Lake Fishing Report - Dundee, OR
Wanted to give you guys a report on a great fishing day I had a few days ago at a trout lake near Dundee, OR.
Had a good day there – I’ll post some pictures later. Not the best lake fishing day I've ever had; far from the worst. I got in the water about 9:30 - there was already a small hatch going on underneath the trees on the spring side of the lake. Didn't last long... I trolled around with a wooly bugger and a damsel nymph; tried varying my presentation by weaving, and adding shot. Best success was with a black wooly bugger near the pumphouse and along the spring side. Never saw a fish on the opposite side, at least trolling... then I got bored and focused on fishing for midges. I had larger sizes (about size 12) in red; I would pitch it out with a tiny thingamabobber as an indicator and after five minutes or so, yank. This happened a few times by the willow and I lost a decent one.
Then I grabbed some lunch at the Chinese place (yum) and came back... It was hailing and about 2 p.m., I'd caught a half dozen fish or so and was thinking it was a good time to leave. I pitched out my thingamabobber again from the shore - was too lazy (and was thinking I'd only be a few
casts) to even put on my waders. Bang, fish. Bang, fish. It got to where, when I'd strip in the nymph faster than usual on a bad cast, I could see a V wake as the predatory trout chased down the midge. Anyway this was my first time fishing chironomids and I am NEVER going to doubt the power of the slow retrieve again. Far from boring - I love seeing that bobber yank under and to the side!
The owner came out and we had a nice talk. I kept seeing fish come out of the water on the weedy side (towards the parking area) and knew that they were hitting something that was rising below the surface. So, I went over and tried my chironomid routine, on a short leader this time (4 feet). I barely had time to get a tight leader before it went down. By standing on the shore as I was, the fish would wear itself out in deep water instead of diving towards the weeds (as it would have done if I was boatbound). So, another lesson learned: bank exploration is good.
I must have caught four deep bellied fish - the smallest was a chunky 18 inches - on a red midge with a copper john dropper, the dropper getting a significant chunk of the action. Then my bobber went down and raced twenty feet to the side in a flash. The fish came out of the water and... wow... this was a trout. It looked like a steelhead; easily four or five pounds, as big around as my arm. It snapped my 5x leader – which I'd been using to get lifelike movement out of the midge - like it was a spiderweb, almost contemptuously. I hadn't even put any real pressure on it. At that point, I reeled up and went home, even though there was a bit of a hatch going on. How are you going to top that?
Suffice to say, I will be back. I don't think I caught a fish under 17 inches the whole day. And that's not boasting - I didn't catch many cause I spent most of the morning prospecting. It’s a really nice lake; four acres, with a rustic Chinese type pagoda, nice color in the lake – no need for delicate presentation. All in all, a great place to take some kids, barbecue gear, and have a great time hauling in some lunkers in a natural setting close by some fantastic wineries.
Red Hills Lake is fly fish only, catch-and-release. The owner keeps the # of anglers down to a minimum – never more than 6 a day – and the rates are very reasonable, around $60/rod. That’s less than I’d pay for gas out to some lakes I can think of. For those of you who are interested in a nice fishing experience, maybe with the kids, check out <Google search "Red Hills Lake"> . For those of you who might be tempted to sneer at the idea of paying for lake fishing, I understand your attitude... I felt that way as recently as a year ago. Personally I think trout ponds have their place; no it’s not the same as a trip out to the Grand Ronde or the Oly Peninsula, but it offers accessibility and guaranteed fish, something the young’uns need to get started on fishing. And it does help support the local economy; the downturn hasn’t been easy on any of us and it’d be a shame to see convenient flyfishing spots like this close down for lack of customers.
Let’s be honest though; finding a good winter/spring lake fishing spot, close to PDX, that’s not overrun with fishing Velveeta on treble hooks on floats for hatchery planters is not easy. Hagg Lake does come to mind. If you have a great spring lake suggestion within an hour’s drive of Portland, I’d love to hear it. Any thoughts out there?
Last edited by Newbs; 03-12-2010 at 03:17 PM.
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