The wind decided to take a rest for a day which allowed us to get out on the Columbia River for some smallmouth bass fishing. We launched at Doug’s Beach, a popular windsurfing spot near Lyle, Washington. With no wind, there are no windsurfers, so we launched from an empty beach into a moderate west wind.
As we expected, due to lack of rain and hot summer temperatures, the water level in the Columbia River is very low. Usually, this is how it looks at the end of summer and there is still at least month and a half of warm weather left. There have already been warnings from the local water authorities that a water shortage is a real possibility, so it’s looking a bit grim from a water standpoint. They can only take so much water out of the Columbia because they need to keep water flowing over the dams to produce electricity.
The smallmouth bass fishing was typical for this time of year, maybe a little slower than usual. With the changing water levels, the fish have a tendency to scatter all over the river, finding them can be tough. We found most of the fish we caught in six to twelve feet of water on the edge of seaweed patches. The seaweed is really starting to take over the river. The sections of river that are less than ten feet deep, which is a lot of the river, are choked with seaweed, no way to fish there. The water is also very warm, the fish have a tendency to head for deeper water. The bass we caught were small, less than a pound or so, again, typical for midsummer smallmouth fishing on the Columbia.
It was a really hot day, in the nineties by the afternoon, the morning wind died to dead calm by noon. In the cool of the morning we spotted a doe and her fawn taking an early stroll on the beach. Neither one of them had probably seen a person in a kayak before, they seemed curious and allowed me to get within twenty feet of them.
If the wind stays calm, we may head east a bit and see if we can’t find better fishing. If it gets windy, we are out on the mountain bike trails.