Smallmouth bass a big deal on the Columbia River

• Published June 30, 2008

The closest thing to a sure angling bet in the Northwest right now is smallmouth bass on the Columbia River.

I've noodled around that big river for about three years now, and I haven't found a place that doesn't hold smallmouth bass. Some spots have more bass than others, but find rocks -- and maybe a current seam -- and you'll find smallmouth.

I was on the river -- the part backed up behind John Day Dam -- Saturday morning, and I couldn't keep the bass off my lures and flies. The bass were hungry, and they whacked floating bass bugs cast on my fly rod early in the morning. As the scorching sun rose into the sky, the fish went a little deeper -- maybe 5 feet or so -- to the rocky ledges just off the first shoreline dropoff.

I switched to a spinning rod and cast a Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow -- an excellent small crankbait -- about 30 feet offshore and reeled it in with stops and starts. The bass would almost always whack the Bitsy when it started moving again after a pause.

It was a wonderful morning of fishing. Truth is, you can find fabulous smallmouth bass fishing on the Columbia River from Bonneville Dam upstream all along the Washington/Oregon border. I do most of my Columbia smallmouth fishing from the bank. I find a rocky bank, a little current and then try different depths nearby.

You may also catch some walleye and yellow perch, which are very tasty fish. Yellow perch are usually tiny here in South Sound lakes, but they get big on the Columbia.

This river is worth the trip -- especially if you camp in the nice state parks on either side of the river. Watch for rattlesnakes along the rocks and have fun!

Chester Allen