Thief Valley Reservoir May 15

[hilaker]

My wife and I fished Thief Valley Reservoir yesterday afternoon and were rewarded with some very nice trout. For those not familiar with Thief Valley Reservoir, it is located NE of Baker City about 25 miles and like all of the reservoirs in this area is managed for irrigation. The fishing was very good in 2005 and again in 2007 and this year appears to be shaping as a good year if yesterday is any indication. We trolled Carey Special Flies using Fly Rods and sinking line. A great afternoon. Cheers, hilaker

[Dullhook]

Nice job! Those are some really chunky bows. Trolling for rainbows with a fly rod and sinking line is so much fun. We used to tie on either a streamer or a F-4 Flatfish in the evening at Diamond Lake and hang on tight. A little too slow on stripping the line in and they were down into the weeds. Good times!

[goose]

wow, Hilaker. Nice bows.. I am going there on Tuesday.. any tips you can offer?
This will be my first time there. I just moved here after retiring and am just learning the where to fish and the how to fish in this area. Is one end of the lake more productive than another? thanking you in advance for your help..
I will be using flies, also

Don

[hilaker]

wow, Hilaker. Nice bows.. I am going there on Tuesday.. any tips you can offer?
This will be my first time there. I just moved here after retiring and am just learning the where to fish and the how to fish in this area. Is one end of the lake more productive than another? thanking you in advance for your help..
I will be using flies, also

Don

Unfortunately Don I have not fished most of this reservoir as I am stuck in a rut. I keep going back to the same area where I have always been successful. I fish up at the North end where you can just see the windmills over the top of the ridge. The water depth varies between 15 and 25 feet deep. We troll with fly rods and sinking link and we use either Black Bead Head leeches or Carey Special's. These fish are strong and consequently I use 8 lb leader. We had a Weldcraft Jet for a couple of years, but I sold it and bought a 16 ft Gregor Alaskan and this boat works great for us. I have seen boats fishing down at the other end of the lake towards the dam and I assume that they are catching fish. I talked to a fellow at the ramp when we were loading up to head home and he had limited using hotshots, but had caught only one of the large fish. Two years ago we had the best luck trolling wedding rings and Berkley imitation night crawlers. Thief Valley has an unbelievable amount of Aquatic Insects and these fish grow fast, however because the water is used for irrigation the lake is regularly drained and consequently the fishing was terrible in 2006 and 2008. I receive regular updates from the ODFW and the report on Thief Valley has been that their net samples had produced many fish 8 to 9 inches and few 13 inch fish. Obviously their information is not current. Hope this helps. Cheers, Richard

[Kokanee Slow]

Good Post! Thanks for the pics. Looks like some really fat rainbows, what fun!:)

[5-Cents]

Nice trout - how big are they, hard to tell from the picture?

[hilaker]

Nice trout - how big are they, hard to tell from the picture?

The two largest were 17 inches, a couple at 16 inches, a couple at 15 inches and the rest were 14 inches except for the small one which was around 11 inches. He was hooked so bad I had to keep him. The last two fish that we caught, we hooked simultaneously and managed to land them. As I said, a great day. I called a friend of mine here in Baker that is 92 years young and he is meeting us there in the morning. He is a blast to fish with. He and I will go out for a couple of hours while the two women visit on shore. Hoping he gets at least a couple of the big ones as that will make his day. The ten fish weighed right at 17 lbs total. :thisbig:

[5-Cents]

Way to go hilaker! Hopefully you get that gentleman into some nice fish! :applause: Good on you sir! :cheers:

[goose]

Hope you have a great day with your friends, Hilaker. Thanks again for the information..

[aquadawg3]

nice fatties good eats.

[FallRiverGuy]

Those are nice fish. Some look like a pot bellied pig.