What a great weekend! I got my walleye fix, first at Scootney, and (for this report) the Columbia River. There’s nothing like fishing with good friends and meeting new friends. I was with my friends Randy, Rob, and Robbie. We stayed at Crow Butte Park, a very nice location BTW. I think it was a former state park? Anyway, the forecast for Tuesday was ominous but Lance Merz of Mack’s Lure called and said “let’s give it a try”. I was fishing with Lance and Mack’s Pro Staffer Ted Beach on Ted’s boat. We had Robbie with us and in my boat were Randy and Rob, helping out with some filming duties and also fishing.

Because of the possible high winds Ted decided to have us launch out of the Plymouth boat launch and fish below the dam, on the north side of the river, and also in the Plymouth Slough if the wind and conditions got too rough out on the main river. This turned out to be a good plan!

We launched and fished the slough first, finding a few fish here and there. Nothing of great size, except Randy caught a very nice 20” walleye. We were using bottom bouncers with slow death hooks, fat nightcrawlers, and Mack’s terminal components and lures. For the slough, which is 5-13 feet deep, we ran 1.5 ounce walkers and trolled around .7 to 1.3 mph.

Since the wind wasn’t near as bad as forecasted, Ted decided to run us over to fish below McNary dam, on the Washington side. This was “interesting”. The water was flowing pretty fast and there were some good waves being generated. Besides us there was one guide boat fishing. The drift was actually not too bad and we began catching fish, slightly bigger than in the slough. I had a monster hit that almost pulled the rod out of my hands. It turned out to be the biggest sucker I have ever caught! For this area we were fishing in 22 to 35 feet of water. The bottom bouncers went up to 3 and 4 ounce walkers due to the increased current.

We fished this area for about an hour and then the winds began to pick up. The clouds coming in were looking dark so Ted gave us the word, time to get off the main river. I never argue with a local that knows the river (it was his boat, anyway!).

Back to the slough we went, just in time to zip up our raingear and experience a nice half hour downpour with increased wind. Ted’s plan was sound though, as we were able to fish safely and again began picking up walleye ranging 13-17”. Our livewell was slowly filling with tasty walleye. Meanwhile, in my boat, Rob and Randy could be seen catching fish as well.

The rain passed and hey! Was that blue sky coming our way? Yes, it was. We enjoyed the incorrect forecast and continued to fish until early afternoon. The bite came and went and both boats continued to pick up fish.

Back at the dock we lined up our fish for photo ops. It was a good day of fishing and I can’t say enough thanks to Ted and Lance of Mack’s Lure for showing us the fishery. Thanks also to cameraman Robbie, Rob, and Randy for helping out. Can't do this stuff without good friends! We’ll be airing this adventure on a future episode of NWFR TV in our Yakima/Tri-Cities market soon!

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