Well, I didn't want to tell you all because there wasn't too much to report... but, I did get out last Saturday for a couple of hours. I fished the Willamette River Here in Albany. Didn't get any bites. I have yet to even get a bite on the Willamette here in Albany. I know there have to be lots of steelhead passing through the river there, so I am going to give them a few more tries. It would be so awesome to catch a steelhead in my home town!

Anybody else ever had any luck fishing on the Willamette near Albany?

My son and I went fishing at Foster Reservoir today. We arrived and noticed that the water lever was back down at the same level it was at in May of this year, so I decided not to go to our secret location on the North side of the lake but to go to the South shore where we fished during May and had a lot of luck. I was kicking myself for not bringing my fly rod. This is the place I like to roll cast some Balls O' Fire Pautzke Salem Eggs and let it slowly sink down and then watch the line go shooting out when a fish takes it. Oh well...

Again, I don't usually fish Foster this time of year, so I was hoping for some fish but not fully expecting to catch any.

We got down to the lake and the water was perfectly calm and reflected the sky like a mirror. The sun came out for a while and we enjoyed the warmth.


About twenty minutes after casting out our lines, my son had a fish on. He reeled it in and it was a big rainbow trout (about 15 inches).

He was using green PowerBait and size 18 treble hooks like we usually do. I was using orange PowerBait. I got a bite right as I was trying to pull the hook out of the fish's mouth. I went over to my pole thinking that I would easily bring in the fish. I think I picked it up a pre-maturely, because after picking up my rod I felt nothing. Oh well, I was sure now that we would have more chances today. The weather was great and we had a couple ours left of daylight still.

And more chances we had, but for some reason we couldn't bring the fish in for one reason or another. My line broke once, my son wasn't paying attention most of the time and I had to tell him when his rod was about to take off into the lake. He would pick it up and there would be nothing there. So, as the sky darkened from an imminent storm, his rod fell over and I yelled at him to grab it, but he didn't grab it fast enough, so I grabbed it and reeled it in. And that was the only other fish we caught today (rainbow trout, about 13 inches long).

Note: At first we were casting out about as far as we could, but one time I was reeling in and I saw a fish chasing the bait less than ten feet from the bank. So, I decided to start casting out in that area and we started getting bites on a more regular basis. But, still, we couldn't bring them in for one reason or another. It was beginning to make me mad, because these fish usually hook themselves and you have to practically pull their guts out to get the hook out of them. It may have been because we were using some older bait that wasn't quite as soft as the fresh stuff.

All the sudden, the wind picked up and it started to rain on us sideways. The wind was blowing so hard that it kept blowing my fishing pole off of the rock it was propped up on. It was miserable and cold and although I would have kept fishing if I'd have been alone, I figured we probably should should go because my son was shaking like a willow in the wind. It was extra hard to leave because the fish started biting like crazy when the wind picked up.

So, hey, the fishing at Foster can be pretty good at Foster in November!

Tight Lines! -nimrod243

Went fishing today with my son to Foster Reservoir. Had high hopes but low expectations. Saw on the fishing report that Foster had been stocked recently, and since I am off all this week, I decided to give it a shot.

We went to our normal spot on the North side of the reservoir and I was happy to see that the water was about five feet lower than it had been the last time we were there and got skunked.

It took a while to get the two rods set up. Before we left I noticed that we only had three size 18 treble hooks. I knew we had to be careful with them. Once I had them tied on the two spinning rods we were ready to go. I cast my son's pole out in our normal direction and set it down, instructing my son not to touch it.

Then, by the time I had baited up and casted out, I decided to re-cast my son's pole in another location. After a little while, we were just messing around and my son asked me to get something for him to sit on. So, as I was coming back with a big log, I saw his pole bouncing around. "Bruce, you've got a fish," I said. And he reeled it in. I was surprised at how big it was at 13-14 inches long, the biggest fish I ever remember catching or seeing caught at Foster.


I moved my pole over by my son's and we fished together for a while but didn't get any action. So I set up my fly rod with an olive woolly bugger and cast around for a while. I went to the other side of the little point we were fishing at and saw another point about 75 yards away that looked good because there were some big rocks on the bank and it looked steeper there. I asked my son if he wanted to go over there and fish and he said yes. So I headed back over to where he was and figured I had better check his bait, somewhat surprised that he hadn't had another bite. Maybe that big trout was just a lone cruiser...

The PowerBait was covered with weeds and then I knew why he hadn't gotten another bite. So I put some fresh bait on it and cast it out for him again, thinking we might just stay there for a little longer to see if we got any hits. By this time I was ready to give up with the fly rod. I had never had a whole lot of luck at Foster with flies anyways.

So, I cast out my spinning rod again with orange PowerBait and a size 18 treble hook. I had to relieve myself, so I started walking over to the trees without watching where I was going and CRUNCH, I stepped on my fly rod and snapped it right in two. I was ticked off, I have had the worst luck with my rods lately!

After returning from the tree line, all of the sudden both of our rods started bouncing like crazy. Two fish on at one time!!! I yelled at my son and we both reeled in some nice rainbows. His fish was even bigger than his first, and the biggest for the night at 14-15 inches!

And so the evening went, catching fish mostly in pairs until just before dark we limited out. It was such a beautiful evening. It was funny, the last fish I caught was while my son was reeling in his fifth fish. I was reeling in my line to get out of his way, when about five feet from the bank I saw a swirl in the water next to my bait as it came out of the water. I looked over at my son to see if it was his fish and it wasn't. That's crazy, I thought. The water was only about 5 inches deep where I had seen the swirl. So, I tossed the bait out right where I had seen it and waited for about three seconds. I saw my line start to move slowly... then ZOOM, the fish took off and I gently set the hook! So, my son and I brought our fifth fish to the bank together.


Definitely an evening to remember. Tight Lines! - nimrod243

Saturday, June 20th was a wonderful fish filled day! I got up at 6:15 and loaded up my gear in my Nissan Sentra and hit the road.
I headed up Oregon's Highway 20 through Lebanon and Sweet Home and over he Santiam Pass to the Highway 126 Junction. From there I headed southwest about 10 miles past Clear Lake and on to one of my favorite summer fishing spots, Trail Bridge Reservoir.
Trail Bridge is frequently stocked with rainbow trout during the summer and ODFW has restricted fishing to artificial flies and lures. I'm afraid many fishers are not aware of those restrictions however as I heard bank anglers speaking of bobbers and saw PowerBait floating in the water along the bank.
I arrived at the Reservoir at about 9:00 AM and hastily inflated my Caddis Float Tube (by dizzying lung power), then donned my new(ish) lightweight breathable waders and wading boots. I packed my float tube, flippers and fly rod down to the lake by the dam and was in the water in a few minutes!
I already had a size 10 bead head Carey Bugger in “brownish-red” tied on the end of my leader, so I cast it a couple of times as I kicked over my favorite weed beds, not expecting much action. After a few casts, I made the wise decision and snipped off the Carey Bugger and tied on the fly fish go crazy over at Trail Bridge, an Olive Woolly Bugger (a very entomologically correct fly - not!).

On the first cast, I shot out all the line and just let it sit there while I put my gear away in the float tube pockets and all the sudden... fish on! I didn’t even have to set the hook. It was a beautiful rainbow trout about 10 1/2 to 11 inches long. Some of the stocked fish take on a beautiful "purplish-blue" color that helps them blend into the color of the dark blue water.
I fished on, from 9:00 AM until about 1:15 PM when, after 27 hard fighting fish, my Woolly Bugger broke off in some poor fish's mouth. I think I got my money's worth out of that fly! So, I tied on another and continued fishing.
At this point I had convinced myself that I just had to catch 30 fish (releasing all but the largest fish unharmed, so as not to exceed my daily limit) before I left...
Well, a major psychological barrier set in or maybe it was the barometric pressure, or the fish were taking a siesta, or something and it took me another 45 minutes to round out my 30 fish day. In fact, I had all but given up and then caught the 30th fish as I kicked my way back to the bank!
So far, the day had been quite fishy, but I wasn't finished yet! I took off my boots and waders, deflated my tube and packed all my gear into the trunk of my car and was off down Highway 126 towards Springfield to my brother's house to help him move some stuff into storage and then hit the Willamette River in his drift boat for steelhead/salmon!
As soon as I saw the little bars on my cell phone, I called my brother, who probably was wondering why the heck I hadn't answered his phone call about an hour and a half earlier. I explained the predicament I had been in, and got a laugh out of the 30 fish statistic. We chatted until I hit the town of Leaburg, where I made a pit stop for some health food (2 chicken strips w/ Ranch, a jalapeño corndog and a 32 ounce of Mountain Dew) and some sand shrimp for “big fish” bait, provided to the store by Steelheaders West according the lady behind the counter.
Made it to Springfield, fulfilled moving duties, hooked up the boat, loaded our gear and headed of to a nearby boat ramp.
With the boat in the water, the excitement began! I desperately tied my one-and-only, purple Egg-Sucking-Leech onto the end of my Scientific Anglers 9ft, 6lb, tapered leader. Casting just slightly upstream, letting the fly “dead-drift” for a few seconds, I let it swing across the deeper runs. I fished this way for a couple of hours. My bro was using a red diver with sand shrimp...
Sure enough, all of the sudden, I was minding my own business, waiting for the tug at the end of my line when my brother called out my name excitedly, and I looked over to see the spinning rod that was sitting in the rod holder flapping like a willow in a stiff breeze!
FISH ON!
I took to the oars in short succession and, seeing how we haven't invested in a steelhead/salmon net, I had to maneuver the drift boat over to a shallow area to "beach" the beautiful bright hen steelhead.
The fish made a couple of runs and after one failed attempt on my part to grab the fish, my bro took over, and successfully scooped her up, with one hand under her belly and the other securing her powerful tail. She was up out of the water and into the boat!






















Now, that was exciting!

The only thing I caught a little later that evening was a nice cutthroat (about 15 inches) on the same diver and sand shrimp, which managed to release itself right next to the boat. I should have been really excited about it, and hey, I'm not complaining...
but I really wanted it to be a steelhead!


Tight Lines! - nimrod243

Fished middle freeway lake this afternoon after work for about and hour and a half. My main goal was to either catch some crappie or a bass. I switched flies a couple of times.
On a bead head pheasant tail nymph, size 12, I caught a three inch long bluegill about a foot from the bank on the north side of the middle lake.

Later I switched to a size 8 black Woolly Bugger with two strands of crystal flashing in the tail and casted out as far as I could. As I tried to make a roll cast and was pulling the fly back slowly across the top of the water, I could see something under the surface of the water... and then the tension in the line! I was pretty sure it was a bass! Tightened up the line some more and more tension! This could be a good fish, I thought. I brought him in a sure enough it was a 8-9 inch large mouth bass!

I was so pumped up! I really want to get back and fish from my float tube one of these evenings.

As I fished, a nice State Trooper snuck up behind me and then said all of the sudden, having any luck? It kind of scared me and when I turned to see the State Trooper, I calmed down. I was happy to be able to show him my fishing license. He quickly noted it down an wished me a good afternoon.

Tight Lines!

SM2 has reported the following on his recent trip to Clear Lake on Highway 126 (McKenzie Pass).
Fished from row boat. Trolled olive Woolly Bugger and Black Woolly bugger. Also trolled a worm on single hook.
Landed eight fish between 8-12 inches and missed a lot more.
Had a great time.

Tight Lines!

I haven't been able to make a post lately, because we have been doing some work on the house, but I have gone fishing twice in the last week or so. I think it was Saturday, June 6th. I went to the pond at Grand Prairie Park (Periwinkle Creek) in Albany and caught over 20 fish. Mainly they were green sunfish from 3-6 inches. I also caught 3-4 bluegill. One of theme was the biggest I have caught so far this year and probably the biggest I have ever caught, at about 10 inches long. It is very exciting when you are catching the little fish and all of the sudden you hook into a bigger one!

*Fish - 20-25 Green perch and bluegill 3-10 inches.
*Flies - Size 12, brown wooly worm with no tail, stripped slowly and steadily as possible..
*Weather - Overcast, humid, temperature approximately 55-60 degrees.

Yesterday, Friday, June 12, 2009, my son and I made a quick trip to Foster Reservoir and fished at our "hot spot" where we limited out in less than two hours last time we went there. Well, this time we only got two bites. One of them resulted in a smallmouth bass about 6-7 inches long. I was pretty excited to catch the smallmouth. I got him on the line and then let my son reel him in. He's in the freezer.

The weather was quite humid and cool, it looked like there was a thunder storm nearby. It sprinkled a little bit, but we were under the cover of the trees so we stayed nice and dry.

*Fish - 1 smallmouth bass 6-7 inches, caught on PowerBait (I couldn't believe it) off the bottom.

It was an enjoyable trip. Wish we'd have caught some trout, though.
I am going to try to make it to Diamond Lake next Saturday. It is about a three hour trip from here, but I have Saturday off. My brother said they are catching lots of rainbows between 16-18 inches using PowerBait!

Have report from SM2 on Clear Lake coming soon!

Tight Lines!