Fished the Columbia for the first time today. Connected with Evan, Jason, Keith and Daniel. Long drive from the Kitsap Peninsula to anywhere on the Columbia. Evan's selected location was not one of the closer ones! First opportunity to fish a couple of new to me used rods. Each felt fine and did their job as expected. First Shad on the fly - check. First Smallmouth on the fly - check. Long drive there after biking and kayking with the ladies yesterday. Very little, if any actual, sleep before Evan's headlamp was lighting up the whole gorge. Long drive home because I took the scenic route. Home in time for dinner, as hoped.
If you total the to and from trip as compared to the fishing time, I certainly did. When you have not fished in a very long time you say to hell with the rules. I could have fished a lot longer from a local beach or lake, but I'll do that soon.
The fishing was definitely slower than expected. THey had dropped the river level the day before which put them down and out. I ended up with 20ish fish to hand in about 10hrs of fishing (not epic by any means for shad). But we had a great time for sure.
I took pics, just don't post to protect the secret spot. I slept in my rig, alone, doors locked. Wondering about my fishing friend Rob! I used some sparse cloisters tied short, some sparse beachheads and some sparse flashy weighted flies. I was woefully prepared fly wise. This was a pretty impromptu trip for me and my first attempt at shad. I'm all over them jumbo acrobatic herring now!
If you use flies for shad, you're gonna have a bad time... Shad darts and slipstream shad killers are what will get nibs.
