Washington Northern Pikeminnow

Got these monsters today at a pond near Klineline on Salmon Creek Park in Vancouver, Washington. I was fishing for bass, but ended up trying the deeper water instead of my usual shallow water haunts. I need to try a dropshot rig at this location, but I was still rockin' the 4'' Yum Dinger on a Texas Rig. Had a few small largemouth tackle the lure and a sunfish engulf it, but these Northern Pikeminnow really stole the show. Both struck near the shore, just around dusk, ripped drag, but never went airborne. Smaller one was just over 13'', biggest was pushing 17'', definitely my PB pikeminnow.

Interestingly enough, you can actually get paid to catch the much-hated pikeminnow if you catch it in the Columbia River. A partnership between the Bonneville Power company and the WDFW pays $4 per fish over 9''. Some anglers have reportedly made over $40,000 a year just catching these baby salmon-killers.

Gotta catch 'em all

Awesome scenery. Loads of fish. Great weather. What more could you ask for?

Salmon Creek Park Mixed Species

1.5 hours, 7 fish landed, 4 lost, all from the bank.

Biggest sculpin I've seen in a long time. Nailed a Yum Dinger hard.

Caught two of these big northern pikeminnows, both on the Dinger. Really a surprise, a little dissapointed they weren't big bass. Still, they pulled super hard, unlike most pikeminnows I catch. Never had 'em hit a Senko-style lure before. This one in the above pic was 15 inches.

This is the biggest largemouth that this park has ever produced for me, sitting at 14 inches. Not huge, but a monster compared to the dinks that I usually catch here. Good fight on 4lb test.
Klineline pond and the surrounding waterways in Salmon Creek Park continue to surprise me with largemouth bass. I've lost some pretty big ones here but hopefully I'll connect and actually land them on my next trip.

Mud Lake Bass Fishing

One Fish Hunter Sevylor Raft. Two oars. Four fishing rods. Two anglers.

And a whole lot of wind.
We fished Mud Lake, lightly at first, since the awful visibility, brisk wind, and choppy water made it hard to fish with any confidence. We finally had a little bite on a Yum Dinger near some weeds, and on a plastic grub, but no fish were landed. Saw a few No Trespassing signs on the far shore too, didn't want to make anyone angry by landing over there.

Finally went back to the main launching area, stetched our cramped legs for a bit, and made a few casts. I lost one, then landed a little guy on a Dinger. Really surprised they even could find the lure with the poor visibilty.

Got back into the raft, headed to another part of the lake. My brother loves fishing plastic grubs on jigheads, and he lost a fish off a weedline on a white grub. We caught a couple of frogs in the thick grass for fun, then moved to another part of the lake. Water looked good, every thing seemed perfect-and we caught fish. First it was little bites, than it was a lost fish next to the boat, and the my brother caught a nice largemouth on his jig.

Next was a yellow perch for my bro. Than it was small largemouth for me, and then another yellow perch. By now, I had switched off my ever-present Yum Dinger to a white Berkely Gulp minnow, much more visible to the fish.

Lost a couple of other fish, plus a ton of short strikes. Feeling good.
Took one more shore break, than headed out again and worked the same area. I landed one nice largemouth, and my brother got a little yellow perch. Than, he lost a HUGE bass that was rippin' drag and splashing all over the place. Aw...
After a few more missed fish, we packed up and headed home. Great times on this shallow, yet large lake in Clark County for warmwater fish.
Mud Lake just north of Ridgefield, easily visible from Google Earth and quite well-marked online. However, the county lists it as an "Undeveloped" park. Basically, there is just a tiny bit of room to pull of for parking, and a mowed trail to the lake. Nothing else. Don't go expecting another Silver Lake, rather, it truly lives up to its name of "Mud", with very poor visibility. I have been there when the water clarity was much better, but that was earlier in the year. According to the Parks department, part of the land around the lake is private, but the entry and part of the shore is county owned, and thus accessible to the public. There is room to launch little kayaks, canoes, rafts and car-toppers, but it is a decent hike to get there. You can't just pull off the road and drive your boat down to the water.
Oh, and mosquitos. In the middle of the day, with bright sunshine and a brisk wind, you won't notice them. However, once the wind dies down, mosquitos appear everywhere! The evening is especially bad, with thousands of these bloodsuckers roaming the shoreline. We didn't get bit at all while on the water, but the bank has lots of shade where the skeeters hang out.

Klineline Largemouth bass

Got these little tykes off a weedline at one of the Salmon Creek Park Ponds. So far, I have managed to catch largemouth bass at but one of the ponds at this park. The main pond, Klineline, has been the hardest to crack, I'm still working on that one. Clear water, loads of pressure, not much cover. Oh, and I lost a really big one today, also on this Yum Dinger, 4''. Never even got to see it before it took off and threw the hook.

Secret Bass Ponds of Clark County

Accidently stumble across a series of big ponds on Google Earth ("recon").
Find a couple of forum posts on local fishing forums discussing the ponds ("intell"). Contact one of the guys who fished it once, find out that the ponds have easy public access ("local informant").
Actually drive out to the place today, fish it, find loads of eager biters, mostly dinks, but one decent 1-2lb fish that couldn't resist the Yum Dinger ("awesome").

Looked like this largemotuh was going to lose an eye. I went really horrible, but fortunately the hook slipped right next to the eye, slid out without any noticeable damage, fish seemed a-ok. I hate hooking 'em near the eyes.

Definitely going back with my Fish Hunter Sevylor raft.
Don't you love finding new places to fish?

Wintler Park Columbia River Smallmouth

The Columbia River has world-class smallmouth fishing, with B.A.S.S. holding at least one tournament per year on it. The best smallmouth fishing is usually upriver, in the Columbia River Gorge area, but you can still catch smallmouth closer to Vancouver and Portland. I fished on Wednesday at Wintler Park for smallmouth bass and caught this guy, plus a few others.
I love how explosive smallies are and how much of a fight they put up. Even on my heavier rod, they still pulled drag and made mad runs. This was my first fish of the day, caught on my favorite watermelon Yum Dinger. He was probably a little over 1lb, 13 inches or so. More after the jump.

Backpond Bass

There is one pond at Salmon Creek Park, in Vancouver, that I can never seem to catch any bass at. I have seen bass, had bass bite my lures, even found a dead 6 lb largemouth in the shallows with a big heron wound on its side, yet never landed one myself. Finally, at dusk, I caught this guy on a Yum Dinger. Dink? Totally. Still glad to shake the bass skunk at that pond.

Trout Streams

I fished Lewisville Park for several hours this Saturday. Exploring the East Fork of the Lewis River as it winds through the fir trees and swimming spots, I ran into the usual mix of fish, plus one new personal best for myself. Lewisville is just north of the city of Battleground, Washington, and is probably one of the most peaceful city parks in Clark County. Report and more photos after the jump:

Falling Turtles

Oh Hai?
Salmon Creek Park is full of turtles. In elementary school, we used to watch videos of endangered sea turtles laying their eggs on beaches. It would seem that the common freshwater turtles in the Pacific Northwest do the same thing. I've lost track of how many times I have stumbled across a female turtle, digging a hole near Salmon Creek for its eggs.

Morning Bass Fix

I fished Round Lake, in Camas, Washington this morning and early afternoon. It is really a picturesque lake, especially when you get there before the summer swimming rush. My brother and I tossed jigs, Senko-clones, and flies for a nice assortment of fish. We caught largemouth and (oddly enough) yellow perch.

Here is my big bass for the trip. He was traveling with two other similar sized bass, crusing the shallows in the morning. I haven't seen bass of that size school up before, usually I find them as loners, hiding under logs and weeds. My brother was trying to catch a fat bluegill that kept nipping at surface flies. I guess all the topwater action brough the bass (and large bluegill school) in closer to the shore, and they couldn't resist a wacky-rigged Cabela's Glo-Stick. Check out the chunk to this fish!

I lost loads of dinks and 'gills while fishing, but managed this one on a Berkely Gulp minnow. Round Lake has a lot of fish, the key is finding them without spooking them (pretty clear water, although it was off-color today). Definitely want to bring my Fish Hunter Raft here next time!

Salmon Creek Park

Salmon Creek Park, in Clark County, Washington, is loaded with small ponds. Some hold hardly any fish, others have all kinds of different species. The main pond, referred to as Klineline Pond, gets stocked with loads of rainbow trout every year and subsequently receives insanely heavy fishing pressure. There also is a lot of bluegills and other sunfish in it, and some huge bass, but they are quite hard to reach.

I love exploring Salmon Creek and the ponds in the park. I've found some spots with loads of bass eager to bite. Most are dinks, like this guy, not much bigger than the Yum Dinger I got it on. Still, they put up a nice fight on light tackle, and there are some much bigger specimens available too. Most of the ponds are really weedy, so you really have to work to present your lure to the fish. Here's a report from one of my most recent trips:

Multiple Posts?

Why so many multiple posts for the same day? I have a backlog of reports and photos I wanted to post, leading up to when I registered this blog. I should be caught up soon.

Raft Bass

Had to get out and try my Sevylor Fish Hunter out. Didn't get to fish for very long but as I was paddling back to the bank, I stopped at large, semi-submerged patch of grass in the pond. My brother made one last cast and I made one cast with the Yum Dinger, Texas rig, right ontop of the grass. I worked the lure fast, twitching it, and a chunky bass blasted it. He put on an aerial show for us, circled the raft, then gave up. Quick pic and back in the water. I'm really glad the raft works fine and didn't have any stupid mouse bites in it. The last time I took it out (last summer), a mouse chewed a hole in the lining, than died in the box. I finally patched the Sevylor this summer, using the excellent TearAid Type B stuff. It worked well, easily sealing the silver dollar-sized hole in the lining.

Success!

After my first bass on a Senko-style lure, I had to go back to the same spot and try again. The last time I was there, I saw loads of chunky bass, cruising the shallows. They were really easily spooked and the pond gets a lot of pressure from worm 'n bobber guys, so I wanted to get back soon before all the fish were gone.


I worked the pond hard, casting in the shallows and in the lone deep spot, near fallen logs and overhanging brush. In the shallows, I lost a small dink on a Berkely Gulp minno, wacky-rigged, then caught another dink on the 4'' Yum Dinger. He came charging out of some cover and blasted the lure. I love the aggression little bass have, even when they aren't much larger than their target.

First Time

Cast. Let the lure flutter to the bottom. Watch the line. Boom, fish on. My first Senko bass for the summer. Nothing huge, about a foot long, but I was still stoked. One of my goals for this summer is to learn how to fish the uber popular Senko plastic lure for largemouth and smallmouth bass. Being low on dough, I ended up grabbing a pack of 4'' Yum Dingers and 5" Cabela's Aqua Glo-Stick Worms. They are super easy to cast and the Aqua Glo is just what I wanted for night fishing, super visible and smelly.

Washington State is not the best location for excellent bass fishing, but there are plenty of spots loaded with hungry Micropterus varieties. I'll be fishing here for most of the summer, so expect reports from the area. I pulled this largemouth out of shallow pond, loaded with fallen logs and weeds. My 8lb mono held fine, but I had to wade out into the water to untangle this guy from under some roots. The bottom was super silty, pretty uncomfortable to be sinking in it.

I have been fishing for roughly 10 years and can't seem to get enough of it. The web is littered with fishing blogs and I follow a few fairly regularly, including the excellent LandingLunkers (Bass fishing in Korea), UrbanFlyVentures (concrete jungle fishing in SoCal), RoughFisher(carp and other "rough fish" on the fly) blogs. There is something about reading other's fishing reports that gets me excited to go out and explore for new fishing spots. I tinkered with the idea of starting a blog recording my fishing trips and photos and I've finally started one with Hunting the River King. So, why the random name? It's a reference to one of the few fishing video games I played and actually liked, an old-school, 2d series called "Legend of the River King." Check it out if you need a good Nintendo DS or PSP fishing fix.

I'll cover my fishing adventures, trophy (or tiny) catches, and anything else angling-related that interests me on Hunting the River King. I fish mostly for bass, but I also target carp, trout, catfish and anything else that will bite and fight in the water. Post all your fan mail or rage words in the comments section. Questions about fishing spots in the Southwest Washington area? Ask away. Tight lines!