Funny, just signed up a minute ago to finally get some surf perch fishing for the first time ever & found some recent info on this site. Still haven't found a search bar & gotta be one here some place. Just replying to you that I'm older, born in Eugene & grew up mostly Springfield/Pleasant Hill fishing the upper Willamette area.. high lakes for Brook, Crescent Lake, lakes along Hwy 58 & McKenzie Hwy, but especially from Dexter down to mostly Jasper Store is where we floated and knew the holes where to zoom down to use eggs or hot shots after work.. pretty much all we used in that river stretch. Lived in Pleasant Hill for years & in the old days we'd drop in at the old, um.. sht I'm getting old.. yeah, it was the All American Stud Mill on east side of the river & seems like maybe halfway to the dam from Jasper bridge? The road we took to get to the river was maybe on the land that is now a huge facility of some kind (church retreat?). Anyway, I'll keep this post and if I can get away to spend some time for maybe a new buddy down there, I'll look ya up next time I head down. (I'm in east Linn County mountains area now)
Prob shouldn't give specific secrets out on the net, since SO MANY DAMN PEOPLE in Oregon these days, but when I was really young we'd go to Hills Creek Reservoir, take the road around left side of the lake, don't need to go super far past the dam and look for big places on the right where there's plenty of gravel & easy standing & walking that you can see on the right from the road, and that should work.
What we'd do is when the rains would come and knew the water was rising fast, was the perfect time to head to Hills Creek for a great big breakfast in Oakridge at the old place that burnt down, then to the reservoir to the above area and literally lift your pole tip to the air with your hook/worm barely dragging the water and swing it out. They're following the rising water to eat and are often literally RIGHT there! lol Last time 3 of us went, one guy never caught one fish, I think we got like 9? and while 2 of us caught fish, the 3rd (fingers smelling like Skoal?) hadn't even got ONE BITE yet.. and literally we're getting antsy to leave anyway and tips of our poles are are within 6" of each other & right as we start sword fighting goofing around with our pole tips?... Tim catches another fish and our buddy drops his pole and say "we're outta here!" LOLOL I guess another part of that day was, if you ever want to start giggling like a little girl?.. guzzle a bottle of Champagne OR mix Boones farm wine & beer half & half and chug it.. the 2nd one we initially came up with at Hills Creek one cold morning & guaranteed laughter will follow almost instantly. Nice memories. Also on any super COLD morning, like putting in at Dexter to duck hunt the Willamette when rest of the valley is frozen solid?... Or maybe winter steelhead fishing the Alsea in an aluminum boat (brrrrrr)?? BOTH can benefit from this family secret recipe we started drinking in our teens & hardly ever shared with anyone ever- 1 cup Clear Springs (not everclear!)...1 cup flavored brandy (try peach or blackberry?).. 2 cups water. Guaranteed to warm you to your toes, or at least it feels like it!! Oh, and make sure you have a box of 3" #2 for the long shots.. crazy good duck hunting the Willametter anytime the valley is frozen solid and if you lead them far enough.. pretty amazing how far ducks flying the river can be and you can drop them! One year we picked up several in the little whirlpool there on the right.. literally pushed the boat into and I jumped out.. grabbed the ducks as they swirled by, then they pushed back into the whirlpool to pick me up. Great man times!!
TODAY: For maaxxxd... you've prob seen peeps in lawn chairs fishing for Salmon in the slack water just below Dexter dam, right? Next time you go by there, swing in and where that huge slack area begins a ripple and turns into the river... fish that ripple area! Either a super short fly line, just lift it and drop it back at the top of the ripple.. or a lure. Who knows and I won't say my favorite one here, but most lures I've ever seen are crap and won't catch trout. If you have that part nailed, that ripple is good for a fish or two regularly. Whoops, LONG first post, but I write lots in my work.
Surfperch start biting in spring & they school up too & I want to FINALLY go surfperch fishing this year. from maybe Waldport to Lincoln City area will be where I'm willing to go & stay over a couple nights to make it worthwhile; also see how crab is fairing this last month. So if anyone can point me to current info I can follow or suggestions on HOT surfperch? I like the one 3 spinner setup I saw on the one YT Oregonlife guy, especially if you get into big schools, he was getting triple's on at once & at that rate it won't take long to limit of 15 & most perch are YUMMY. The lure he was using was a new color roostertail & I literally can't remember ever catching even one fish on a roostertail, ever. lolol Except Roostertails appartently changed their approach while I've been working too much, because he had 3 FireTiger colored roostertails on & I could instantly see how that lure can catch fish! Yeah, in the last 20 years since I hung my pole up, the world has changed lots, for sure! Sorry bout the long post, but I won't post often. Oh, researching catching surfperch, I saw a guy grab a couple bait fish & soon as the tide rolled out, he ran those fish across the sand and was looking for a hole or bubble, likely.. sand worms instantly coming up as they smelled the fish scent. NEVER seen that before, but he did it over & over. Ok, fish on boys!!
