Cottage Grove 8/10

[Shaun Solomon]

Took the float tube out to Cottage Grove today. Had a great time, caught lots of fish. Lots of small fish. :lol:

Four species day with largemouth, spots, crappie and perch. It seems like there are a lot of spotted bass in there. They all had California plates.

I caught a lot of crappie, maybe fifteen, and most over eight inches. Interestingly, nothing on plastics today, though the crank and jerk were working well enough I didn't bother to drag much. Man I love fishing crankbaits.

I caught fish on points with a mudline. Wind blew, I caught fish. Wind died, so did the bite. Scratched out a couple bass on topwaters, but it was not exactly topwater madness. Most fish today on a chart/blueback Lee Sisson squarebill, a Deep Pointer 68 in Ghost Minnow, and my old #4 Risto Rap in Parrot. They really seemed keyed on the Parrot color today. Tried Coachdog, Tennessee Shad, and a couple others, but Parrot was $$$.

No impressive fish, but I figured I would be run out of town if I kept posting reports without pix, so snapped some cell shots.


^ The big one for the day. Whoopty-doo.


Yep, itsa crappie.


Several of these as well.


And a spot. MAN are those some strong fish.

Cheers all.

SS

 

[taconight2night]

Excellent! Thanks for the eye candy opcorn:

 

[troutdude]

Huh. Learn something new everyday. Never knew that Oregon has any spots. So out of curiosity, I found this on my friend's web site. Thanks for sharing.

http://www.bestfishinginamerica.com/OR-obpc-freshwater-bass-identification.html#.VcqIZfmm0dE

P.S. Was this at Cottage Grove Reservoir, or Dorena?

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Cottage Grove. I have not yet fished at Dorena. I plan on it, but have heard a lot of mixed messages about the place.

Spots... ahhh, spots. I happen to love them, as I have lived in several places down south where they are common (Texas Guadalupe bass and "Kentucky" spots in Georgia) but I admit they can cause problems in lakes. I do think it would be about impossible to get them out of a lake, and the best option would be to manage them aggressively by encouraging killing the shorts. They breed like rabbits, absolutely insane.

The easiest way to tell if you have a spotted bass and not a largemouth is to feel the tongue. If there is a little "bur" on the tongue, like a piece of sandpaper, it is a spotted bass. They also have a narrow caudal peduncle (meaty part in front of the tail) and a slightly forked caudal (tail) fin compared to LMB. They are often more vividly marked, sometimes showing turquoise hues, and sometimes have reddish eyes. They have a mouth larger than a smallie, but smaller than a largie.

They are also evil, and a three pounder will pull drag on all but very heavy setups. If you think you have hooked a giant, only to pull up a sixteen inch bass, it might just be a spot. I think they are stronger than the average smallie, which are very strong fish.

SS

 

[troutdude]

Much of the eastern bank, at Dorena, is rip rap. That's the kind of turf that, smallies like (at least in a nearby river). So I'd think that, Dorena would be chock full of smallies. Maybe someone else out there knows?

Thanks for the great descriptions; and how they vary. You've get me wondering, now, if I've ever caught any spots...and didn't know it!

 

[coyo7e]

Bass are strong for sure, my personal best was 4 or 5 lbs, he pulled the little rowboat I was in around the pond for ages before he got tired and I could pull him up.

 

[wils]

Beautiful pictures!!!!! Thanks for posting

 

[Denduran87]

Man that perch had some eyes not quite matching his stomach huh? That crank is about 1/3 his size.

 

[playhooky]

Cottage Grove. I have not yet fished at Dorena. I plan on it, but have heard a lot of mixed messages about the place.

Spots... ahhh, spots. I happen to love them, as I have lived in several places down south where they are common (Texas Guadalupe bass and "Kentucky" spots in Georgia) but I admit they can cause problems in lakes. I do think it would be about impossible to get them out of a lake, and the best option would be to manage them aggressively by encouraging killing the shorts. They breed like rabbits, absolutely insane.

The easiest way to tell if you have a spotted bass and not a largemouth is to feel the tongue. If there is a little "bur" on the tongue, like a piece of sandpaper, it is a spotted bass. They also have a narrow caudal peduncle (meaty part in front of the tail) and a slightly forked caudal (tail) fin compared to LMB. They are often more vividly marked, sometimes showing turquoise hues, and sometimes have reddish eyes. They have a mouth larger than a smallie, but smaller than a largie.

They are also evil, and a three pounder will pull drag on all but very heavy setups. If you think you have hooked a giant, only to pull up a sixteen inch bass, it might just be a spot. I think they are stronger than the average smallie, which are very strong fish.

SS

So this is a "Spotted Bass" ?



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Shaun Solomon]

No, that is a largemouth. A healthy one, lol.

 

[bass]

Great report and beautiful pictures! Looks like you had a blast out there. The spotted bass is cool. I would occasionally catch those out of the Allegheny river when I lived in Pittsburgh but I have never seen one up around the Portland area. I wonder why/how they are in Cottage Grove and not in the Willamette or Hagg.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Pretty sure they all came up from California in the livewell of some jacka$$. Cottage grove is closer to Lake Shasta than Hagg is.

Another artifact of the Anthropocene epoch...

 

[FishOutOfWater]

Forgive me, as this is my first post on this forum, but I have a couple questions.
I am heading to Cottage Grove Lake for the first time Labor day weekend and would take any info/advice I can get. I probably won't do a ton of fishing, but would love to get into any of the species you caught on your recent trip. I will primarily target Largemouth and Spots while fishing, but have two young children that could have quite a bit of fun fishing for Crappie or Perch (they caught their first perch this past weekend at Woahink). I also was wondering how the lake is currently for watersports. I planned on trying to pull a tube around in a bit in the afternoons also. I have a bass/ski boat that works great for both. In terms of any fishing advice, you are welcome to withhold specifics if you want, but I would certainly appreciate any info you can provide.

 

[troutdude]

Be aware: bass, cats, crappie, and 'gills from that lake may have poisonous levels of mercury. Trout may have high levels too; if they've been in the water for long periods.

You're kids should be able to find some panfish, from the spillway. Be sure to check the special reg's for bass; before you venture out. Good luck.

 

[FishOutOfWater]

Be aware: bass, cats, crappie, and 'gills from that lake may have poisonous levels of mercury. Trout may have high levels too; if they've been in the water for long periods.

You're kids should be able to find some panfish, from the spillway. Be sure to check the special reg's for bass; before you venture out. Good luck.

Thanks for the tip. High mercury as in eating any could be bad or just the typical, don't eat a ton of it over a short span of time? I typically C&R just about everything, but was thinking I might keep some if we did well enough.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

For what it is worth, there really is not a "safe" level of exposure to methyl mercury. Any is horrible for your brain and nervous system, even a minute amounts. You can look up a number of peer reviewed articles on the subject of mercury exposure and neurological health. Suffice to say, if a lake has a mercury advisory, don't eat the fish.

Cottage Grove seems to be good enough for water sports judging from the large amount of a$$hats engaged in those activities the last time I was there.

As far as the fishing goes, I can't give you much, I have been out there a grand total of three times, but if you like crankbaits, that is what I have been getting them on. Any little piece of wood you can find should have a LMB or three on it as well. Toss a jig at them and you should get bit. The perch and crappie I caught were on the east side in a shallow bay type spot with a lot of grass. I expect a float and marabou jig combo would get the kids some bites, or if they can cast OK then just some little Kastmasters or Swedish Pimples or whatever small bright hardware will work too I expect. Don't hold me to that, just a hunch.

My best color for cranks has been chartreuse/blue-back (Parrot). Don't know why, but I tried a lot of different colors and they bit that one at least 3:1 better than the next best color, which was clown.

Have fun.

SS

 

[troutdude]

Page 16 of the 2015 reg book, will answer more of your poison questions.

 

[FishOutOfWater]

Page 16 of the 2015 reg book, will answer more of your poison questions.

Ok, thanks. I appreciate the help.

 

[FishOutOfWater]

Anybody been out in the past week or so, since I am supposed to be there this weekend. Want to make sure the water levels aren't too scary to run around in a boat.