June Hawgs – We’re Not Talkin’ Salmon! The Bass Bite Is On!
With the Columbia staying up unusually high and chilly for this time of year, Vancouver Lake is still a good place to hunt for big Largemouth. Cast the pockets in flooded brush, look for leaner logs and bounce your spinnerbaits or jig-and-pigs off of them underwater, or yo-yo a Texas-rigged plastic worm up and down on underwater branches. Try rigging them ‘wacky’ too. If you’re sure the bottom is not too weedy, a Carolina-rigged worm, creature or lizard 18 to 24 inches behind the lead and bead might be the just the thing to fool a late Spring or early Summer Bass to chomp and romp. One recent Gallery picture has me holding up a hefty LakeRiver Bass that could not resist a twin-blade, Colorado and Willow Leaf spinnerbait dragged through and over a jumble of logs, then allowed to flutter down helplessly. Wham! What a bite and what a fight!
Lacamas Lake has been producing good fish too. My most recent June Gallery shot features a deep-bodied Largemouth that nailed the same bait just as it dropped in near an underwater branch. The picture is pretty dark {Hint!}.
Silver Lake has been producing good fish soft plastics and on jig-and-grub combinatons. Some folks have been having success with finesse drop-shot rigs, fooling Silver’s heavily pressured, tournament-wise fish. The old weedless Johnson Spoons are also producing, slipping and flashing through weeds and pads, but nobody much mentions them. Wonder why??!!
This brings us to the promised discussion of varying your Topwater assaults on the Bass’s world. In lakes, ponds or even river backwaters, topwaters will trigger vicious hits from aggressive Bass. I recommend getting in on early morning and late evening bites. Previous articles have discussed the floating minnow-bait such as Rapala or Bomber Long A, along with their jointed-body...
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