Smallmouth Bass
Start at the dam. The west-end basin behind Pittock Dam is the reservoir's deepest, coolest, clearest water — exactly what smallmouth want in a lake that otherwise runs shallow and green. From there, work the 2016 stone shoals and gravel beds, the manufactured hard bottom in a mud-floored impoundment. These fish live on rock and rubble, and Pittock only has it where UTRCA put it or where the dam made it.
← Back to Pittock Lake conditionsHow it fishes
Bass season opens the fourth Saturday of June, and from that first weekend the pattern is hard-structure-first. Smallmouth key on the 2016 river-stone shoals and gravel beds and the wooden cover, chasing crayfish and small perch across the rock.
The dam-end basin holds the coolest, clearest water through summer, so it stays in play when the shallow arms heat and green up. Then the reservoir draws down from mid-June through fall — the defining move on this lake — pulling water off the flats and concentrating fish onto whatever hard structure stays wet.
Fewer productive spots, but each stacks more fish. The season runs to November 30, well past the summer peak, and cooling water pulls bass back toward the shoals before freeze-up.
Structure
300 tonnes of river stone placed by UTRCA in October 2016 — purpose-built spawning and refuge structure, and rare hard bottom in an otherwise soft-bottomed reservoir.
Engineered underwater wood cover from the same UTRCA project — cavity and shelf cover that holds bass.
The dam-end pool is the reservoir's deep water — the dam can discharge cooler water from depth in summer — and a heavily fished feature.
Regulations
This is a summary, not the legal regulation — confirm current rules with the official source before fishing.