Umpqua Bass Report

Sight Fished Bass Caught on Mr. Wiggles

This past Monday, my friend Brian and I went to the Umpqua for some smallmouth bass action. The weather was cool as can be, and it was cloudy; so it was not the weather I choose for my warm water action. That is mainly because I like to wet wade and get some sunshine while pursuing bass, but I was stoked to be out there. Fishing was slower than normal, but still red hot compared to most smallmouth fisheries. We caught about 80 plus fish each, and many of the fish were on the smaller side. I could tell that the action was off; since you can catch over 100 fish each, and many times you end up catching several trophies over 3 pounds. We did get some nice fish, but most of them were on the smaller side compared to the hot and sunny days; which seem to warm up the water more, and make the fish more aggressive.

Mr. Wiggles pinned in this smallies grill.......

We caught fish on stripped poppers and clouser minnows, and we sight nymphed to many fish also. Sight nymphing was the best for catching the better fish, and the popper action was good, but mainly caught the attention of the smaller fish. It was hard to sight fish; since it was cloudy, but the sun breaks made it easier at times. The wind was blowing on and off, and when the water had some texture; it was much harder to spot the fish for sight fishing.

A nice handsome smallmouth bass......

I am going to be out of town guiding for the next three days, but I am making a video of this wonderful day of bass'n. Keep posted and be patient and I will have it up maybe next Sunday or Monday.
Tight lines!!

Smallmouth bass like steelhead nymphs.......