The best brown of this past week was a nice 9 LB. hookjaw. He was released right after the photo.
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I had the chance to talk with several resort owners this week to get the latest fishing reports. Here are a few of them.
EAST LAKE: Dave Jones from East Lake Resort said that the brown trout fishing had been off a bit this summer compared to years past and that is what I experienced back in June and July. He did say that just this week it had picked up some with some browns to 6 LBS. and the best two going 7 and 8 LBS.! It is pretty much a depth control game this time of the year so working the thermocline with riggers is probably the best way to go. Look for the browns to go shallow next month. The Black Water strain of rainbow is doing well with some reaching up to near 20 in. already. They are beautiful, aggressive and fight like crazy! I caught a few earlier this summer. Remember you have to release them this year and they have all their fins including the adipose right behind the dorsal. The regular Crane bows have the adipose clipped and you can keep them. Some of the kokanee are starting to turn already. It was a banner year for kokanee this year at East Lake!
PAULINA LAKE: Todd Brown from Paulina lake Resort said that the Eagle Lake strain of rainbows are doing well with some reaching the 16-20 in. range. The kokanee are running a little smaller than some years but he said he has seen some reaching 15 in. lately. They haven’t started to turn yet. On the brown front, no big ones of late but don’t be surprised if one of the monsters the lake is famous for shows up before summer is over. I would work deep with riggers. Look for brown action to pick up when water cools down in Sept.
Doesn't get much better than trolling along at sunset!
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CRESCENT LAKE: Corey over at Crescent Lake Resort said kokanee was the main game right now. Jigging and trolling off Boy Scout and Simax are the spots.....just look for the boats! Not much action on lakers but a few smaller macks have been caught recently up to 8 LB. Not many anglers fishing for browns right now but if you went deep you could pop a good one along the south shore area. It too will be getting better when the water temps drop.
WICKIUP: The majority of the anglers are slow trolling and jigging for kokes up in the Deschutes Arm and out in front of Gull Point Campground. The brown action is spotty but some better fish have been caught. Steve Kroll and I were working it several days this week. We caught several to 5 LB. and I got lucky and got an 8 LB. fatty on a kokanee pattern fishing off my “G2Jigger.” Read my product review page on Cut2spec products to find out more about this ingenious device! My best brown so far this summer was this nice 9 LB. hookjaw. Great fight and released to fight again! Just heard from my buddy, Eric Cole, they have got a few to 4 LB. and a nice 4.5 LB. native redside rainbow this past weekend.
On a side note, my wife, Jan, and I took a hike up to Todd lake for a new adventure. I had heard it was a beautiful area and an easy 1.5 mile hike around the lake. It sets right near Sparks Lake and in front of Mt. Bachelor. The lake has an endangered frog, the name of which escapes me right now. We saw lots of them up in the meadow north of the lake. Check out the photos of the mass of tadpoles that were warming in the shallows....must have been thousands of them!
Look for more reports next week as I will be back at Wickiup this week.
Tight Lines,
Rick
