Another good Wickiup moment

[TTFishon]

Last Wednesday a buddy called me and told me he was headed to Wickiup for his last camping trip of the year and asked me if I wanted to go. Well, what do you think I said. I got there around three Friday afternoon set up camp, had some beers and a shot of whiskey and was ready to hit the water. We trolled rapalas to the dam and back with no luck. Didn't hit the water Saturday until about noon. Fished the Dechutes Channel to the main lake and back again with no luck. Decided to fish worms on the bottom from the boat in front of our camp. Made a few casts while the wind pushed us to shore then motored back out a ways then cast out again. At this point the sheriff pulled up and asked us if we've caught anything. As we are saying no I see my line twitch and get loose. I reel in a little and the fish takes off. Upon getting the fish in the net the sheriff says do you want the good news or the bad news first? Before we could answer he says the good news is you get to keep the fish and the bad news is this area is fly and lure only because the kokanee are spawning. Which doesn't make sense to me. Why would fishing a worm on the bottom hurt the kokanee? Anyway, we were happy that he simply informed us of the rules and told us to have a nice day along with a compliment of a nice brown. The water is the lowest I have ever seen it for this time of year. It's at October levels right now. Here's some pics of my weekend.

 

[OnTheFly]

Exellent! Can you get to the brown trout fishing grounds in a pontoon boat?

 

[TTFishon]

Exellent! Can you get to the brown trout fishing grounds in a pontoon boat?

Yes. In fact I considered using a fly under a slip bobber and probably should have. Sunday morning we could see a school of browns from our camp. You can't see them in this pic but you can see the logs and the root wads on the bottom.

 

[Markcanby]

OTF you thinking what Im thinking?

Time to test out Brian Chan's Chironomid techniques.

 

[OnTheFly]

OTF you thinking what Im thinking?

Time to test out Brian Chan's Chironomid techniques.

I've only caught a handful of fish on those before. Timothy was my best shot. Can't believe a larger fish would have interest in such a small morsel. The method I thought was interesting was the sink then straight up retrieve.

 

[Throbbit _Shane]

nice pictures and awesome trout!!! way to go TT

 

[Markcanby]

I've only caught a handful of fish on those before. Timothy was my best shot. Can't believe a larger fish would have interest in such a small morsel. The method I thought was interesting was the sink then straight up retrieve.

I have done a lot of reading about it an I guess it gets to a point where the fish just cruise with there mouth open an inhale teh little thinks.

 

[Sinkline]

.

 

[OnTheFly]

I have done a lot of reading about it an I guess it gets to a point where the fish just cruise with there mouth open an inhale teh little thinks.

Yes. A good indication that fish are surface feeding on Chirons is the random rises all over the water. It is a suttle slurp, no jumping or tail splashing. It looks more like a light rain fall. A lot of times you'll see a mass of empty shucks at which time you reallize you've missed the hatch.

TT, have you noticed any similar surface action or chironamid hatch at Wickiup?

 

[Thuggin4Life]

Way to go ted! Hard to tell from the angle but looks to be between 3 and 5 lbs but my guess is 4. Water looks low i would like to see wat some areas look like with it that low. So were you guys above sheep bridge when the sheriff rolled up? I read some regs about spawning ground up there and regs changing all of a sudden. is the 3rd pic up from the bottom of the davis arm. looks like it is close to the same spot i took this one.

 

[cwsmith]

the grassy area in the last picture on your initial post is where me and my family have set up our deer hunting camp for the last 5 or 6 years! some big bucks around there and always big brown trout to tease me in the water.. never could catch one of them.. but saw a guy come down with big white grubs and slay them for about an hour

 

[TTFishon]

EDIT: I edited my reply as it read unintentionally harsh. I'll leave it to suggest that folks should always read the regs. regarding the body of water they intend to fish so as to protect critical species and avoid breaking game & fish laws.

TT, nice Brown and thanks for sharing the photos.

The "D" arm does get much lower during some years than what your photos show now!

THat's alright. I should've read the regs. No excuses. I got lucky.

 

[TTFishon]

nice pictures and awesome trout!!! way to go TT

Thanks TS

 

[TTFishon]

Yes. A good indication that fish are surface feeding on Chirons is the random rises all over the water. It is a suttle slurp, no jumping or tail splashing. It looks more like a light rain fall. A lot of times you'll see a mass of empty shucks at which time you reallize you've missed the hatch.

TT, have you noticed any similar surface action or chironamid hatch at Wickiup?

Where we were at the fish were making a pretty big splash when they surfaced. Now where I took that last pic in my first post they were surfacing how you describe and I have seen salmon sized browns in this area too.

 

[TTFishon]

Way to go ted! Hard to tell from the angle but looks to be between 3 and 5 lbs but my guess is 4. Water looks low i would like to see wat some areas look like with it that low. So were you guys above sheep bridge when the sheriff rolled up? I read some regs about spawning ground up there and regs changing all of a sudden. is the 3rd pic up from the bottom of the davis arm. looks like it is close to the same spot i took this one.

It was a fat healthy fish but my smallest Wickiup brown yet at 18 inches. We were right in front of our camp ground when the sheriff showed up which was almost directly across from the ramp that's across the street from the twin lakes resort. We checked out Sheep bridge but I didn't see any kokes there yet. I like going there in late Sep or Oct and watch the kokes spawn. All but the last pic were from our camp ground and the lst pic I'm sure you know where that is.

 

[TTFishon]

the grassy area in the last picture on your initial post is where me and my family have set up our deer hunting camp for the last 5 or 6 years! some big bucks around there and always big brown trout to tease me in the water.. never could catch one of them.. but saw a guy come down with big white grubs and slay them for about an hour

I've camped by the lava wall a few times. Fishing is awesome there. Have you ever noticed the brookies and kokes spawning there? So do you guys set up a huge camp? A couple of years I was there during hunting season and saw a huge tent. That thing had to of been over a hundred feet long.

 

[Raincatcher]

Great job,TT! Nice to hear good things about the local law enforcement,too. Thanks for the pics.

 

[Hawk]

Reel Great Job Bro, TT.
Beautiful pics,
:clap::clap::clap:

 

[Mad dog]

OTF you thinking what Im thinking?

Time to test out Brian Chan's Chironomid techniques.

The best browns are probably in the channel to feed on the fish that are feeding on chironomids! That or the spawning Kokanee! Before the angling deadline was moved I knew guys that targeted browns by using 7"-9" minnow imitations from sheep bridge down to the browns creek inlet. Lot's of 10-20 lb fish taken in those days!

Wind drifting a whole threaded night crawler near the bottom....deadly!

 

[Finneus Polebender]

Nice Brown dude and you aint kidding that water is low ! Glad the PoPo was reasonable with ya ,they should have been ,you probably passed the attitude test and I know you were legit in every other manner !