Had pretty good luck at Rowena fishing for smallmouth bass, the wind is still calm, so we keep going after them.
Headed east to Horsethief Lake, a really nice fishing spot and campground. Horsethief Lake is right on the Columbia River, has a Columbia River boat launch, Horsethief Lake, a campground and native American petroglyphs, pretty cool place. Got there first thing in the morning
Went down to the Horsethief launch ramp on the Columbia River to chase the smallmouth bass, but the wind came up early. This launch is right above The Dalles dam; this is the view from the east side, there are treacherous currents and whirlpools, add a steady west wind, no fooling around here
The reason the currents are so strong is that a good number of the gates on The Dalles dam are open; letting water over the dam for electricity or agricultural irrigation, maybe a lot of snowmelt, who knows? This is what it looks like on the west side of the dam
http://youtu.be/B5WTINiayws
The smallmouth were biting, caught this one by casting a spinnerbait against the rocky bank of the river
You’ll notice I am wearing a life preserver, not taking any chances. The wind came up making it hard to fish so I headed back to the Horsethief boat launch, figured I’d move over to Horsethief Lake
The Horsethief Lake launch is super mellow, fish cleaning station, water, restrooms nearby, plenty of parking
Had good luck casting a spinnerbait against the rocks between the lake and the Columbia River for smallmouth bass
Talked with a couple other fishermen who were catching bass and even a small walleye on nightcrawlers. Horsethief Lake is not that big, but great for kayak fishing. Even if the Columbia River is too windy, you can catch fish on Horsethief Lake
After a successful day at Horsethief Lake, we headed out closer to our Hood River/White Salmon homegrounds, but the situation had changed a bit. It was a little cloudier today, but still pretty warm
The smallmouth bass were still biting, only today we ran into a bunch of midgets. Didn’t get a fish over eight inches
It’s the July 4th week, but hope we can beat the crowds east of Hood River to find more good smallmouth bass fishing.