Columbia River Walleye Report

To say that the past few days have been a challenge would be an understatement. Due to recent heavy rains the flows on the Columbia River have changed greatly in the past week. As I write this the river is currently dropping and the conditions are getting “better.” I put that last statement in quotations because although things were a little difficult, after a few adjustments we found the Walleye very willing. I have wrote before on how we approach fishing for walleye during high flow periods on the Columbia, so when flows came up we changed from primarily pulling deep diving crank baits to trolling bottom bouncers and worm harnesses. Our key to catching fish in these conditions was to find areas out of the main flow and troll downstream as slow as possible. We also played with a bunch of combinations with beads/floats and blades before we locked into what these fish seemed to want. The color combo that worked the best the past two days for us is Gold and Black, and in particular we did well with a black fish pill and a Gold Smile Blade.

Although we kind of stumbled onto a working color combo, our biggest key to success was simply fishing hard. We barely had one fish by 11am on Friday and we ended with 10, and again on Saturday we didn’t really get into fish until after noon and managed to end up with 15 including a monster 12.35 pound beast! Walleye fishing is all about paying attention to minor details. Pay attention to the details, make adjustments, and when you find a groove ride it until it goes away.

The Walleye Spawn is currently on and the spring weather is improving, with that said we have openings over the next few weeks and going all the way through July. Walleye have become a favorite fishery of ours, so if you would like to see why we like it so much, or to just learn how we go about it get in touch with us and book a trip.