East Lake fish & camping

[lorch]

Its time to get my 12 year son out of the house for some trout fishing & camping.We are headed to East Lake for a 4 day trip. I havent been there for 20 years or so should be relaxing & fun just me and the kid. Were taking the drifter with the electric motor & sticks. I just love to row the boat and its much more peacefull than the gas motor.

Any ideas on what folks use up there??

Thanks

[Slick Willie]

Lorch

We fished Paulina last weekend and did ok jigging for kokes w/ a white jig. We watched the finder until we saw fish and then went to work on them. If you don't have a finder most of our action was around 40ft. Sorry no East Lake report.


Good Luck
Slick

[Boat Monkey]

Please check the advisories on eating fish out of that lake. There are high mercury levels there from gold mining.

[fishmanmike]

Lorch, Ido well draging black wooley buggers with a bit of flashabou in them. I've caucht kokes, rainbows ,atlantic salmon , and browns doing this. If your after the big brown, BIG rainbow pattern rapalas have produced for me there. Make sure you change out your treble hooks to 3xxx and have heavy line or you could lose a thophy. Good Luck!

[Dullhook]

Please check the advisories on eating fish out of that lake. There are high mercury levels there from gold mining.

Why is it that East Lake which sets in the same caldera, was formed at the same time in history, is fed by the same underground streams, has the same run-off and landscape, same elevation, and is a virtual twin to Paulina Lake, has had mercury level warnings, while the latter has not? As most people know both lakes were fishless until stocked by horseback decades back. None of my angler friends have an answer, but maybe some more informed I-fishers might.

[Two Fister]

Dullhook,
They think that there's a mercury vein in or near the hotsprings in the southeastern corner of the lake. They haven't really done any studies to confirm this, but it's the theory that I've heard from ODFW and DEQ. They don't know why it doesn't show up in Paulina as the lakes are connected by a series of springs. The mercury is naturally occurring, but that doesn't make it much less serious than if it were from an old mine site. There's lots and lots of old mercury mine sites in the Ochocos, Paulinas, Ashwood area, Prineville area, and frankly all over Oregon
We fished it today and it was kind of slow. The wind was really whipping so it made it difficult to get them on dry flies like we were trying to do. Got a couple of decent browns wind drifting Timberline Emergers behind a Carey Bugger. There were callibaetis everywhere but they were getting blown by at about 100 MPH.
Have a great time, but head down to Paulina if you're looking for some fish to eat. It's especially important for your son as he's still rapidly growing (bones, organs and especially central nervous system) and that puts him at a much greater risk from mercury.
TF

[Dullhook]

Thank's for the great information T.F.; I'd been curious about this for a long time! For lorch: I've heard the've been getting some nice kokanee out on the middle of East Lake, up to 18", which is alot bigger than Paulina this year, but then there are those warnings. Have a great time and don't forget to take the kids hiking through the Obsidian flows, and maybe a drive up to the top of Paulina Peak for a view that they'll never forget!

[ripnlips]

Lorch, I don't think this is prime time, but I fished there 2 weeks ago and caught quite a few fish on the NE corner flyfishing over the weed beds. Calibaetis nymph and emergers, some dries. Deepest water for jigging is in front of the steep cliff on the north side. Flyfishing can be good at the hot springs. Trolling can produce. Trolling the big woolybuggers fairly deep can produce big fish. Hope you have a great time.

[lorch]

Thanks for all the info. No I dont plan on eating any of these. I will post a report.
Thanks again