Any day on the Columbia River, an angler could put a trophy 4- or 5-pound smallmouth in the boat; the trick is sorting through the 12-inch fatties that make up the bulk of the catch. An angler’s potential to top the 8-pound-plus Oregon state record improves with every hour on the water, and I’ve had fish close to that big at the end of my line more than once in August and September.
On one memorable September day, my friend Larry Hutchens was running the boat and outdoor writer Doug Wilson was along. I started with a Rat-L-Trap while Wilson employed a TTI-Blakemore Swim-N-Runner and Hutchens cast a
