Winter's on it's way out and springs on it's way in. That means only one thing to me. Bass fishin! I'm counting down the days............ I spend most of my time fishing on the Columbia river between Columbia Point and the Cable bridge. From April thru September we have some of the best small mouth bass fishin you could ever see. It's not uncommon for me to go out and catch 20 smallies in 3 hours everyday after work, ranging any ware from 5 inches to 5 pounds....... ohhh boy I'm getting excited. My question is. Is it too early to be bass fishing? I have been out two or three times. I have read many articles saying winter bass fishing can be phenomenal but, I have had no luck. Is it are region, my spots, technique, luck or is it just to damn early?

I've had good luck as early as April, but thats only on the smaller tribs that tend to warm up a little earlier. I would say that you're definately on the early side, but who knows--you may be on to something. Good Luck!

Got to go with E-mann. The water is still waaay too cold on the Columbia for me to expend any energy chasing smallmouth.

Does anyone else here have a small Cataraft or raft? We have some pretty fun "slow" raft floats down the Walla Walla once the base start biting. I bought a small 1 person cataraft last year. The floats usually last around 4 - 5 hours depending on the flow.

In fact, several of the bass from the photo gallery were caught on this river.

It could prove interesting this year if the flow rate doesn't improve. Perhaps I need to rig a trolling motor to my small cataraft

I have a 12' aluminum boat with a little minnkota on the back. Floating the walla walla sounds like a blast! Let me know when the bass start bitting.

glock wrote:

Does anyone else here have a small Cataraft or raft? We have some pretty fun "slow" raft floats down the Walla Walla once the base start biting. I bought a small 1 person cataraft last year. The floats usually last around 4 - 5 hours depending on the flow. In fact, several of the bass from the photo gallery were caught on this river. It could prove interesting this year if the flow rate doesn't improve. Perhaps I need to rig a trolling motor to my small cataraft

Yea, I have an 8' Waterskeeter. I rigged it out with a rod holder, velcro for 4 rods, a cooler, tackle, pump, etc. I try to make a couple floats each spring down the Yakima for bass. Will try the Klickitat this year for steelies and chinook and the Yakima for chinook. The Walla Walla sounds fun although if it is windy there is so little flow in places you could get stranded.

I went out last weekend around Richland and we tagged a couple nice smallmouth. The fish are way deep this time of year and most are not biters, but if you put in the effort and know what you're doing (I don't but the guy I fish with does), the occasional fish can be caught.