Hagg Lake 3-13

[fishnlady]

Fished Hagg Lake Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, but fishing was slow. Two of us fished 4 1/2 hours, caught 3 trout, 11"-15". Tried a number of different things trolling & stillfishing. We were hoping to see one of those big guys that people here have been showing pics of, but no luck. There were a lot of people out there. I imagine there were some fellow ifish people. How did you all do?

[The Nothing]

I was there from about 9-2pm. Not even a bite... worms, eggs, pwr eggs, powerbait, kastmasters, and more... :( Even took the time to clean out my tacklebox to see if i could find the skunk thats been killing me this year

[fishnlady]

So that's what I was smelling. Just kidding. :wink: Better luck next time.
We tried everything too. We caught 2 on rapalas, and 1 on green powerbait.

[troutcanoe]

I was there on too on Friday in my canoe from about 9-2pm. Only got one bite all day. I trolled with rapalas, rooster tail, worm harness, still fishing, etc. etc.

I trolled from boat ramp C to the other side, up to the dam and back down with no luck. Bummer.

better luck next time.

[5-Cents]

I fished gfrom the bank with my wife and kids yesterday - we ended up getting 9 bites and landed 3 fish - all stocker sized. They are gunna make some great halibut baits!

On a side note I carried out about 5 times as much trash as we came with. What's with people throwing plastic on the bank and leaving it there? If you carry it in pack it out people! :twocents:

[INSAYN]

I was out there in the orange kayak from noon till about 5pm. Tried trolling everything from willow leaf spinners with a worm at the end, wedding ring with worm, powerbait,eggs,,,,just the wedding ring with worm, powerbait,,,,,still fishing with worm or powerbait in every level of the water. Only one hit along the south side between C and the dam. Hit hard enough to turn my worm to lace in about 40 ft of water.

I only saw 3 fish on my FF all day, where'd all fish go?

I chock it up to the fact it was Friday the 13th.
Better luck next time! :bowdown:

[Wild Chrome]

I fished gfrom the bank with my wife and kids yesterday - we ended up getting 9 bites and landed 3 fish - all stocker sized. They are gunna make some great halibut baits!


Is that even legal? No offense, but it doesn't seem like a good use for gamefish that are raised by the state for people to catch and eat.:twocents:

[BlackBass]

Is that even legal? No offense, but it doesn't seem like a good use for gamefish that are raised by the state for people to catch and eat.:twocents:

Actualy they are raised for people to catch, and keep! I use them for crab bait if i so choose ! :) Bigger fights out there to go into battle over!:twocents:

[snowplow]

Actualy they are raised for people to catch, and keep! I use them for crab bait if i so choose ! :) Bigger fights out there to go into battle over!:twocents:

I agree with wild crome, but i dont know the regulation. I'll have to look it up.

[snowrdr]

I was there from about 3-7PM with my son out in my green fish hunter raft. We trolled down to Scoggins Creek without a hit. We came back out a ways and anchored up and fished worms, went 2 for 3 on the stockers.
We could only get bites when doing a slow crawl retrieve with the worms on the bottom...

[soulrider]

when I fish from the bank I usually only get little stockers, this year will be different, I finally got my boat registered :meme: so now I can go after the big boys :D I have used trout for all kinds of different things from, crab bait, to sturgeon bait, I have even cured it and used it for trout bait :ooo: just depends on the color of the meat. my uncle used to grind up the frozen ones he forgot about in the freezer and used it in his garden.

[hooksetter1]

I agree with wild crome, but i dont know the regulation. I'll have to look it up.

As long as they're dead, trout are fair game for bait by the letter of the regs.

[5-Cents]

Sorry - didnt mean to start something here - they are the best halibut bait I have found. It's a magic trick that a 10" stocked trout can turn into 30lbs of white meat fillets is you ask me! :applause::D

I even know 2 people that dont like salmon and take all the salmon they catch and plow them into their garden :shrug: Now I trade them for hamburger! :idea:

[trollin4trout]

I fished Saturday with a friend and he caught two trout about 5:30pm- otherwise we had a great big skunk going! 10.5 hours of trolling for nearly nada! We did fill the boat with rainwater though!

Stopped at the store- she said about 10 people had come in skunked! We saw some bankies at the road into the water catch 4-5 fish- one was a 16-18 incher.

Jim

[INSAYN]

Wow, with all the skunk action going on now, I wonder if the fish are on to us? :cool:

[newbergfishjunkie]

Wife and I fished sat 3/14 from 11 am to 2 pm. Trolled for 3 hours. Had several bites. Caught 2 stockers the first 20 mins and released. My wife had a big take down and before she could react the line broke. Then while trolling the south shore I caught an extremely frisky 18 ". 4 hard runs from the boat. I rebaited the hook and put in and within a minute I had another hard take down but no fish. It was another trophy. A good day at Hagg for us but we came back to the dock as wet as the fish.

[motojones956]

Took my grandpa out saturday we trolled from 9 to noon without a single bite.

[Burtonrider]

I was out there Friday with my two uncles, we fished multiple spots and only had two bites the whole day. Twas a bit depressing because this is how Hagg Lake turned out last year.

At the rocks by the dam, there was a profuse amount of debris right off the bank. We were just fishing with a few other folks and saw a fish start flapping around really close to shore, almost flapping onto shore. My uncle said it was a bass.

That was about the extent of fish we saw the whole day. However, I did see someone with an 18+ inch trout on their stringer.

[Bacon]

Spent a few hours up there bank fishing Sunday 3-16. Got skunked. Really high wind gusts, there were whitecaps on the water near the dam.

I tossed worms and some vintage powerbait. Two guys left just as I got there, they'd picked up 2 stock trout in 5 hours.

[ploftis]

fished for about 2 1/2 hours on friday and caught 19" on powerbait from the shore. jumped 4 times ran on me 3 times. when i cleaned it, pink meat. one of the best tasting trout i have ever eaten.
had 2 other good bites but couldn't hook up.

[trollin4trout]

Thought is was quite interesting seeing all of the hundreds of swallows scooping bugs off the top of the water on Saturday. It made me wonder if the fish might be gorging themselves on the these emerging insects as they rose to the surface. Maybe that's why they don't need anything we throw at them. This one landed on our pole while were trying the wind drift thing for awhile.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w110/jnbradley3/swallow5-1.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w110/jnbradley3/swallow3.jpg

[fishnlady]

Great Photos! :)
That is one of the things I love about going to Hagg Lake, all the different birds. We saw an eagle on Friday when there.

[Wild Chrome]

Great photo's, Trollin!

Last fall at Hagg, my daughter and I saw a bald eagle pluck an injured seagull off the surface of the water and carry it into the woods!

[coupes_FTW]

me and my bro went to hagg last thursday. he landed this 29 incher on a size 14 treble hook! all i caught was a little 18 incher :(

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll136/luis14ftw/l_73fa0ed66e714949b873e5110009bc7e.jpg

[Blowing Smoke]

me and my bro went to hagg last thursday. he landed this 29 incher on a size 14 treble hook! all i caught was a little 18 incher :(

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll136/luis14ftw/l_73fa0ed66e714949b873e5110009bc7e.jpg
Nice fish,that way cool, well done.......BS

[soulrider]

me and my bro went to hagg last thursday. he landed this 29 incher on a size 14 treble hook! all i caught was a little 18 incher :(

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll136/luis14ftw/l_73fa0ed66e714949b873e5110009bc7e.jpg
OK now I am mad all I have ever pulled out of there is stockers and maybe a couple of 14 inchers......good going for you guys though, now what everyone wants to know is.......what were you using for bait which planets were aligned, what was the special chant and dance you did before hauling that thing in?

[coupes_FTW]

OK now I am mad all I have ever pulled out of there is stockers and maybe a couple of 14 inchers......good going for you guys though, now what everyone wants to know is.......what were you using for bait which planets were aligned, what was the special chant and dance you did before hauling that thing in?

LMAO, well if i tell you you wont believe it.

my bro LITERALLY 1 SECOND before the pole went crazy, said, " man, i wish i had a bite right now"

i put this on my mother.

all he used was a size 14 treble hook, covered with chartreuse power bait on a 2.5 - 3.5 foot leader off a 1/4 oz sinker.

[cheeseburger]

Good point you give there Coupes. What you did was just the right way to fish powerbait, and where alot of people dont get it. You have to use a small enough hook, or enough bait to float your bait off the bottom from a foot to three or four to be in the fish's strike zone. Just set your bait in the water before casting to make sure it will float, if it wont, add more. If you fish powerbait and dont use enough to make it float, you wont catch any fish usually.

[5-Cents]

Thats the way its done... I have also had good success using those gulp worms - they dont float but are great for bobber fishing. If you want to fish em on the bottom then I add 2 marshmellows above the gulp worm - this setup is a killer combo! Dont tell anyone! :D

Good point you give there Coupes. What you did was just the right way to fish powerbait, and where alot of people dont get it. You have to use a small enough hook, or enough bait to float your bait off the bottom from a foot to three or four to be in the fish's strike zone. Just set your bait in the water before casting to make sure it will float, if it wont, add more. If you fish powerbait and dont use enough to make it float, you wont catch any fish usually.

[GasMoney]

I propose that we eat the stockers and return the brooders this year. Is any one with me?

[coupes_FTW]

way ahead of you lol, we caught one 17 and one 18 " rainbow, clipped fins. the meat was nice and pink. fillet'd it with butter, garlic pepper and lemon pepper, then we wrapped it in foil and tossed it on the grill. it was DELICIOUS. went well with a grilled potato w/ butter

[Deanrt]

Would like to get my daughter out this weekend. Being some what of a newbie to this lake fishing thing do you all think trolling is the ticket or still fishing? Still fishing I think I can cover but the trolling thing is where im lost:passout:. Thanks in advance.

[fishnlady]

I know most like to troll at Hagg, but I have always done better with still fishing. I find that you have to be willing to try different things to see what they like that day. Powerbait is always a good thing; pink or green have worked best for me there. But sometimes a worm under a bobber works the best. I haven't been out since the 13th, so I'm not sure what they are biting on right now. Just go prepared with a few different things to try. As far as trolling, wedding ring tipped with a piece of worm is a good thing to try. You can also try rapalas. Good luck! And even if you don't catch a lot of fish, at least you have spent time with your daughter and will have special memories of that day. :)

[Gonzo]

way ahead of you lol, we caught one 17 and one 18 " rainbow, clipped fins. the meat was nice and pink. fillet'd it with butter, garlic pepper and lemon pepper, then we wrapped it in foil and tossed it on the grill. it was DELICIOUS. went well with a grilled potato w/ butter

Maybe the reason that meat was so good was because it was a stealhead. By the sounds of things the fish you guys caught had the adipose fin clipped. Stocked trout still have their adipose fin when put into the lake. Some of these pictures people are posting are hug rainbows but other are steelhead ODFW through in from their hatcheries. Go back and look at some pictures and see what ones have the adipose fins and what ones dont. Trout have the fin stealhead dont.

[joebob]

me and my bro went to hagg last thursday. he landed this 29 incher on a size 14 treble hook! all i caught was a little 18 incher :(

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll136/luis14ftw/l_73fa0ed66e714949b873e5110009bc7e.jpg

wow! nicley done

[Wild Chrome]

There are some clipped trout too. Some Oregon stocker trout lakes get clipped trout b/c they have wild fish issues and the natives are to be protected. Bensen Lake comes to mind locally. I believe some of the brooders may be clipped too. The stockers at Hagg generally are not clipped. If the fish in the photo is a recycled steelhead, it's the nicest looking one I've ever seen.

[Gonzo]

There are some clipped trout too. Some Oregon stocker trout lakes get clipped trout b/c they have wild fish issues and the natives are to be protected. Bensen Lake comes to mind locally. I believe some of the brooders may be clipped too. The stockers at Hagg generally are not clipped. If the fish in the photo is a recycled steelhead, it's the nicest looking one I've ever seen.

Is there any other way to tell its a steelhead or a trout with out looking at the adipose fin?

[Wild Chrome]

Is there any other way to tell its a steelhead or a trout with out looking at the adipose fin?

You'd probably need to talk with the folks planting the fish. On the rivers I fish, recycled steelhead have a punch mark on their gillplate. The only thing you could know for sure about the adipose fin is that if it's unclipped, it's not a steelhead. Clipped, it could be either.