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!

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!

Today is Memorial Day and we just had to go out fishing! I was pretty confident that we would be able to go to Foster Reservoir and limit out on trout within a couple of hours and I was ready to do it...
My son and I got up at 6:00 a.m. and headed to the lake. We had to make a pit stop at "Wally World" to get some odds and ends and we continued on our way. We made it up to the lake at about 8:00 a.m. I was a little disappointed because since earlier in the month the lake has filled up to capacity. That means the our hot spot where we had limited out two times earlier in the month was under twenty or thirty feet of water. So we looked around for a place to fish, which proved to be fairly hard since there were already quite a few folks around and when they fill up the reservoir, the surrounding trees and steep banks make it pretty hard to find a place to fish.
So we stopped half way between the dam and the first bridge and fished for about a hour. We only got one bite and I landed a nice 10 1/2 to 11 inch fish. But that was the only fish that we saw there, and I was still expecting to find some place where we could limit out in a couple of hours, so I decided we should head back down to the dam to fish there.
Apparently the fish didn't get that memo because we didn't get one bite at the dam. It was warm and still and there were several people fishing. We didn't see anybody get so much as a bite, so, we decided we would try somewhere else.
I had planned on going to a boat ramp that is near the first bridge that goes up to Green Peter Reservoir, but there was no parking available, so we decided to just go ahead and go up to Green Peter to fish off the bridge on the Whitcomb arm.
We didn't get a single bite there after about an hour, so, we decided to head back down to Foster. I figured we might try some spot on the north shore of the lake, so, I found a spot and parked and since my son was asleep, I decided to go ahead and take off the Buzz Bombs we had been using for kokanee and put on the standard size 18 treble hook and three small split shot 14-18 inches up from the hook for a PowerBait setup. Well, after I finished that, I couldn't take it any more so, I woke my son up and we packed everything down to the water.
On the first cast, my son caught a nice 11 inch rainbow, and the action was pretty much non stop from there on. We limited out in a couple of hours.

Notes:
Caught first fish on south shore on fly rod with tapered leader (about 8 ft). On the end of the tapered leader I tied on a little extra 4lb leader. I roll casted out some salmon eggs on a size 10 eagle claw hook. Love that action.

It was a pretty hot day. There were water skiers and lots of fast moving, wave making boats. The breeze picked up a bit in the afternoon and blew into our faces as we fished the north shore. I think this maybe brought the fish and the fish food to the north shore.

The weather and conditions (hot, lots of boats and lots of other fisher folks, high water, and a good stiff breeze) could have discouraged me, but I am very glad we kept looking for the fish. I knew they were in there. Indeed we found them!

The weather was absolutely wonderful. I had a very enjoyable day with my son! We really bonded today like we never have before. He is such a good kid. I love him so much. He is really growing up and can now do things that he couldn't do before. I am so proud of him.

P.S.
After we caught our limits on Foster, we headed down to the South Santiam River below the dam and I fished for steelhead for a couple of hours. I was using my fly rod with an egg sucking leech. I didn't get any hits, but I saw three steelhead taken. I think that, for bank fishing on the South Santiam, the best thing a guy can do is get a good long steelhead rod and use a bobber and jigs. These guys could have casted all they way accross the river! I observed one of the guys catch two of the steelhead. As I walked by I noticed he had a big box that was full of every color of marabou steelhead jigs imaginable. This guy was serious. I need to get serious about the steelhead too!

Couldn't stay away from the water today. After working in Corvallis today I decided I better take advantage and stop at Willamette Park and try my luck on the Willamette river. I had the size 10 brown Woolly Worm on that I had been catching green sunfish and bluegill on at the pond at Periwinkle Park, in Albany. I tried that for a few casts and didn't catch anything. Then I decided to tie on a size 12 brown soft hackle. A few minutes later, at the end of the swing, about 30 feet down river and not three feet off the bank, I hooked a fish. I was so stinking excited! I reeled it in and it looked like a steelhead smolt (about 10-11 inches long), so I released it. I tried for a few more minutes and just as I decided I had to go, a big fish surfaced not five feet from me. It came all the way out of the water and I saw its brown back, with black dots on it. It looked like a trout to me, but I wasn't sure. I tied on a size 14 parachute adams and casted to it but I didn't get any hits, then I quickly changed over to a size 12 yellow Humpy and didn't get any rises. Unfortunately, I had to get back to Albany to attend to some errands. I will not forget that place though. There were a couple of hatches coming off. I believe they were dark gray caddis flies and some green caddis flies, but I am no entomologist. I wished I had a camera, but I didn't.

I went and took care of my errands and then we had a little bit of time before it got dark, so I took my son down to Periwinkle Park here in Albany, to fish at the pond. As soon as we got there and started getting our rods ready, I noticed he was shivering, so we got back in the car and headed home to get him a coat. We drove back to the pond and started fishing. About five minutes later he was jumping like a little jumping bean and said he had to go to the bathroom. Now, if you haven't been able to tell by now, I am a little immature at times and get way to excited about the fishing, so I got kind of ticked off that we had to leave again because there was no public restroom in sight.

We headed back to the car and drove down Columbus St, and on the way I thought I'd go stop at Grand Prairie Park because I was pretty sure they had a bathroom. Indeed they did, so we did our duty and then decided we might as well try to fish there at that park. We caught the same species of fish as I had at the pond at Periwinkle Park. It was a little tough trying to get my son into the fish, but I at least hooked a couple and let him bring them in on the fly rod. It was fun.

*Weather - About 55 degrees. It was a little breezy and cool. There were some clouds in the sky. Great fishing weather.

*Flies - size 10 brown Woolly Worm, and a size 10 olive hare's ear (accounted for the biggest fish).

*Fish - about 10 green sunfish and one nice sized bluegill.

*Time - between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

It was pretty fun. When you are catching a bunch of small fish and then you hook a bigger one, it can be pretty exciting. Those bluegill are great fighters.