Suttle Lake, Thundereggs

Snapset · 08-10-2002, 09:11 AM

I camped with the family at Suttle lake Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of this week. I forgot to charge all but one of my trolling batteries, so I was limited to fishing about 3 hours per day. We brought home 60 fat Kokes, so for me, at least, the fishing was fine. I only saw 2 other fish caught on the lake during those days though, so I had a lot of people asking questions at the ramp. What I saw was people trolling in a straight line from one end of the lake to the other, and trolling about twice as fast as I go. Whenever a fish jumps near my boat, I turn immediately and troll right through the center of the splash rings. Whenever I hook one, I toss out a marker, and troll right by the marker a couple of times, in a figure eight pattern. This works for me also at GP and Odell.

It was OK to have limited fishing time, as the main reason the kids wanted to go was to search for thundereggs. We brought home buckets of them, too.

oregondak · 08-10-2002, 10:24 AM

Sounds like you had a good time! What were you using, what depth, and what was your biggest fish? Thundereggs?! I did'nt know there were any around there! I go up there quite often, would you mind steering me in the right direction to find some?

M W Sheller · 08-10-2002, 03:01 PM

I wanna find some too :grin: Please?!

Snapset · 08-10-2002, 06:47 PM

I was just using Flashers, wedding rings and corn, fishing 20 to 30 pulls with 2 oz. lead.

I use the gold and silver-plated gear, but I don't know that was too critical. Finding the fish and staying on them and finding the speed were the most crucial parts. The Kokes at Suttle are the biggest I have ever seen them there. The biggest Male was 15" and the biggest Female was just shy of 14".

On to the Thundereggs. If there are any around Sisters, I don't know where. There are several ranches in the Madras area that will let you pick them off their property for a fee. The Richards ranch 7 miles north of Madras scrapes the dirt and rocks clear of the Thunderegg layers, and charges 50 cents a pound. It is very easy, almost like gathering eggs from a henhouse.

For the more adventurous sort, there are lots of sites on BLM and NF land, you just gotta find them. (Sorry, I can't give them away this easily). A good place to start looking is the Grasslands office in Madras. The Prineville Ranger Station is even better.

[ 08-10-2002, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: Snapset ]

oregondak · 08-10-2002, 07:57 PM

Thanks for the tips snap! Did you catch any browns while you were there, or have you ever? I've only managed to pry one measly 10" out after about 10 trips. Anyway, cool stuff about the thundereggs, thanks!

Snapset · 08-11-2002, 08:27 AM

I didn't go after the browns this trip. I have caught a few on Rapalas over the years but only 1 while troling for kokes. The biggest Brown I have caught was about 20", but I have seen much larger chasing Kokes on the surface.