summer day, it got really hot, into the low 90’s. The fishing was still good until late in the afternoon when the wind usually picked up and made the fishing more difficult.
Even during the windy afternoon, the fishing was still pretty good. When you’ve already had a long day of kayak fishing, you don’t want a mile long paddle against a 10-15 mph wind back to the launch. Good fishermen always want to try “one more cast”, but it’s time to get back to camp, get hydrated and something to eat so we can do it again early tomorrow morning.
As the weekend river goers packed up their fishing rods and pool toys, we packed up and left the hot, windy Columbia River and headed towards the Cascade Mountains and Goose Lake.