Early Summer Smallmouth and Walleye: Columbia River Portland Fishing Report

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Columbia River Portland fishing report. We’ve got a classic early‑summer pattern on the big river. Skies are starting partly cloudy this morning, burning off toward a mix of sun and high clouds by afternoon. Expect highs in the mid‑70s to near 80, light northwest breeze building to 8–12 mph later. Barometer fairly steady, so no big pressure swings to shut things down. Sunrise hit right around 5:20 a.m., sunset will be close to 9:00 p.m., giving you a long window to work those edges. Tides: up here the river’s “tide” is more about current swings than big vertical moves, but you’ll notice softer flows mid‑morning and again late evening around Portland. Plan your boat positioning for those slack-ish periods; that’s when suspended fish slide up and the bite often bumps up a notch. Fish activity has been decent with a mixed bag: Chinook and a few late steelhead are still trickling through, but the main show now is warm‑water: smallmouth bass, walleye, and some chunky channel cats. Local shop chatter says smallmouth have been hitting well on the rocky main‑river points and riprap around the bridges, especially in 8–18 feet. Anglers dragging soft plastics and small cranks have been reporting solid numbers, with a few fish pushing 3 pounds. Walleye catches have been steady below the dams and along deeper ledge lines in the main channel. Night and low‑light trolling with worm harnesses or slender crankbaits has put eaters in the box, with the occasional bigger fish when the wind stacks bait on a break. For gear, think subtle but confident. For smallmouth, throw **green pumpkin** or **brown** tube jigs, 3–4 inch finesse worms on a dropshot, and small craw‑pattern crankbaits ticking the rocks. A perch‑pattern or shad‑pattern squarebill banging through riprap will get reaction strikes when the wind picks up. For walleye, it’s hard to beat a bottom‑bouncer with a crawler harness in chartreuse, fire‑tiger, or silver with a hint of purple. If you’re running cranks, slimmer minnow baits in natural shad or gold work well pulled just off bottom at a slow, steady pace. Catfish fans: fresh cut bait—anchovy, shad, or even chicken liver—fished on a simple slider rig in slower side channels and back‑eddy seams after dark is a good bet. They’re roaming and looking for a meal now that the water’s warmed. A couple of hot spots to consider: First, the stretch around **Government Island** and the I‑205 bridge. Work the rocky points, wing dams, and drop‑offs on the Oregon side early and late with tubes and crankbaits for bass, then slide a little deeper with bottom‑bouncers for walleye as the sun climbs. Second, the **St. Johns Bridge** area up toward Cathedral Park and the industrial docks. That long riprap and piling field holds smallmouth, and the deeper slots can kick out a surprise walleye or even a late steelhead if you’re swinging hardware. Fish the low‑light windows hard, respect the big‑river current, and keep an eye out for floating debris—it only takes one log to ruin your morning. Thanks for tuning in to your Columbia River report with Artificial Lure. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an update. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn