First of the year fishing at Benson Lake.

Plenty of bugs, but not much in the way of nibbles or fish.  The ODFW reported stocking Benson lake almost a month ago, but so far I am not seeing any rewards from it. The area is beautiful though, with a scenic drive available not far from the lake side turn off. Trains ramble through right up to the waters edge so don't come with plans of napping. The weather today was calm,  mostly cloudy with a threat of sprinkles that never matured.

I would skip this one for a few more weeks, it may be that the water is just too cold yet to produce the feeding frenzy that we are all hopping for.

Mt Hood Pond Family Day!

http://www.katu.com/news/outdoors/Take-the-family-to-Mt-Hood-Pond-for-some-trout-fishing-226958731.html

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will host a Family Fishing Event Saturday, Oct. 12 at Mt. Hood Pond in Gresham.

This event is part of the ODFW Outdoors program and is intended to introduce young people and their families to the sport of trout fishing. The department will loan out rods, reels, and tackle to individuals who are learning to fish or do not have their own gear. Participants are welcome to bring their own equipment if they prefer. The department will also provide bait and will stock the pond with hundreds of rainbow trout.

The Family Fishing Event is free and open to the public. Anglers of all ages are welcome to participate. ODFW staff and volunteers will be on hand to help participants learn how to set up their rod, cast and land fish. Volunteers will even help clean the catch.

“A few simple techniques is the first step toward building a foundation for a lifetime of fishing enjoyment,” said Jeff Fulop, coordinator of event. “This is a good opportunity to get out, pick up a few skills, enjoy a day on the water and maybe catch a few trout.”

Mt. Hood Pond is a five-acre pond located on the Mt. Hood Community College Campus in Gresham, at 26000 SE Stark Street.

Under the 2013 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, anglers ages 13 and under do not need a fishing license. Older anglers will need a fishing license to participate and should plan to purchase them ahead of time at ODFW field offices or license agents since they will not be sold at the event.

The above text Copy write KATU news, Oregon.

If you haven't guessed from the above bit of information. October 12th there will be a Free Family Fishing Event at the Mt. Hood Pond out in Gresham, Oregon. I urge any of you with kids, to go check it out. Take the youngsters and get them out fishing.

I started trout fishing about as young as I can remember, and some of my best memories with my parents, and grandparents are of us during fishing trips. It has become a regular part of my life. Hence this blog. I couldn't be more grateful for the time I was able to spend with my grandpa, and the time I have with my parents out on the bank of the lake, with a line in the water. Fishing is the ultimate teacher of patience, nature, and the cycle of life. Something that now days seems to be lacking amongst the younger generation. Fishing is a great time to put away the cell phone, the lap top and get outside for the greatest adventure. In my opinion something that far outweighs even the greatest of video games.

Winter is coming

Fall is in the air, the leaves are starting to change...and with that change comes the close of the 2013 trout fishing season. Its now time for the holidays...which means great deals on gear, shopping for the next season and the up and coming 2014 Sportsman show! I will be on hand in February, volunteering at the kids trout pond on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. So bring the kids and come on down.

With the close of the 2013 trout season, opens the hunting season. We don't cover hunting here, but I do send my best out to the hunters, be safe, be warm and best of luck to you all!

I will be working on some posts for up and coming gear for 2014, hopefully continuing the search for the elusive 2dikesfishing boat and trying my hand at making balsa bobbers. Look for a tutorial in the up and coming months.

Lastly, while the weather is still cooperating with us. Faraday Lake, is open year round for trout fishing, the fish won't be as active in the cold weather but on a nice sunny day this winter you might get lucky, and if time allows...so will I.

Happy Fishing!

A long morning wait.

Last weekend we took H's mom up to Faraday lake, some friends also joined us. When we arrived we were really suprised to see that there was hardly anyone there. We thought that we had gotten lucky and so took a seat near the end of the damn. It was still cool, swallows were fishing for bugs off the waters surface, devouring the mosquitos and midge flies gathering there. I got all of our rods set up, and after some practice casts for H's mom we all had our lines in the water. We sat for quite awhile before our friends showed up, we still hadn't gotten a nibble. It took their arrival, and our buddy R to cast out when ue got a fish on. From there we had very little down time. I caught one shortly after, then H. R and R were bringing in bows too.
Lunch time struck in short order, and with it a swarm of bees that seemed to affect everyone at the lake. We over heard a young woman who loudly proclaimed that she had gotten stung on the rear. The group down the dam from us were keeping us quite entertained in between fish. The squeels when they finally caught a fish had us all laughing. They didnt want to touch it! One girl even squeeled when her worm touched her toe.

All in all, we had a successful trip. As a group we bagged 11, three over 12".

They went into the smoker the next morning as fillets and are tasty, tasty!

Happy Boat Day!

Today is boat day! It would be an even more exciting day, if it wasn't also transmission service, rear seal, U-joint day for our SUV. Hopefully the rig will be ready for the drive out to take a look at the boat, I will post pictures later today once I know more.

This weekend will be spent fishing (like pretty much every other weekend, evening, early morning day!), we are taking H's mom out for the first time. (She has done some catfishing, but not much trout fishing). I got one of my old Shakespeare rods and a Quantum reel ready for her. You might be able to spot us up at Northfork reservoir come Saturday morning.

Happy fishing and thank goodness its Friday! Feel free to post some pictures of your weekend excursions, and your catch!

Olallie Lake

Photo Courtesy of Muddycamper.com

 

Olallie lake, situated amongst the Mount Hood National Forest, inside the Olallie lake scenic area is one of the larger lakes around. I have camped in the area, in one of the many camping spaces available along the lakes edge several times. The fishing is particularly good on the southern edge of the lake. Rowboats are available for rent at the main campground store, as are amenities and basic camping essentials.

 

We had our best luck with the good old standard worms, and red sparkle powerbait. Drop weights on 1.5' liters work fine here, as there aren't many weeds to combat. Most of the year, the lake here is crystal clear, and you can see straight down to the bottom until you reach the southern most side where it drops in depth. We've fished here on both the rented rowboats, and float tubes and had decent luck in mid summer weather. The campgrounds here fill quickly, even from the bank by the campground you can catch bows of keeper size. The best part of Olallie is the nighttime, not for the fishing...but for the stars. The sky here is often crystal clear, and the sky lights up with sparkling stars like the fourth of july. Absolutely stunning. But enough about the stars, the fishing here is pretty darn worth while too.

 

If you make the long trek up to Olallie, camp here at the lake and make a day trip up to Horseshoe lake, by following the main road. The fishing is better at Horseshoe, but the campgrounds aren't as well maintained.

 

 

The Pacific Crest trail also runs through the area, and you may see long distance hikers passing through. (not that this has anything to do with the fishing).

 



Northfork Resevoir, how 10 feet can make a difference.

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early. We got up to the lake around 6:30am and our lines were in the water before 7am. H was using my Daiwa ultra light carbon fiber rod, which we traded. So I am running on her Quantam 36pro Graphite medium. After doing some work for H's mom this weekend, I was able to purchase a new Quantam Triax spinning reel, loaded up with Chameleon Maxima 8lb line. My rigging for this spot, was a bullet slide weight, a round slide weight (to give me the extra weight to get out past the weeds, with the bullet to help cut through them on the reel in) a 2' 6lb test liter and an eagle claw #10 hook, with the barbs removed. (fishing in Oregon has all gone barbless for the most part, so if your thinking of going trout fishing, remove the barbs before you go. Or pinch them down with your tackle box pliers)

When we first got up to Northfork Res. we had settled in about mid-lake off the bank, around the corner from a few other fisherman. I started catching almost immediately. After our first 2 fish the bites died down and we thought we were going to be in for the long haul. A few others had passed by us on the trail and headed around the corner, and as we were listening in, they had already limited out and were packing up and leaving! Score! So we packed up, and move around the corner. After chatting with one of the guys, we casted out from the bank...and sat, and sat. H finally moved down about 10', and caught another. So we had 3 on the stringer. Soon, we heard the group that had been next to us catch their last and leave, so H decided to move back over. I was getting skunked in the supposed glory hole and had tried casting all over the damn place. 'did they leave any fish in here?!' No more than a minute and H has landed another one! so I pack up, and move back over. I feel like I have now fished from every inch of the bank. But H managed to find the sweet spot, and finished out our stringer in less than 20 minutes. By 12:15 we were running out of time in order for H to make it to work on time, so we were forced to pack up and head back early. As we were moving out, more were moving in. Though this time, the secret honey hole left with us.

We caught 7 total this trip with two being over 12" in length. H out fished me by 3, at the very end of the day, it wouldn't have taken long for us to limit out but we had to get H off to work and a very scary pile of dirty laundry awaited me back at the homestead.

This Friday brings with it some excitement, we are going to look at a boat. We have both been wanting one, I prefer row powered over gas powered, with an electric trolling motor when the expense can be warranted. But right now, I am excited to go check out a boat.

A horrible shot of the stringer of fish, as we ended the weekend. 

The road out, from the night before. It was a beautiful sunset.

H caught only one 9" rainbow the Saturday evening before, she had two fish that jumped the hook before shore though.