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?

We finally made a trip (though a very short one) to Crane Prairie Reservoir in the Deschutes National Forest, Oregon. Here is the rundown.

*Weather - Sunny and warm! It was a beautiful day. We've (my brother and I) heard that the wind can really cause problems at Crane, but that didn't prove to be true for us yesterday! There was virtually no wind all day. We had no difficulty casting (at least due to the wind). The temperature was in the thirties in the early morning and warmed up to the high seventies by afternoon.

*Fish - Didn't catch a single fish at Crane Prairie. We talked to a couple of other fishermen and they had only caught one "stocker sized" fish. We did see several LARGE fish surface. They seemed to be pretty wary of the boat because no matter where we were they always seemed to be surfacing just out of fly casting range. I will have to admit - seeing the huge fish surfacing, obviously feasting on millions of damselflies, minnows and a myriad of other aquatic creatures, and not being able to catch a single fish, took a tole on my fisherman's ego. I think it was like getting upset when you take your favorite dish to a huge potluck, where there is so much food, and getting upset when nobody eats it. They could have at least taken a nibble. The bounty of the lake is what allows the fish to grow up to two inches per month. My bro and I read that Crane Prairie is not for the novice angler, because you could go all day without catching a fish. I guess the jury is still out as to whether I am a novice angler or not.

*Flies - Tried everything in my fly box! Just kidding, that would have been virtually impossible in the short five and a half hours we had to fish. I did try several different flies, including various versions of the famous Wooly Bugger and damselfly nymph. I even tried a bass fly when we went fishing around the old snags that cover 10% of the lake. There are supposed to be lots of big bass in the lake, but we sure didn't see any.

*Other Tackle - My bro briefly tried PowerBait off the bottom and worms, and a worm with one salmon egg on the point of the hook under a bobber. He did say he felt some nibbling on the worm...

*Water Temperature - 54-57 degrees. The waters on "The Prairie" are surprisingly warm."

It was a very enjoyable day. Thanks for taking me fishing bro.

Tight Lines!
More...

My son and I fished at Foster Reservoir again today! After a hot fishing trip on Monday, I couldn't stay away! We didn't have the boat today so we had to find the path down to the lake to where we were on Monday. This area is located near the second bridge on Quartsville Dr heading up to Green Peter Reservoir.
We fished from around 9:30 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m.
I was really busy helping my son today. We both limited out on trout.

*Weather - Sunny. Temperature - around 70 degrees. A slight breeze picked up between 10:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

*Fish - Kept 10 rainbow trout between 8 and 11 inches. Also kept one smallmouth bass that was 11 inches long (I fried him up last night and that was one good eating fish. I think even better than rainbow trout)!

*Flies. Tried Several flies for smallmouth bass: Size 4 brown Carey Bugger; size 10 purple, green and black bead-head Carey Buggers; size 10 olive Wooly Bugger; size 8 Carey Special; size 14 bead-head rubber-legged (black) prince nymph.
Only had one strike on the size 10 purple bead-head Carey Bugger.

*Other Tackle - I used my fly rod with a 9ft tapered leader (I don’t think it is nine foot long anymore) and a size 12 Eagle Claw hook baited with Pautzke Green Label salmon eggs to catch two trout and the smallmouth bass.
We caught the rest of the fish on chartreuse PowerBait and size 18 golden treble hooks. The fish hook themselves with these tiny treble hooks and you don't deal with nearly the amount of frustration as experienced with other larger hooks... All you have to do is start reeling in when you have a fish on. The hook was placed 12-14 inches below three small split-shot sinkers. This is a shorter leader than I used to use, but it has proven to be very effective.

*Water temperature - unknown (thermometer is still on my wish list).

It was a great day fishing with my sun and being very successful. My wife and sister-in-law came along today as well, although they didn't fish. However, they did provide us with a delicious lunch!
Tight Lines! - nimrod243