Henry Hagg Lake

[Fish\\\\\\\'n Magician]

Fished The Hagg yesterday from 3pm to 8pm. Hit the Scoggin's arm for most of the day - followed by spillway for the remainer.

One word for Hagg.

SLOT!

The catch ratio in Hagg is quickly leaning to dink'ville. Yeah - there are some pigs out there, but too many dinks. State needs to open a slot so we can weed out these small fish.

Hard to come out here again when the Willamette is SO HOT!

Needless to say I spent these hours on the drink with nothing to show but a few dinks.

Guessed I should have tried a Super Duper!



See Ya On The Drink,

Grant C. Lansing
fishnmgn@comcast.net

[Dave Smith]

An Aqua-View will show- as humiliating as it is- that the problem is not the lake. You can't make a decision based on one trip- especially where and when you were fishing. Hagg takes a ton of time to learn- they are not as willing as our wonderful (but suicidal) river fish.

[Fish\\\\\\\'n Magician]

"You can't make a decision based on one trip"
Agreed, however - I've been fishing Henry Hagg Lake for over 20 years - usually 2+ trips a week.

"Hagg takes a ton of time to learn"
Perhaps.....tell it to the 12 year old with a Super Duper

"they are not as willing as our wonderful (but suicidal) river fish"
I have to disagree. It's true that when the bite is off, Hagg is tough to locate feeding fish. However when the bite is on one can thumb some serious action! I've had geat days on Hagg thumbing 30+ fish (LM, SM, big Crappie, and an occasional misguided Trout).

For more Henry Hagg Fishing information - visit the most informative and out-of-date Hagg Lake Fishing Web Page at:

http://home.comcast.net/~glansing/fmhq/lake_hagg.htm



Regards,

Grant C. Lansing
fishnmgn@comcast.net

[shalom]

I believe that the young man was using a Super Fluke when he caught his record smallie instead of a Super Duper .

[Fish\\\\\\\'n Magician]

I stand corrected!

[gungho]

I have been in OR for 5 years after moving from Montana. I am going to try non-salmon fishing for the 1st time in Oregon (as I have not caught a single on in that time).

I just want to catch SOMETHING, ANYTHING. It does not matter: crappie, bass, perch, brim, etc. I just to see what a fish looks like again outside of Fred Mayers.

Suggestions on where to go? I have a sled w trolling motor. Thanks for any advice.

[Bamaboy]

Gung,

Invite some boatless bass fishermen for a sled ride-- they will show you some fish mighty fast. Just a thought.

[Striper Club]

Careful what you wish for. There have been many that have decided to give warm water fishing a try and ended up a couple years later with a low-freeboard fiberglass boat and a collection of 6-7' rods and 8-10 tackleboxes. :smile:

I am sure you will find quite a bit of information here as well as a great set of answers for any questions you have.

[Striper Club]

Hehe, you are not alone, Grant. Bucketmouth and I hit Hagg the other day and had a tough time as well. We did get a couple 2-2.5 lb largies early, but the rest of the day was dink-fest. Had a good time, of course, but it was tough fishing.

Heck, even a tiny lake like Hagg can be humbling at times. Luckily, the DFW continues to stock the lake with bass food. Those tiny, flimsy hatchery trout are just about perfect. If we were able to carry a FL strain of largemouth up here, I would tie on a 9-12" swimbait like you see in socal.

[rebell]

Careful what you wish for. There have been many that have decided to give warm water fishing a try and ended up a couple years later with a low-freeboard fiberglass boat and a collection of 6-7' rods and 8-10 tackleboxes.

Who does that sound like volforeen?

[kevint]

Gungho, I too am also new to the area(ex-Chicagoian), but I fished for LM & SM there. I'd like to hitch a ride on your boat sometime soon. Hagg or the Willamette would probably be good choices. PM me.

[Striper Club]

Who does that sound like volforeen?

Is that rhetorical?

Tell ya what, Rusty. Like I told you, I will get you out there soon, in your natural environment--but in a boat that will not taco on a rock.


- Rich

[Dave Smith]

[quote]
"when the bite is on one can thumb some serious action! I've had geat days on Hagg thumbing 30+ fish (LM, SM, big Crappie, and an occasional misguided Trout)".

[ExBassGuide]

Great job G.L. you are right about Hagg!!!!!!!

[MacFish]

We fished the upper end for a few hours Sat am with Senkos and managed a half a dozen 2 pound largemouth amd a 3.5 pound smallie. I always feel clueless there and wish I'd spent more time learning how to fish it over the last 20 years.

[bucketmouth]

With as much experience as you have had on the lake, I'm a bit suprised you are calling for a slot limit. After all only one fish per day is allowed as it is. Not that that many fisherman keep the bass they catch, but this limit allows for a high survival rate. Small bass grow into big bass.

I too have fished the lake a great deal, and have had some great days. But I know too that Hagg can be a finicky lake. Everytime I have one of those dink days, I learn that much more about Hagg. I have been developing ideas as to where the big fish go and have been learning methods for fishing deep. I have used the Aqua Vu on the lake but need to devote more time to it. Soon, I hope to convert days of dinks to ones of larger fish. On good days, I have done every bit as good on the lake as a good day on the river.

[Fish\\\\\\\'n Magician]

After all only one fish per day is allowed as it is....

Exactly my point friend! Anything short of "Only One Fish" = "No Fish At All".

Personally I don't know anyone who keeps the bass they thumb at The Hagg. There are so many dinks in Hagg one would have to say TOO MANY - and this we should focus upon as neither the resovior nor the bass are native. This has been managed water since the get-go, and too many small predator fish of the same species can have a substantial impact on the rest of the food chain.

Example: anyone who has fished Hagg over the past ten years has watched the Perch decrease in size and abundance.

So I'm thinking a 3 fish per day limit on Largemouth: 6" - 10" with 1 between 15" - 20".

Lastly - fished with IFISH Newbie Kevin who informed me that in Illinois, it is not required to officially weigh-in a potential state record. Are there alternatives in Oregon to slaying fish in order to make the record books?

Regards,

Grant C. Lansing

[Fish\\\\\\\'n Magician]

An Aqua-View will show- as humiliating as it is- that the problem is not the lake.

I had to check out this gizmo - never heard of it! I can see how this would aid a bass angler in clear water.....but - it seems that if potential for humiliation exists, it may be from dropping $150 in order to see underwater for 10' (IF Hagg ever gets that clear).

Anyone else use this Aqua-View? Anyone hooked it up to a radio controlled propulsion device?

Lastly - at what point will technology turn the graceful art of Bass Fishing into Bass Catching?

[snowball]

Aqua View-- Used it predominitly ice fishing back in minnesota where I think it has the best over all potential to serve as an education type device. I say this because while ice fishing, you are stationary. To use this in a boat properly, you would need to be on anchor. You can also invest in more of the diods that add visibility under water ( I forget what they are called).

What you can learn, or what I learned. Many fish like to look at what you offer and not too many actauly take you up on the offer. I watched many bass, crappie, walleye do alot of looking and alot of leaving. YOu can however learn that different patterns jigging will produce different results, likewise lure weight and how quickly it drops can determine your strike success. While fishing crappie, we watched many fish that would chase the jig on the drop, but if it dropped too quickly, they would move away. Putting a small chunk of rubber on the jigs to cause the jig to drop slower and softer did the trick.

For walley, we learned that the strike zone really was 1-3 feet off the bottom. Anything above 3 feet was either not noticed or did not interest the fish-

Dropping jigs to the bottom and into the mud, rocks etc. repeatidly caused many fish to enter the zone out of curiousity---I figured the fish mentality was.. something tasty has to be creating that ruckus

Chuming the Water. We learned that by dropping "free meals" down the hole, we could pull fishing into a particular area.

Kids-- takes away the boredom. They have something to watch.. sorta like a glorfied fish locator.

[snowball]

1 more then I'm off the soap box--

Hagg Lake and Small Perch-
This problem will also carry into other game fish on the lake. The more populated it becomes with a particular species, the smaller that species will become. Mother nature hard at work. Some people may argue that Theory, however I've seen this happen on many lakes.

My fix for Hagg-- and I know I'll get stoned for this-
Walleye. The lake is prime for a Walleye population. It has very Abundant Food Source in the Perch, correct habbitat for sustainded spawning, cool water, Rock, Sand, Gravel, and Structure.

[Striper Club]

I figure the lake is just to small to support another species and that adding another predator may eliminate any chance of trout surviving long. Albeit, the trout are puny hatchery fish for the most part anyway, it is a very popular fishery.

I am not 100% on this, of course. I generally find it very hard to justify the introduction of a species to 'correct' anything. I would fully support the dip netting of a few thousand yellow perch every so often to help cull them and perhaps promote them to grow and be worthy of catching. Maybe even get some kids out there to bag a few hundred a week as some sort of contest, etc...

If this body of water was 20,000 to 40,000 acres as opposed to 1,200-1,500 or so (maybe not even that), walleye and many other species would coexist quite nicely.

[Dave Smith]

Please don't "fix" Hagg Lake. It would be like "fixing" a birthday party with Grizzly. The fish are there- they will bite. It is by far, they best trophy smallmouth fishery in the west. Go to the river- they will bite there with little effort.

[Striper Club]

I am not for 'fixing' anything, as was the point of my response. :smile: Hagg is merely a pond--a pond with BIG smallies. :smile:

[Dave Smith]

I know, Volforeen. It was snowball that used the word "fix", and I even understand where he is coming from. I am just so cautious of the idea of changing something so good. It just happened that Hagg was perfectly suited for giant smallies and it was by no expertise of our DFW that they got there or got big or even survived. Now, lucky for us, or DFW realizes and nurtures this incredible smallmouth fishery. It is as good as it gets. Any change would make it worse. Vernonia Lake used to consistently produce Largemouths over 8 pounds and a few even over ten. Some good people wanted to make it even better so they dip-netted a huge amount of under-sized (stunted) bluegills out of there to help the bass even more. Guess what? it's over. There are so few big bass in there- it has been going down hill fast for the last decade. It always happens. There are so many factors to an ecosystem that no one can acurately predict what will happen. Isn't it great that we can go for numbers in places, we can go for walleye inplaces, salmon, trout- everything. Dave

[Striper Club]

I would much rather leave it alone than introduce a new species. I think I like your solution better. Let 'er be. :smile:

[Adam]

what has been working at hagg? I went out on sunday the 14th and couldn't get rid of the skunk. I fished senkos carolina rigged on some of the flats 8-15 feet deep ( had a few small bites but they wouldn't stick) and then threw weightless senkos in weeds around the lake. I covered a lot of water and didn't have anything to show except a few weak bites. I was using 4 inch senkos in several colors.

Last year i did very well fishing senkos carolina rigged about a month from now... can someone please let me know a decent techinque to catch them now! would it be better to throw crank baits into the shallow water? I'll be out there again this Saturday so please give me some advice (PM if you would like).

** Also, now that i think about it i was using my shimano curado that i use for steelhead with 20lb power pro (although i was using a 3ft 6lb leader carolina rigged):whazzup: Im assuming that these fish are VERY leader shy since they see so many lures. What do you guys use? I was thinking i would put some 6lb line on and play the fish easily... what kind of line would work well on my curado and not give me hell? Thanks for any info!

[rebell]

A lot of good WW fisheries have been ruined by introducing one species to control another. I agree with Dave, leave it alone!

I seldom fish Hagg, but have been lucky enough to land a couple of trophy smallies from it, it has its day's (good and bad). I have never felt that it was over run with dinks, there have been day's when I only managed to boat a couple of good fish, then there have been day's I caught a dozen small fish . The same thing happens on the coastal largemouth.

Let the lake be!

[gungho]

1 more then I'm off the soap box--

My fix for Hagg-- and I know I'll get stoned for this-
Walleye. The lake is prime for a Walleye population. It has very Abundant Food Source in the Perch, correct habbitat for sustainded spawning, cool water, Rock, Sand, Gravel, and Structure.

Northern Pike

[Fish\\\\\\\'n Magician]

Northern Pike

Bats!

News Flash!.....a fisherman's body was recently found on the muddy banks of Henry Hagg Lake. His body was completly drained of blood and sweltering from over 2000 mosquito bites. It appeared the man had just arrived as the seal on his Power Bait containor had yet to be broken.

The following words were etched in the mud next to his right index finger - "i wAnt MY 4 dOlLarS BaCk......."



Grant C. Lansing
fishnmgn@comcast.net

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