Northwest Fishing Reports

When you go fishing about how big are the fish your pulling in each time you go? Are you always pulling in those monsters or what? I am a new fisherman and the largest I have pulled was around 13 inches and I was pretty impressed with myself until I heard your guys stories saying 12 was a dink. I thought the dinks were the little 2" babies that would grab my line hah. Any tips to go with the size you are looking for would be nice too.

I mostly fish for food so I target the smaller fish here on the snake (taste better) but I would like to learn to catch the bigger ones just for C&R and bragging rights.

Im not much of a pro myself, but most of the time, im catching lil 10" bass by using rapalas. Lately Ive been trying to catch the big 3lbers or bigger like u are. Most ppl I have talked to say that Jigs are the best better for catching monsters. So lately Ive been trying 1/2oz jigs with split tailed trailers and such. The take downs have been huge, but I cant ever get a hook up. Im not a quiter though, so if I was you I would practice using Jigs for the monsters. Try to use colors such as Black/Blue or Orange/Red and maybe even Chartruese. Good luck and Tight lines.

I am more of a believer in location for big fish. If I am on small fish, I move. Don't get me wrong, I think bait is important too, but my biggest smallmouth seem to always come on the small finesse type worms, so I know small baits can catch big fish too. My rig that I catch my biggest smallmouth on is just a 3" dropshot bait. If I am targeting largemouth, then I actually tend to go with bigger stuff such as jigs, big plastics, and big spinnerbaits. They would probably take the small baits too, but where I am tossing lures to go after these big largemouth, small line will not work. I think the more you fish, the easier it is to target big fish, it is just that simple. Time on the water is the most important part of bass fishing.

You just touched on the essence of why we're all out there. We're not guaranteed to catch anything when we go out. You're gonna get the small one's in pursuit of the large fish, that's fishing!! Don't get discouraged with the size of the fish you're catching, instead, be glad they are biting on what you're showing them. In time, the "Big Daddy" will come out and play. That's the beauty of it. Doesn't matter whether you're in a $50K bass boat or a $50 float tube, we all the same chance at catching the big one.

Keep up the search, fish often.

There are certain times of the year that are better for big fish.
In the spring as the water warms into the low 40s the Smallmouth will start to get active.
At this time I like to use a jig. I have always had good luck on the Snake with a black marabou jig 1/8th or 1/4 oz with a black pork split tail eel. I like a pork bait better than plastic because it seems the fish will hold pork longer than plastic. As the temps rise to the high 40s to low 50s I will start tossing a Crank bait. My choice for the Snake is anything in a Crawdad pattern. Smallmouth tend to hit a bait with a tight fast wiggle to it like the Mann's piglit or a Storm wee wart. As the temps rise higher and the spawning is done, the Smallmouth will head for deeper waters.
At this time we get most of our bigger fish as deep as 50 feet. When the Smallmouth are in this deep water we use a curly tail jig or a Blade bait like a silver buddy or a Mann's Lil George. The fall is my favorite time to target big fish. They will cruse the shallow waters and pig out for the winter. I think this is the best time to target big Smallmouth. From now until the ice comes is when I target my biggest Smallmouth of the year.

We catch the 12 and 13 inchers on most trips but the big boys 4 lbs and up are tough to get evey time out.

I almost had him! I took a friend fishing today (no report sorry have been busy) on the snake river and we weren't catching anything so we moved to a new area. My first cast something grabbed my line and ran for the hills. I fought it for about five minutes reeling constantly but no matter how much I tightened the drag it just kept taking off. Finally I had the monster within sight and I yelled for a net and when I tried to resituate my hands I stopped reeling for 1 second and he spit my line and swam off. I was so close, boy was that fun and frustrating at the same time.

Proverb wrote:I almost had him! I took a friend fishing today (no report sorry have been busy) on the snake river and we weren't catching anything so we moved to a new area. My first cast something grabbed my line and ran for the hills. I fought it for about five minutes reeling constantly but no matter how much I tightened the drag it just kept taking off. Finally I had the monster within sight and I yelled for a net and when I tried to resituate my hands I stopped reeling for 1 second and he spit my line and swam off. I was so close, boy was that fun and frustrating at the same time.

That's like hitting a nice golf shot....keeps you coming back.

Don't cha just HATE that?? Keep at it. You'll be posting pictures soon, I can feel it.

Proverb wrote:I almost had him! I took a friend fishing today (no report sorry have been busy) on the snake river and we weren't catching anything so we moved to a new area. My first cast something grabbed my line and ran for the hills. I fought it for about five minutes reeling constantly but no matter how much I tightened the drag it just kept taking off. Finally I had the monster within sight and I yelled for a net and when I tried to resituate my hands I stopped reeling for 1 second and he spit my line and swam off. I was so close, boy was that fun and frustrating at the same time.

Do you know what type of fish it was? Sometimes I fish for trout and end up with a huge bass charging to the other side of the lake and vice versa.

WCCT wrote:I am more of a believer in location for big fish. If I am on small fish, I move.

i 2nd that

:king:

we reaffirmed this statement on one of our fishing trips. the smaller bass would be all throughout the lake, where as the bigger fish would only be in certain locations. after locating the bigger bass, we targeted simlar locations in this body of water. from then on in, it was bigger bass.

Proverb wrote:I almost had him! I took a friend fishing today (no report sorry have been busy) on the snake river and we weren't catching anything so we moved to a new area. My first cast something grabbed my line and ran for the hills. I fought it for about five minutes reeling constantly but no matter how much I tightened the drag it just kept taking off. Finally I had the monster within sight and I yelled for a net and when I tried to resituate my hands I stopped reeling for 1 second and he spit my line and swam off. I was so close, boy was that fun and frustrating at the same time.

You don't have to reel the whole time to get fish to the boat. Take your time, keep the tension on the fish and your tip up, and let the thing run if its going to run. You don't need to fight the fish, let the fish fight the drag. I see too many people reeling in the whole time they have a fish on, play em out. It's more fun to get a good fight in then to get it to the boat.

Could have been a salmon/steelhead/trout....

We could see it and it looked like a bass. About 10 minutes later a guy 15 feet down the bank had him too. He fought him for a little less time than me and had him two feet from the bank before he jumped off the line. I was already over my dissapointment at that time so kind of chuckled but the other guy was very mad. He was a beautiful fish I hope nobody catches him so I can try again next time. heh

fishnislife wrote:I am a true believer that big baits catch big fish

i 2nd that

:king:

more so, i think there is a reason why baits are priced a certain way. as people say, you gotta pay to play. one thing is for sure, dont skimp on hooks or line.

First, it's location, location, location. Find out what the large bass are usually doing at the time of year you are fishing.

Second, Bigger baits. Within reason of course. Bigger baits will cut down on the number of fish caught in a day, but size will generally increase. A good rule of thumb is to be close to the size of their preferred forage. In the spring I throw my largest lures because that sow is chowing down on the state's cookie-cutter trout. After the spawn, I use my smallest baits to match the size of the new hatches of fish. As summer progresses, I start working up the size again. In the fall I use lures slightly smaller than in the spring to catch the football bass that are trying to pack on weight for the winter. I'm still trying to figure out winter bass.

As for size, I catch alot of smaller one- and two-pound bass with a generous smattering of three- and four pounders. I have been fortunate this year to catch several larger fish between five- and seven-pounds, but most years I only catch a few of them.

Time of day and weather have a big impact as to whether or not the big fish will move shallow and this year's mild summer probably accounts for this year's better than average success.