![\"Clearing](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ColumbiaRiverSunrise8-10-16.jpg\" "\\"Clearing")
<\/p>\nWe’ve been doing a lot of kayak fishing for smallmouth bass and have been lacking on the blog posts, so we’ll try and get up to date with a super duper, gigantic smallmouth bass fishing report. There haven’t been that many days when the wind has been calm enough for kayak fishing, otherwise the smallmouth bass fishing conditions have been great. We’ve done pretty well this summer as far as the smallmouth bass fishing goes, every time we’ve gone fishing, we’ve caught a bunch of bass, including some pretty decent sized ones. We keep trying new spots and have had great fishing.<\/p>\n
We’ve had to drive a little to get to the place we’ve been fishing and it has been really hot, so an early start was mandatory. Most days, the wind comes up in the afternoon, that’s another good reason to hit it early. It’s pretty tough waking up at 4:00 AM, but knowing there is good fishing ahead makes it a little bit easier. The wind died down from the windy day before, but it was still unsettled in the morning when we paddled out.<\/p>\n
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The smallmouth bass fishing was good. This is an ideal spot for casting up against shoreline rocks, but the shallow parts of the river are choked with seaweed. We caught most of the bass by trolling along the weed line or along underwater drop offs.<\/p>\n
![\"Kayak](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ColumbiaRiverSmallmouthBass8-10-16.gif\" "\\"Kayak")
<\/p>\n
We caught some small fish and a few bigger bass, a lot of the smallmouth bass were about this size<\/p>\n
![\"Columbia](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ColumbiaSmallmouthBass8-10-16.jpg\" "\\"Columbia")
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We mentioned the afternoon wind. On one of the days, the wind came up very quickly in the late morning, chasing us off the river while the fish were biting.<\/p>\n
![\"Early](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/EarlyAMWind8-10-16.jpg\" "\\"Early")
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For the next few days, it was really hot. Well over 90\u00b0F during the day. The clouds had been burned away and the early mornings were still and warm.<\/p>\n
![\"Sunrise](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ColumbiaRiverSunrise8-12-16.jpg\" "\\"Sunrise")
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The fishing was best in the early morning when it was relatively cool.<\/p>\n
![\"Early](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/EarlyAMSmallmouthBass8-4-16.jpg\" "\\"Early")
<\/p>\n
Trolling in deeper water yielded a couple nice fish. Less fish overall, but the bass were generally larger.<\/p>\n
![\"Columbia](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ColumbiaSmallmouthBass8-4-16.jpg\" "\\"Columbia")
<\/p>\n
No matter how big they are, smallmouth bass are great fighters and really fun to catch on light tackle. Kayak fishing is perfect for this.<\/p>\n
![\"Kayak](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ColumbiaRiverSmallmouthBass8-12-16.gif\" "\\"Kayak")
<\/p>\n
Most of the bass were one or two pounders, but we did manage to catch a couple nice ones. I got this nice fish in the morning trolling a swimbait over an underwater ledge. It’s one of the biggest bass I caught all year. Usually, you would expect to catch bass of this size in the early spring, but with smallmouth bass fishing in general, you never know what you are going to get.<\/p>\n
![\"Columbia](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ColumbiaRiverSmallmouthBass8-4-16.jpg\" "\\"Columbia")
<\/p>\n
The smallmouth bass fishing tapered off a bit towards the end of our trip, but we probably won’t be doing much more bass fishing this year because the steelhead and salmon should start arriving here soon. Word is that a few steelhead have been caught, but I only have seen a sockeye salmon caught and saw a couple hookups where the fish was not landed. Anyway, it’s hard to sit there and bobber fish for steelhead when there is great bass fishing in the same area because the odds of catching a steelhead are pretty slim, but the slow bass fishing and increasing odds of catching a salmon or steelhead means the bass fishing season is just about over.<\/p>\n
![\"Steelhead](\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/SteelheadBobberFishing.jpg\" "\\"Steelhead")
<\/p>\n
We’ve been taking out the salmon gear and checking it out on the water to make sure everything is ready to go when the big fish get here. We are excited for salmon fishing season and hope this year is a good run. You never know what is going to happen around here, but it’s always something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"