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If you’re relatively new to Bass fishing, you have probably heard of or tried fishing with ‘soft plastics.’ What some folks have mistakenly referred to as ‘a rubber worm’ has exploded into an amazing variety of lifelike and/or bizarre-looking soft baits that appeal to fish for various reasons and under various conditions. One thing is common to all soft plastic baits: If you rig them properly, you can penetrate deep into ‘snaggy’ cover and present the bait to fish that would never see other categories of baits because they feature treble hooks or exposed hooks.

From Left to Right among the pictured baits you can see represented snake baits, worms, grubs, Senko-style stick baits, lizards, tubes, ‘creature baits,’ swim baits and crawdad ‘trailers’, all in various sizes. While you are reading this, someone somewhere is maniacally mass-producing or hectically hand-pouring a new variation of a soft plastic bait, experimenting with different colors, textures, sizes, arms, legs, wings, scales, antennae, claws, fins and tails.

Some baits will realistically mimic a specific fish species such as Bluegill, Shad or Rainbow Trout. Some will look like live crawdads, frogs, leeches or worms. Some will look like nothing that flies, crawls, swims or scurries on planet Earth. But all of them will catch fish and if they are Texas-rigged, they will come through brush, branches, limbs, logs, weeds, moss, pads, reeds and other obstacles that would immediately grab and hang up other baits. They will also move in ways that are unlike other baits, and their look and feel can cause Bass to hang on just a little longer than they would when mouthing a hard, unnatural feeling bait. They also lend themselves well to various, lubricating scents which not only attract fish but also aid in sliding over obstacles.

Texas-rigging, therefore, is mighty important if you want to hunt Bass where they are hiding. Consider: If you were one of those guys standing in the boat pictured, would you throw your bait into that mess? Of course you would! That’s where the fish are!

So how do you effectively ‘Texas-rig’ a soft plastic? It’s relatively easy, and once you figure it out and practice a few times on a medium-sized worm, you will have it mastered. Then you can do it with just about any of the baits pictured, and others as well. Imagine the possibilities! It does not have to get complicated either. Sometimes just a grub, Texas-rigged and skittered across the top of a weedy stretch will produce a hump of water followed by a smashing strike from a fish that thought he was safely buried in weeds. Don’t forget your heart medicine!

To rig Texas-style, first choose a good, sharp hook that will be a match for the size of bait you are rigging. The hooks I normally use range from big 6/0 or 5/0 hooks for larger swim baits, down to 1/0 or even smaller, if I am using a tiny version of, say, a plastic lizard.

When them good old boys down in Texas first started this method, all they had were regular, straight-shanked worm hooks, or they could use a jig hook (Intended to have lead molded onto the bend, up near the eye). That straight ‘L’ shaped bend produced a corner, and in that bend they could secure the head of the plastic worm so that it would not slide down the shank during casting, or while bumping and dragging against cover. Then those ingenious Bassers could bury the point of the hook in the plastic, put a bullet sinker out in front – pegged or un-pegged with a toothpick – and suddenly they were fishing ‘weedless’ and ‘snagless.’ Whether the fish thought the bait was a slithering worm or a darting baitfish, they gobbled ‘em!

As folks discovered just how ingenious and effective it was to drag a Texas-rigged worm or lizard up and down over submerged brush and through weeds or branches without hanging up, they ignited a demand for Texas-rig hooks that were easier to use and that produced a rig that kept the bait looking straight and natural. The market responded.

All major hook manufacturers have several different styles of hooks that were designed specifically for Texas-rigging. I am not a big fan of the bent-shank style of hook, though they work well and come in different gaps, gauges, styles and sizes. They require the angler to run the hook point through the top of the head of the bait, then twist the bait around, hang the head on the bend near the eye, straighten the bait out, line up the bait, and push the point of the hook through the center-line of the body of the bait, either coming near the surface, or punching all the way through, then ‘skin-hooking’ the point back down onto the body of the bait. All this must be done in such a way as to prevent the finished bait from ending up looking twisted, bent, off-center or bulging unnaturally. Done improperly, the head of the bait still does not stay up on the bend. They work fine when you set them up correctly.

I’m not all that patient – especially not in the middle of a hot bite! – and I have a tendency to be fumble-fingered, so my favorite hook will have a separate ‘prong’ with barbs, attached to the hook eye. I really like the Mister Twister version of this hook, and it comes in many useful sizes. I also like Owner hooks that have both a prong and a coil spring around the prong, attached to the eye. These are very effective on some of the ‘slimier’ baits that might slip right off of a single prong. I keep a skeptical eye out for any hook that sports a prong that comes down too close to the hook point. I want the Bass to be able to munch on my weedless hook, push the plastic head of the bait down, swinging the prong down toward the hook shank and away from the point, and then get real nice and closely acquainted with the hook point that is now sticking in under his jaw, or up into his nose. If the point of the prong is too close to the point of the hook, that does not leave a lot of gap or stretching room for the plastic to move and expose a good length of hook point. Sounds fussy, but I’ve proven to my own satisfaction that it can make an important difference in hook-up ratios.

What’s the big advantage of the prong-style Texas-rig hook? The nose of your bait is independent of the shank and hook eye. You simply center up and jab the nose of the bait onto the prong, or jab and twist it on, if it has a coil and a prong, line up your bait in the orientation you want (Some baits have an obvious ‘top’ with eyes up and legs down, a flat ‘bottom’ or even a well-designed ‘hook slot’ on the top of the bait so your hook point can lay outside of the bait, while still remaining hidden, unexposed and safe from weeds and snags. One hint: Though some baits are formed with a flat ‘bottom,’ you can sometimes cause your bait to have a great, erratic, random, darting action simply by rigging with the flat side up. Or if the bait has a flat top, reverse that. This can be killer when fish are ignoring ‘normal’ presentations and might be more prone to react to an unexpected movement. Try it!

Common sense works well in choosing the amount of gap on a hook. If I’m using a slim, straight bait like a worm, I’ll usually opt for a narrower gap in the hook. If I’m going with something bulkier, I’ll use a hook with a wide gap. A wide gap is best for most swimbaits, so that you can rig them to track straight without the hook deforming the bait’s shape.

Want to know a secret about Texas-rigging? When you do get bit and set the hook, that hook is in that fish! A jig might ‘flip’ out of the fish’s mouth on a head-shake, a spinnerbait might ‘twist’ out during an acrobatic roll or change of direction, a treble-hook might simply pull away, simply not having enough ‘gap’ to really grip a good amount of the fish’s face. But a Texas-rig worm hook is going in, penetrating deep, capturing a good amount of flesh or jawbone and then holding well, backed up against the barb. Keep that fish from wrapping around an object down deep and no matter what he does, you are most likely going to have him in your hand!

A quick word on weights: I prefer plain old lead bullet sinkers in various sizes. I usually use the lightest weight I can cast well with. If I have a heavier worm, like a 10 inch Power Worm, I might use no weight at all, allowing the worm to ‘settle’ and move freely in the water. This is especially effective if you have a little current. Let the current press your offering right in under a weed mat, brush pile or log. Wham! Or if I know I’ll be contacting brush or branches throughout a retrieve, I might use a small bullet sinker just to help deflect off of cover and make a little fish-attracting commotion. In heavier river current I might upsize the bullet weight, but most often I go lighter if I can.

You can also use tungsten weights. They work well but they are more expensive, though they do create a sharper knocking sound and that may be helpful on a particular day. Ordinarily, I prefer the soft thump or ‘tick’ of a lead weight. For most applications, I stick a toothpick into the point of the sinker and alongside the line, then snap it off cleanly, flush at the front of the sinker and sitting on top of the hook eye. This ‘pegs’ the weight and gives you confidence that when your lead is contacting cover, your soft plastic offering is doing the same thing in the same spot. Sometimes a slip sinker can be helpful. The above-mentioned grub on the weed-tops seems to do better with a sliding sinker. Experiment and see what you like.

Some bullet sinkers come with a coil extending out of the back of the weight. This can be a great help when trying the ‘Florida’ variation of Texas-rigging. Instead of having the hook up near the head of the bait, you can run the line down through a screwed-in bullet weight, even midway down the bait, then to your hook eye, hiding the hook point as usual. This can produce a different, more horizontal, enticing action and might help it slip through thicker cover. Whether hooked at the head of the bait or further down, have no fear that the fish will bite the hook. I have been able to watch strikes in clear water, and it is amazing to watch a Bass, Smallmouth or Largemouth, as it homes in on the bait and strikes the head and center mass. They are efficient predators, and they know how to attack their prey!

Another sneaky tactic that qualifies as Texas-rigging is to use a floating bullet where a lead bullet sinker would normally be. Usually colored, these can make any soft plastic a surface bait. Fish like any topwater, or hover and twitch a soft plastic over a shallow Bass bed and you can provoke a strike from an enraged fish that thinks it’s defending its offspring! The purple bullet weight in the picture is actually a floating bullet.

As in the picture, there are also some hooks with weight molded right onto the shank. The two shown are from Owner and Gamakatsu. ‘Belly-draggers’ and ‘butt-draggers’ are often used with swim-baits, but they can also be useful for many other soft plastics when a different ‘look’ is desired. Switching from a nose-dive to a horizontal drop might just produce more hits. A combination of a butt-dragger and floating claws on a soft plastic crawdad might just prove too much for a crustacean-munching Bass to resist! Experimentation with all of these possibilities is strongly encouraged. Sometimes just a small change or adjustment might turn on otherwise inactive fish. They’ll let you know!

The water is warming up. Bass are becoming more active right now. In the Northwest, they are starting to move up in the water column and in toward spawning areas. In this pre-spawn mode, as well as during the spawn, soft plastics might be just what you need to put a bend in your rod. You can really improve your odds by fearlessly fishing snaggy areas. So get your Texas on!

Your friendly, fellow Bass fanatic,

Bob Larimer

I thought April showers were supposed to bring May flowers, not monsoon rains and record-setting cold temperatures? It’s the third coldest May on record around these parts. Friends and I were wondering if plunging water temperatures might just put Bass on rewind, back into pre-spawn mode.

If you take a look at my most recent Largemouth picture, you will see that this big female is still carrying eggs and has a sore tail from preparing a bed for the spawn. Definitely a pre-spawn fish. Though all fish do not spawn at precisely the same time, even on the same body of water, I think we will find a similar story in most Southwest Washington waters. Every cloud comes with a silver lining, and the cold rain might just extend some crazy spring Bass fishing. I can deal with that.

The pictured fish could not resist a new River-2-Sea, double-jointed, floating stick bait in Rainbow Trout pattern. I had placed it right next to a corner of flooded brush. She hit near the surface of 3 feet of water after I gave up on twitching the bait. I had just started to move it toward me when she grabbed it and then tried to dive back into the brush. Even in chilly water, this fish had plenty of fight. Three times on the way to the boat I had to wrestle her back out of different spots along the brush line. The water was dingy with new run-off and because of our tangles in the brush, I was not really too sure how big of a fish I was dealing with. After finally being forced away from the shoreline she made a dash for the boat, freight-trained underneath and right out the other side. When I tried to pull her back to my side, I had to pull so hard that I thought maybe she was wrapped on something. No, just a strong, heavy fish. I netted her, amazed at the depth of her body and the thick hump of her back. The backwaters of the Columbia hold such treasures, but finding high enough water and pre-spawn-attractive flooded brush can be a challenge. With all the recent rain, it wasn’t too much of a challenge this time. Who knows? Maybe the water will stay up as the temperature comes up and we’ll have a few more weeks to try such areas?

I still have some more River-2-Sea baits to try out, including some really detailed, realistic salamander imitations, complete with adjustable brush guards. There is also a dandy, sinking, single-jointed Rainbow Trout patterned bait that seductively ‘walks the dog’ underwater with a little practice. It has a hard body, but it comes with a replaceable soft plastic tail. Now that’s attention to detail! If they are as productive as the floating version, I’ll be very pleased. I have not tried them yet but there are also some very highly detailed soft plastic crawdad imitations as well. This new line of baits is available at Wholesale Sports in Vancouver, and I know I’m not the only guy picking them up.

A few weeks ago my friend Ken and I went East up the Columbia Gorge to see if we could find some Smallmouth. We found three foot waves and cold wind, but we also found some good fish. Using the old standby lipless crankbaits, we found fish around the usual suspects: Underwater humps and small rocky islands. Sheer rock walls that work for me in warmer water seemed to hold no fish at all. Though I fished them with confidence, soft plastics such as grubs or tubes produced only a few fish. The water was barely 50 degrees and probably too cold for a good grub bite. But it was great to get smacked by Smallies chasing the crankbaits. Lucky Craft seemed to produce the best, and I also did well with a blue and chrome Rapala and a red Rattle Trap. The size of the fish was nothing to write home about, as you can see in the picture, but the rollicking, racing, yanking fight of a Smallmouth of any size is always a thrill. Just a week later, my friend Josh was able to blast a 5+ pounder in the same general area. It’s just going to keep getting better as the temperature rises, and I recently heard a rumor of Salmon fishermen complaining about ‘nuisance’ Smallmouth hitting their baits!

Every Spring has its own character. Usually May is a dependable, uniformly warming month, but not this year. I suspect that we will snap back into more ‘normal’ weather and a rapid warming spell in the next few weeks. This means that Bass fishermen will need to stay adaptable, ready to hunt pre-spawn or spawning fish, and ready with either foul-weather gear or shorts and T-shirts!

I recommend having several rods baited up and ready to go. Have a stickbait rod, a soft-plastic rod, a spinnerbait rod, a crankbait rod and a top water rod with a Zara Spook, a River-2-Sea floater or a buzzbait ready to tempt surface-striking fish. Low-light hours will probably be better for your top water offerings. Remember, never give up after being short struck on any hardbait. Immediately put a soft plastic such as a worm, a tube, a creature or a lizard right back into that same area. You might just score big on the second strike! Use scents! They work, and the lubrication helps your baits move through weeds and snags more freely. Vary your retrieves, especially with spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Short pauses and bursts of speed will arouse fish more than a steady, predictable retrieve. Remember that Largemouth can have spawning beds anywhere from 1 foot to ten feet deep. If you use your Polarized sunglasses and look for them, you might just find them. When fishing flooded brush during midday, cast to the deepest shade areas and don’t pass up indentations or ‘pockets’ in the brush. Even small changes in a brush line  or any weed line or shoreline – might hold big fish!

If it stays cool and rainy, just put your rain gear on and get out there! I hustled off the water when the thunder and lightning started today, but the rain wasn’t so bad. Catching a nice big fish can make you forget having to wear a raincoat!

Your fellow Bassing fanatic,

Bob

Summer steelhead can be one of the most aggressive best fighting fish to target. They exert explosive runs and huge acrobatic jumps. They also come into the rivers with lots of fat content, making them an exceptional table fare. SW Washington’s rivers have some great summer steelhead fishing. The East Fork of the Lewis, the Kalama, the Washougal and the Elochoman all continue year after year to produce good runs of summer fish.

The East Fork is a great river for all techniques of fishing. The smolt release for this year’s return wasn’t a great one. The release was almost cut in half with only 32,300 smolt released. It’s going to be tough to pick up summer runs in this river, but they will be there. On the river you will see good bobber, drift, plug, and fly fishing water. Two great places to start for bank and boat anglers is Lewisville or Daybreak Park. The float from Lewisville to Daybreak is a really nice float. You can launch at the top of the park and go all the way to daybreak or la center. There is plenty of good water all the way through the float. Daybreak down to La Center is a long float; you will be oaring about 45 mins to an hour once you get to the dead water a few miles below Daybreak. For bank anglers you can park at either of the parks and walk up and down river. There are quite a few spots to fish from the bank. Jig and float fishing is the most popular on this river because of the quality float water up and down the river. From daybreak down, there is a lot of plug pulling water as well as drift fishing sections. Early in the summer you are going to want to concentrate low in the system, as the water begins to heat up, you should start to fish higher in the system cause that’s where the fish will be, trying to survive in the low warm water.
The Kalama should be a different story. With 84,150 smolt released this river is expected to be on fire. I talked with Monty Thierry of Reel Adventures Guide Service (www.reeladv.com) and he said the run this year is going to be a very good one. There are 3 popular floats on the Kalama. The first is from Pritchard’s/Red Barn down to the Slab Hole. Be aware of a large exposed boulder in the rapids just below Pritchard’s ramp. It comes into play as the water drops into summer steelhead time. You’ll need to run the rapids out in the chop to the right of the boulder as there isn’t enough space to clear the rock if you choose the left side. Not an issue if the water is high but as the water drops into summer flows this rock has turned a few boats over in the past. There are some nice runs in this stretch of river, good float and jig fishing just below Pritchard’s rapids and all through Weber’s run. The deep waters of the Upper Bridge hole has good bank access and can be fished with float and jigs up in the fast water at the top of the run and can hold fish all the way to the bridge. The Gazebo run/hole is another boat access only drift that is good for floating jigs/bait as well as divers with bait or small plugs. There is some small pocket water from there to the Slab run/hole that should be fished with floats and jigs.The second good float is the Slab hole to Modrow Bridge. There is good bank access on the Slab hole and can be good for jigs and/or diver bait if you’re in a boat. The lower hatchery run/hole puts out fish all summer long with floats and jigs, as well as drift fishing eggs or shrimp. Just below the hatchery is the Beginners hole with great bank access and is another good float and jig hole with good results for boaters as well pulling plugs or bait divers. Fishing the boulder laden flats below the beginner’s hole with the sun low on the water at first light or late in the day for migrating fish with spinners or floats and dark colored jigs. From this point down there is some limited bank access and better for boaters and can be good plug and bait diving when the water volumes are high enough in the early summer. After the water drops stick to floats with bait/jigs or spinners in the faster white water.
The Washougal River is another smaller SW Washington river that year after year puts out good numbers of summer steelhead. With a smolt release of 64,600 for this year’s return fishermen on this river can expect good fishing results. Highway 14 provides good bank-fishing access to the Lower Washougal, and there are three spots along the lower river where boat anglers can launch to fish. This is a smaller river with lots of boulders so experience is needed for floating this river. When the flows are low on the river it’s not a good idea to even float. The bowling alley hole and cop shop hole are both very good places to fish from the bank. You can find good jig and float as well as drift fishing water by walking up and down the river from either of these spots. The upper shoug can also be very good when the water flows begin to drop. You can find fish trying to survive the heat and low water, in deep pools as well as fast riffles. Casting spinners up here can produce very well.
The Elochoman River is a small river that flows into the Columbia River near the town of Cathlamet, Washington. This river is always a good bet for putting some summer steel on your plate. Fishing this river can be fairly easy just because of its small size, the fish are easier to find. The river should produce a good run this year with a smolt release of 29,200. For such a small river, even if 5 percent returns, you’re looking at a good run. The river is bank fishing only, with most fishing being done below the beaver creek hatchery. It’s best to target the fish as soon as the river opens early in the season, because as the summer goes on and the river drops the fish get very spooked. Later in the summer going higher in the river can produce better fishing. The water between the two hatcheries can be very good water as well as the water above the hatcheries. This river has limited access and a lot of the water is private. Be sure not to trespass and always ask for permission to fish someone’s land. Fishing on the river is primarily done with bobber and jig, but there are a few runs good for drift fishing.
No matter what river you choose to go to in SW Washington you’re going to have a good chance at some summer steel. The good thing about all these rivers is the fact the most of them are fairly close. You can fish the East Fork, and if it’s not producing drive up to the Kalama or down to the Washougal. Fishing for summer steelhead can be one of the most exhilarating fishing experiences. Nothing is like the power and beauty of these awesome fish. I hope that you will be able to create some memories on one of these great rivers.
Marlin LeFever

We finally got the rods in the water around 8pm, setting ourselves up for a night of steelhead fishing! Pulling lighted plugs and glow in the dark Spin-N-Glos with sand shrimp. Everything was perfect, the weather, the water, and fishing with your best buddies. Anticipation was high; it was up to the fish now.

Summer Steelhead, Salmon, and sturgeon fishing the Columbia River and its tributaries can be an angler’s haven, thousands of salmon and steelhead poor over the dams every year on their journey upstream. Chinook salmon reaching over 40lbs, more steelhead than you can shake a stick at, and lots of keeper sturgeon! It truly is a great time to be fishing this Columbia River fishery.
Summer Chinook fishing is extremely hot! With fish averaging from 16-22 pounds and some well over 30 lbs, you really can’t beat fishing for these monsters. Sardine wrapped kwik-fish and Spinners are extremely productive. This year the season runs straight through July so we get a lot of time to target these huge chromers. Water depth and current flow are extremely important, try to stay in between 8-20ft of water on a normal day but some day’s fish are being caught as deep as 30ft of water. According to the preseason forecast there are almost 90,000 Summer Chinook expected to return to the Columbia this year! These Summer Chinook are by far the best tasting fish and they put up a heck of a fight.
Steelhead numbers over the dam continue to grow! Lots of fish are being caught in the lower river system already and it will only get better. A lot of places allow night fishing as well as day fishing so you never have to stop! Summer steelhead will continue to trickle into our river systems all through summer and into early fall. These fish have tons of stamina and will give you quite a show when hooked! Fishing Spin-N-Glos with sand shrimp, spinners, and small kwik-fish are all great ways to pick up steelhead in the Columbia. When it comes to night fishing, pulling lighted plugs and rigging up a glow in the dark Spin-N-Glo will knock them dead! There are so many fish and a ton of time to go catch them, it is definitely worth it!

Sturgeon is also a hot summer fish on the minds of many anglers! Sturgeon in the Columbia River vary from 20 inches to 20 feet! A keeper sturgeon will have to be within 42inches and 60 inches, making it difficult sometimes to find a fish to put on your dinner table. These fish are very hard fighting (some say the hardest), and taste amazing if prepared right. My favorite is fishing for oversize sturgeon! These monsters average between 6-12ft long, they will tear you up and keep fighting for up to an hour or more. There are many different types of baits used for sturgeon. Sand shrimp, smelt, anchovies, herring, sardines and squid all work well, make sure to use lots of scent also. If you are after the big fella’s then try a fresh whole shad.

We are all very lucky to get to enjoy this great Columbia River fishery. I hope that everybody will help preserve and protect our waters we are so fortunate to have here in the great northwest and enjoy every last minute you have on them. Whether its salmon, steelhead, or sturgeon fishing this summer I hope to all the best of luck!

Your Fellow Fishing Addict,
Shaun Keller