Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

Fished this morning. Boated up the lake a quarter mile and fished the near bank down to our dock. I was told by a guest he'd done well drifting the run using power bait and wanted to pass the tip on to others if it proved accurate. But I rigged a float and jig head and tipped it with a Gulp orange egg and set it 6 feet deep. They were running may be 2 units, the current wasn't that fast. Missed a couple of bits on the drift but when I got within 100 feet of the dock I hooked a rainbow. Trolled back up to the same spot and hooked another. Long story short- there's a pod of rainbows in front of my neighbor's small dock.

Tied on a Husky Jerk, blue with an orange belly #5 and drifted the stretch again. Caught 3 rainbows and then a fat-big of a brown just above our dock. 19 inches. Didn't hardly fight he was so fat. Probably been eating guts under our dock.

Cleaned 4 rainbows and had them for lunch.

Went back out searching for more good patterns. Threw the crank bait quite a bit and had limited success. The sun had come out and that usually is the death of crank baits. I worked the bank across from Fall Creek down with jigs- straight 1/8th oz white and sculpin- nothing. So I headed up to KOA and fished the south bank, hitting the eddies. Not until I put the boat on the bank-side in the eddies did I start catching fish. White 1/8th oz jig. Several browns and nice rainbows. They were out in the current, on the edges and in the slow water. Not the easiest fishing fighting the trees... but ok. Fished the bluff bank with crank bait and white jig down to Fall Creek- very few bites.

All in all it was pretty slow. They did pretty good off the dock though. Others in boats didn't do as well. May be it was just the day- front early and sunny later.

[WebFreeman]

Thanks for the report. When you're doing the powerbait on the jighead, how heavy are you going?

[Phil Lilley]

I used a 1/32nd oz jig head, white.

[swellcat]

Funny, I'm going blind trying to tie size 20 trout flies, and you're hauling them in on 1/8th of an ounce of sauger lead. If he'll hit that, he ought to take a #6 or 4 Clouser, I would think.

[swellcat]

Btw, I don't know what that water usually looks like, but it sure appears green and clear rather than muddy.

[Phil Lilley]

Not muddy... stained. It is green but visibility is only 24-30 inches, if that. It's the first time I know of water coming from TR thru the turbines is NOT clear, probably in the history of the dam. It's very unusual to see stained water at 130 feet of water in a 200 foot deep lake.

We could have a great discussion on lure vs flies. One question I'd have to ask is if you could get a fly (streamer) to act like a jig. I can drop a jig straight down and pop it right back up on a retrieve. Using a sink tip and a lead-eyed clouser, can you do the same?

I believe our trout take at least a jig on it's movement rather than it's looks although I know the live action of the marabou helps. But granted, I think you can catch the same trout on a clouser most of the time vs a jig, but not every time. BUT you can probably say the same thing about a jig vs a clouser.

I saw a young man fish right behind me one day above the boat ramp during low water catch rainbow after rainbow on a spin outfit and a small jig while I was using small midges and catching 10% of the fish he was. It has to do alot with talent and feel for the jig too. If you're a great jig fisher, you're a great fish catcher.

[bill kelley]

First, let me say thanks again, Phil. It was a great weekend. We found a good spot, if you're food fishing rather than c & R. The Bird house just below the Fall Creek Dock. There is an eddy between the short stump and the Bird house. Pull a boat in and tie up a loose hitch (so you can release quick in an emergency), to the short stump. No current but the current edge is maybe 5 feet out. We used power baits, rapalas, and white jigs. Just tossed them in the edge of the current, let them drift by and recast upstream. We hit for a one day limit, all from 11 to 14 inches. Nice 'bows. I've used that spot for some time now, and rarely been skunked. It's also easy to slip your line and safely power back into the current.

See you my next trip down.

[fly2fish]

I don't know if the stained water is actually coming through the turbines or if all the sediment that washed into the channel from the bank erosion is still being scoured out, Thursday night they cut it down to one turbine where you could wade out far enough at outlet 1 to get a backcast in and the bottom felt like it had a layer of mud about 3 inches thick instead of rock pea gravel. If the sediment is more sand based than dirt it may cause it to stain instead of pure muddy water. Just my thoughts.

Speaking of that night Leonard and I caught 7 different types of fish, rainbow, browns, smallies, walleye, shad(snagged), white bass, and his gar, incredible night considering the water.

Henry

[Phil Lilley]

Henry- I would agree with you but the water at the cable is about the same color and density as the water here at the resort, may be the water here is more stained.

Your finding on the status of the bottom there at the outlet is very concerning. There are stretches in the lake where we drift where you can hear the gravel shifting under the boat and there are others that you don't hear anything. Take the stretch from Andy's down. Before the "flood", you could hear is all the way to Fall Creek. Now you can only hear it at the flats- where the channel narrows on the bluff side. We also now aren't catching many trout in this area.

I just don't know what to think. I may head up there tomorrow morning at day break and see if I can see the bottom- if it's mud or if it's gravel.

[Paola Cat]

"If you're a great jig fisher, you're a great fish catcher." Amen! I have a buddy that is a fantastic jig fisherman ... it doesn't matter if it's trout, crappie, smallies ... he can out fish me (the flyfisher) anytime. This guy is also one of the best fly tyers I've ever seen and he doesn't fly fish! He gives away his flies and enjoys seeing his buddies catch fish on them. I'm very interested in your assessment on the mud/gravel situation. Mike