Paulina Lake report

[aye fsh]

Had a wonderful weekend fishing my favorite lake this weekend, scored too! Fished Saturday morning starting about 6 a.m. and what a slaughter. Actually trolled for browns at first so didn't start kokanee fishing until about 7 or so. The fish were all schooled up and just biting like crazy. Didn't matter what you used, so long as it was down there about 30 feet. Actually played the "wonder what WON'T work" game for a while. My preferred set up is a small mooching flasher with a snubber with about 2 - 3 ft. of 3 lb. leader to a small dick nite spoon. Doesn't seem to matter what color, but I tend towards the chartruese/pearl usually. Run that off a downrigger and whee-haw! I use a 6' real light action one piece baitcasting rod with a quantum 1311 mg reel.

Anyways, the 2 of us had our limits of fish pushing 14 inches by about 8:30 and went in for breakfast and to pick up my buddies wife. Had her into fish nothing flat and about that time Dad showed up with my brother and his friend. Showed them the area and away they went, nailing fish left and right. Spent the rest of the day just relaxing in the sun until the thunderstorm rolled in and scared me away from the water.

Next morning went up with my wife and hooked up with my friend again, who was camping there. The wind and waves the evening before had dispersed the fish and we had a harder time finding schools, but worked hard and ended up keeping 11 for the 3 of us. Didn't keep any smaller ones unless they were damaged. The weather deteriorated and by noon it was white cap city, too rough to have much control so gave it up for the day. It blew all afternoon and evening.

Got started at 5 a.m. Mon. and had to work REAL hard for our fish, it was C-O-L-D and windy from the get go. Finally got the last 2 wind drifting across the middle of the lake pulling our gear about 10 ft. under the whitecaps. Lost twice as many as we caught, at the start of the day we were 1 for 11 on getting them to the net.

The campground at little crater is redone (thank you for not turning it into a parking lot!) and the ramps are open, although they aren't quite done, no dock yet.

On a sour note, as I was waiting my turn to load my boat I noticed a couple of bags right on the approach to the concrete ramp. thought it was something from the guys loading in front of me. They pulled away and I loaded up and was pulling out when I noticed it was just bags of garbage someone had left sitting there. Picked them up and hauled them to the trash. Was griping about it with the camp host and they were just coming back from cleaning up 3 bags full of crap left in a campsite. It is beyond my capability to comprehend how someone can come to a beautiful, pristine spot like this and treat it with such disregard. Shame on you whoever you are!

With the exception of the litterbugs, it was a glorious weekend and if any of you i-fishers have the opportunity you should give this place a try. It can be difficult to find fish at times but if you are persistant you can catch some of the finest little red meated delicious salmon in the state. The campgrounds are very nice and the scenery can be breathtaking. EARLY mornings are the time to fish, you can sleep when you're dead!

I have no problems sharing information about this lake, just ask and I'll give you all the details you want. Been thinking about the "wind" post and I'm not going to try to guard my "secrets" from this board. I have gained more fishing knowledge from reading this board over the last year or so than I have probably the previous 20 years of figuring it out myself. I don't pretend to know a whole lot about much of anything, but I'll sure share what I think. The last thing I want is for Jennie to get discouraged/depressed/disgruntled because of the direction some of these posts take sometimes and shut it down. This board has become a very big part of my life and will feel like my firstborn has been taken if she ever quits. I'm sure most of you feel the same way.

Here's some pics:



Nice silver fishes


The right stuff, this one was hot.

Paulina peak in the morning

About four hours later.

[ 05-29-2001: Message edited by: aye fsh ]

[ 05-29-2001: Message edited by: aye fsh ]

[RichH]

Great looking fish. With that flasher all you need to do is plug cut em' and put em' back out and hold on [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Bait O' Eggs]

Aye fsh - one of the nicest post I have read in a long time. Complete with pictures and a photo of the rigging. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Your comments on the wind post are right on. I fear the thread wont be around long since it is turning ugly. To bad people cannot step back from the post and remember the thread is (or should be) about the ethics of posting exactly which rock to stand on, not on who has fished on that rock the longest or hardest, or bestest. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] The wind river just happens to be the medium to present that arguement. I hope it returns to the topic that should be debated there. Bob has been put in a bad spot and tried to make the best of it. I feel for him.

Keep up the good post, we all learn with sharing. Some of us appreciate the good post. I still want to make Paulina Lake one of these days.

[Big Willie]

Kinda wierd...I was on Wickiup all weekend doing 'ok' on the Kok's and slightly less on the trout and kept looking up to Paulina wondering how it was. The weather was exactly the same, Sat was a beauty, Sun afternoon turned to crap. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]
-Gary

[HOGTIDE]

Refreshing Post and Pictures!!!! Here is an embarrassingly dumb question. Do you have problems getting your trolling motor to work at East and Paulina? I love fishing up there. But, my motor always fouls up and wrecks the trip after a day or so. Do you have high altitude jets? Adjustments? Recommendations?

....and , oh yes...on behalf of my wife.... are the bears still abundant?

[Pirate]

aye fish
Great report on my favorite Central Oregon lake during the 10 years I lived in Bend, great pics too.
We went to Lava Lake on Sunday and almost got a 2 person limit of 10, but were blown off the lake at 1:30. It was beautiful and everyone was catching fish til the wind kicked up. Kokes are still my favorite. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Hookset]

I second Roy's comments. Great pictures and great report. That rigging will work in Green Peter and Odell.

I've never fished Paulina,looks like I'm missing out. Maybe someday we could have an Ifish camping trip there and roast some kokes over the fire. Are the campsites reservation only?

Nice trip aye fish,

hook

[aye fsh]

Hey, thanks for the nice compliments guys, just trying to give a little back.

Hogtide - My motor (honda 15 hp) ran just fine. every once in a while it would sputter and miss a beat, but other than that it didn't seem to mind the thin air. My 2 stoke that I had on my drift boat ran kinda crappy up there, but not so bad I couldn't troll around effectively. If it got real bad, which it did once, I just replaced the spark plugs. Clean up the ones you took out and You're ready for the next fouling! There are bears around, but they don't frequent the area on any regular basis. I think that it is mostly a concern when they first wake up. The area is well posted about them and seems like people take the right precautions.

Pirate - How big were the fish you were getting? I was up there a few years ago and was knocking the snot out of pretty nice rainbows running 13 inches average. This was shortly after they had stocked it. I was told by the lodge owner that 70,000 fish (seventy thousand, not a typo) get put in there around the first of June. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Hook - A Ifish outing up there would be great fun, especially a little later when the fish get BIG. By the end of July / August there should be some 17 - 18 inchers running around, now that's some fun! The campgrounds have changed to a first come, first serve basis. There is a group camp facility though, might be able to secure that, hmmmmm. I'll see what I can find out about who's eligible to use that facility. Great place to take the kids, let 'em run around in the woods and get dirt all over their faces! I'll start another thread if I find out anything good, maybe even organize some kind of service project? Used to do that with my scouts.

[Pitch Pocket]

Hogtide,
Had the same problem with both motors (Merc 150 and 8hp kicker)at Diamond Lake a few years back. Low levels of O2 makes the mixture too rich and you need to lean it out or you'll gum up the plugs. Have your favorite mechanic show you the adjustments and when you arrive just tweak em. It's actually pretty simple to do.

[Pirate]

Aye Fish
The trout we were getting were all about 12 inches, nothing big but my partner says he has caught some big ones in the past. Most boats were just anchored using Power Bait as were we. We had success on rainbow and bright Green.

[HOGTIDE]

Thanks for the trolling motor info. I now have a 4 stroke. It might operate better up there, since fouling shouldn't become a problem. Might still have to give things a twist to the 'lean' side.

I love East and Paulina.