Tualatin River Fishing

I would really encourage you to try not to use the worms. I understand your frustration, however, they have the regs for a reason. Also, I know that the Washington County Sherrif DOES ticket people at Cook Park. Does anyone know a set up that isn't bait, that could mimic the same idea?:think:

JBean said:

Does anyone know a set up that isn't bait, that could mimic the same idea?:think:

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Unfortunately I think the closest one can legally get to using bait in a non-bait area would be flies, because you have to remember that soft plastics are considered bait.

Your right Chris, it's so hard not to at least use the plastics. Also many don't know that plastics are considered bait. When I first started fishing I really had to ask around about it because I thought for sure it wouldn't be considered bait. I was dissapointed to learn I was wrong!

I was thinking of doing a jig/bobber set up and try for something. Like a steel head set up. Other than that, I guess I just have to wait until the 24th to fish the Tualatin. I sure like the challenge of it, and last year there were very few people who even fished it at all.

chris61182 said:

Unfortunately I think the closest one can legally get to using bait in a non-bait area would be flies, because you have to remember that soft plastics are considered bait.

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wait....I was under the impression that soft plastics are ONLY considered bait IF they have a built-in scent and/or salt release, etc. Also dousing them in a liquid scent is not considered bait.

phillk6751 said:

wait....I was under the impression that soft plastics are ONLY considered bait IF they have a built-in scent and/or salt release, etc. Also dousing them in a liquid scent is not considered bait.

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NO! Soft plastics are considered bait in Oregon, period. Scent on the other hand is not considered bait.

All from the 2008 ODFW Regs Pg 6...

Artifical Fly said:

A fly is a hook, dressed with conventional fly tying materials. The affixed materials may be natural or synthetic.
Tied in conjunction with other materials, the following items may be part of the fly: wire (lead or other metal) used
for weighting the fly, dumbbell eyes or beads (metal, glass or plastic). A fly is not a hook to which sinkers, molded
weights, spinners, spoons or similar attractors are attached.

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Bait said:

Any item used to attract fish which is not an artificial fly or a lure. Molded soft plastic or rubber imitation worms,
eggs, or other imitation baits are considered bait. Scent is not considered bait.

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Lure said:

An artificial device, complete with hooks, intended to attract and entice fish; excluding molded soft plastic or
rubber imitation baits and artificial flies. Corkies, spin-n-glos, go-glos, birdy drifters, lead-head jigs, etc., are considered
lures. Molded soft plastic or rubber imitation worms, eggs, or other imitation baits are considered bait.

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that's nice that they've cleared up what bait was....i don't remember it being that obvious in the previous years as to the definition.

now what about spinnerbaits(such as below)....are those considered bait or a lure?

Lure. No molded soft plastic, just a hula skirt & that doesn't count.

Silverblade said:

Lure. No molded soft plastic, just a hula skirt & that doesn't count.

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What's to say that the hula doesn't count? Sure it's not an imitation worm or egg, but it is a soft plastic or rubber. :think:

I imagine an officer would probably agree with most of us that it's a lure, even with the skirt, so you probably wouldn't have any problems. But there might be enough wiggle room in the regs to allow an officer to be a real hard ass and really stick it to you if they so chose.

Carp?

Carp?

I went out again today (may 25) and started casting worms and letting them sit there with a weight. After a while in the rain, the rod shook tremendously, then my line broke. I was retying when this woman came up to me and said that there was a huge fish off to the side on the shore. I ran over and there was my hook in the fish's mouth. It looked like a sucker with the mouth and golden scales, but there were two little barbels or whisker things on the sides of the mouth. Definetely not a catfish though. It must of weighed at least seven pounds and it was still breathing, but just not moving. It was dying so I decided to take it home instead of leaving it suffer and die there. Must of been a carp though. Stayed for another hour but caught nothing in the rain.

Why does the tualatin have so many snags? I lost at least 5 lines in it by now with 2 trips. How can I avoid this?

haha, ya....tualatin is snag city....your best bet is to plunk...i.e. expect your rig to get snagged and just sit and wait for something to eat your bait.....99% of the time the fish will un-snag your rig.

It is snag city because of logs, rocks and brush on the bottom, use heavy line 10 pound minimum and lighter weight. You can minimize the snags for sure but nothing is going to keep you snag free there unless you are using a bobber. There is some big ass fish in there capable of breaking 10lb line. If you want to be totally snag free go to tualatin park and go to the back of the park by the soccer field take the path to the west threw the field you can take the east path but the west is shorter.T here is a railroad bridge and there you can fish the mouth of fanno creek as well. That area is a little deep and has underwater current i like that. The railroad/fanno creek mouth area is a hot place to fish and sometimes gets busy. Fish of the bridge and you can adjust your depth as to not get snagged up or you can fish both sides of the river there with a little less snagging due to the more sandy bottom there.

-cheers

So I just found a little park just a handful of minutes south of Hillsboro that boarders the Tualatin river, Rood Bridge Park.

The first couple pictures are from where a waste treatment plant returns its clean water to the Tualatin. Next comes a shot I enjoyed of rock creek on it's way to meeting the Tualatin. Then finally some strange machine/contraption I discovered a dozen yards upstream of the Rood Bridge Road bridge.

I didn't catch anything but did see a couple of fish rise. And talking with some friendly locals they told me that normally the river runs a lot clearer through there and that in a few days things should be improving.

I live near there, just moved from beaverton. We used to fish the tualatin from under the bridge on roy rogers. Caught all kinds of panfish, bass and cats. I'll go check this spot out tomorrow, weather permitting.

Went there today, no luck. To muddy to get a good spot, only fishable areas are open water, no structure. Maybe fishing worms off the bottom might get some success, but I didn't have any. Current much stronger here than I remember too.

I use 12 pound mono... still the snags stay as snags no matter what, I walk downstream give a pull, upstream, give a pull, still nothing. Someone told me that if you get the line tight, then pull it by the reel (the tip should flex and bend down more), then let go, the hook should jump and release, it works surprisingly! But it doesn't work every time.

On the way in to cook park, there are several large ponds connected, then looks like a slow stream flowing into them. Kind of looks like Bass water... Kinda doubt it though... I'll take pics of them next time and post them. PM if you want pics of my carp =) kinda huge!

yeah using larger line you will keep your gear a lot more in the tualatin river smaller snags will withstand the force needed to free the snag and frequent small snags are common on the tualatin it comes with the territory. Post a pic of the carp I love good fish porno

Mattco26 said:

Went there today, no luck. To muddy to get a good spot, only fishable areas are open water, no structure. Maybe fishing worms off the bottom might get some success, but I didn't have any. Current much stronger here than I remember too.

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Wow, it's still a mess :shock:! Thanks for the report, I may have to put off heading back out there until next week.

Wilsonriverfisher said:

Post a pic of the carp I love good fish porno

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Yes, I agree, by all means please post pics!

On the way in to cook park, there are several large ponds connected, then looks like a slow stream flowing into them. Kind of looks like Bass water... Kinda doubt it though

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I tried to run a spinner bait through one of those ponds on Tuesday. To many weeds to fish the pond closest to the soccer fields. I did however catch a plump little SM Bass from the dock by the boat ramp at Cook. I look forward to fishing it more.

Here are some pics of the carp! I kinda look stupid in small in that one pic. But I'm not. Lol.

JT-Next time I go, I'll try and pull at least a minnow from one of those ponds. You tried the long one? There is a wider one in a chain of ponds with a tree stump or a fallen tree in it. See if I can run a spinnerbait through it. Maybe a Texas rigged senko will work, since it's snagless. Do you see any signs of fish in it. Besides minnows...
It also looks pretty shallow. Never know though!