Henry Hagg Lake fishing reports 2009 - 2018

[FishSchooler]

Went to Henry Hagg Lake today. It was sunny! When we arrived, some other guy was almost done with his limit. Guess what? He and his friend got 10. Me and dad didn't get a single one. We got ten.

Lets get on to the real story...
Arrived at around 8:40 am. The heavy fog had just lifted after a night of heavy rain. It was sooo sunny. The water was super clear. The visibility was at least 10 feet. I didn't have my polarized sunglasses though. Oh well!

One guy and his friend almost had their limit. I casted a 1/3 oz half green half silver lil' cleo. Maybe a few bites here and there, but nothing. Switched to a 1/6 oz thomas bouyant. Still a few bites, but no hooks. Then the other people had their limit using lime green powereggs. One of them accidentally hooked an 11th. They asked me to come bring it in! So I went over and brought the nice fish in. They were some of the nicest fisherdudes I have ever met. They even gave me their rod holder!...a stick. I believe they were from Ifish too... They left and let us have their spot. First cast, 5 seconds, fish on! Nice 'bow. Caught 5 more fish there in lil less then two hours, and lost a bunch of others. Almost lost my rod too. Was unhooking one of my fish when we just saw a fish jump out of nowhere. Then the other rod started sliding into the water. Nearly lost it but picked it up and reeled in another keeper.

Then the bite died, moved on to the pier place. A huge fishin party made the great wall of bait, basically. They were catchin quite a bit. Then my little fishing party got 4 more fish, including the biggest one (15 or so inches). Then we had our limit.

The ultra-super-duper-extra-undercover-secret rig:
Small black barrel swivel with a 1/4 oz sliding egg sinker above it. 20 inches of leader to a size 6 or 8 red hook. Put on 2 power eggs with some red roe scent.

One of the mainlines was 12 lb maxima UG (trout ate off that stiff/thick line). And the other was 8 lb something, clear colored. Surprisingly, the UG caught more fish. Had 6 lb flourocarbon for leader.

 

[GDBrown]

Tips for catching at Henry Hagg Lake

Part of the key to catching them from the bank is the distance from the bank that you fish. Most people I see are throwing their bait way too far out into the lake. If you are fishing more than 20 yards from the bank you are too deep to be catching planters! I have better luck fishing under a bobber when I fish farther than the 20 yards from the bank. When I'm in the boat it is the same, top 20 feet of the water column is where the fish are most of the time.

The main reason the bite drops OFF after ten is because the fish do not like looking up into the sun. That's when they head for the bottom, nearer the shore. That's when I shorten my leader so I'm fishing only one to two feet OFF the bottom at the most. And I'm chasing shade if I can.
Good luck up there this weekend, I may be back up there late saturday afternoon and into the evening. I like fly fishing just before dark!

 

[SNDSLGR]

Took the boys up to Hagg lake today and trolled for about an hour and a half. Had many strikes and got 3 nice fish to the boat. The biggest was a 15" my oldest son caught with one of the fish flashers that I made and a needlefish. The other two took a orange worm tipped hootchie behind a sling blade dodger.

 

[J4excellence]

Henry Hagg Lake Report

I heard they had released another 10,000 planters so I thought it would be a good time to try the lake for the first time. I got there around 8:30 and it had been pouring rain off and on all night and continued intermittently into the morning. Another guy was setting up and said the fish were biting good on worms & a bobber or Power Bait off the bottom.

Since I get around in a wheelchair I fished off the Pier at area C, which I understand to be the only really wheelchair accessible area on the lake. I tried worms and a bobber for maybe an hour without any bites, then switched to Power Bait off the bottom. Meanwhile the guy who I had talked to earlier was reeling them in with his bobber setup, only about 100 yards away. He limited and left at about 10:00 am. I still hadn't had a strike.

About 10:30 some other folks showed up, some working 2 rods a piece. Now altogether we had about 12 rods in. The first fish was caught with worms off the bottom only about 20 feet out from shore. Then I started getting bites on a combination of worms and chartreuse Power Bait, but couldn't seem to hook one. Finally another fellow loaned me some garlic Power Bait and in the next couple hours I landed two 11 inch trout, one quite a bit fatter and healthier looking than the other. Several other fish were caught on worms and different kinds of Power Bait, but the garlic did really seem to be working pretty good.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. The covered pier is not only nicely accessible, but keeps you and your gear out of the rain. I am impressed with the facilities at this park and certainly expect to be back. I plan to widen the flavors of bait I have available.

 

[J4excellence]

More trout from the pier at Henry Hagg Lake

I started off with a combination of white power eggs coupled with garlic yellow powerbait on a #8 salmon egg hook. I also put a little Berkeley scent on it as well. Bingo, I caught my first fish only 10 minutes after the first cast. It was the nicest one of three I caught, around 12 inches. Since the weather was a lot nicer this week, there were a lot of people fishing the lake, but I only saw a few caught.

 

[J4excellence]

Happy Veteran's Day and Thank You to those who have served. Your sacrifices are not forgotten.

I took my Father-in-law to fish off the wheelchair accessible pier at Area "C" this morning. We tried worms and Powerbait off the bottom, but got the best results from a white Poweregg and regular garlic Powerbait. By noon we had reeled in our limits.

A friend of mine dropped by late in the morning to join us. He had not been fishing for years, but had a license and a small pole so we rigged him up with what we had been using. After about 20 minutes he got a solid strike and quickly landed a nice 11 inch rainbow. It was the first fish he had caught in about 30 years. He called it a good day and released the fish, which revived after a few moments and swam off, apparently unharmed.

I know many people have recommended 2 or 4 pound test line for leaders when fishing lake trout off the bottom. I used 4 pound line my last couple times out, but found it kind of tricky to tie. I also had several fish break free, perhaps due to bad knots or damaged line from removing hooks. So I bought a spool of 10 pound P-Line flourocarbon which is advertised as being almost invisible. We fished all morning with it and got lots of strikes. We also landed every fish we hooked even after there had been multiple hook removals.

Also, after trying a number of hook sizes, I'm really liking the #6 salmon egg hook. They are big enough for a couple Powereggs or one Poweregg and some Powerbait as well as worms. Additionally, the hooks are generally easy to remove.

 

[J4excellence]

Fishing in the snow at Hagg Lake

I wanted to try out one of the Lakes up the Clackamas River, but the threat of an impending snow storm directed us back to Hagg Lake for closing day, 11/21/2010. The day started out cold, but it was sunny and gorgeous out.

Unfortunately the fish were pretty sluggish and even when they would bite, it was more of a timid nibble than typical for trout. By late morning the weather had changed and alternating fog with wind and drizzle moved in, putting quite a chill in the air. Then in early afternoon, it started to snow. Big globs of heavy snow stuck to our rod tips as we waited out the reluctant fish.

With scarcely more than a few nibbles by noon we were about to pack it up when we caught our first fish. Of course this energized us and we decided to stay a little longer. It was about 3:00 pm before we finally succumbed to the cold and packed it up for home, but by then we had landed three more for a total of four.

In all it was a good day of fishing, though. With a hot shower to wash the cold out of our bones, all that remained were some nice memories. We'll be back in the spring.

 

[Gunga]

I went to Henry Hagg lake on saturday the 14th. my intentions was to do some bass fishing. The day started off well got up ate breakfast got my gear together went to my aunts inflated my 2 person raft and off to the lake me my uncle and aunt went. We got there and went straight Dock A. We got my raft off the top of the van and put it in the water i got in and away i went. I choose to head right and go to the first cove on the right. i slowly made my way into the cove along the shallows didn't see any fishes but i choose to set my anchor and fish for the elusive bass.

I fished in the cove for a good hour with no bites. i moved around in there a bit but still nothing. so i decided to move farther down trolling a 3 inch white curly tail grub with an 8th ounce jig head near the bank about 50 feet off it. no luck while trolling so i swithed to a size 4 bluefox color was half chartruse and half orange. I was coming into the cove me and my uncle mark went explored the thursday of the last week. at the mouth of the cove my pol went straight down i grabbed it and started reeling in. The little 9 1/2 inch trout i brought in fought like a 12 incher. I was amazed to see such a small hot dog trout be able to fit its mouth aroung a sixe 4 treble hook :lol: i released the little champ right after i took the photo. Now after the first fish of the day i got to the cove and was kinda peeved to see some people in there blasting music talking loud and trying to troll powerbait. But they left and i got to explore the little cove me and my uncle went in to when we were out in his canoe. i saw a few little bass and a couple medium sized bass.

So i anchored up, i first tried spinners no luck no reaction out the bass i was targeting. I then tried a few differnt sized and differnt colored cranksbaits and jerkbaits no luck. i then proceeded to jigs and still none of the bass i saw were interested in any of the 5 jigs i tried, i even bumped one on the back and it only moved a few inches. i then tried a big black worm that i found on the way to the cove that was stuck on a tree. i threw it out and imediatley one little bass came up and nipped at it. i set the hook but missed it. I tried it a few times more in the same spot no luck. i moved 30 feet away and tried it again with a different group of bass. One took a nip at it but only nipped the tail of the worm and not the hook. i tried it again in a couple of spots but to no luck. i tried another assortment of other baits i mentioned earlier and no luck. I then gave up on the cove and decided to go back to dock A for some lunch. i had to row all the way back against the wind. it took me about an hour to get back an boy was my arms tired as hell .

I got to the dock and beached my raft. and decided to do some people watching. as i was standing there a few nice bass boats came in and they set up a weigh station and they started weighing bass. i guess they were having a little tourney. there was only about 6 people in it. The biggest bass they had was a nice 3 1/4 pounder. and a few other nice looking bass. they left and i was thinking cool so theres atleast a couple people catching bass. I then got back into my raft and trolled into the cove to the left of dock A. As i was just at the mouth of the cove my pole went down and i mean DOWN and i started to reel in. It was a BIG fish. And my uncle happened to watch the whole seen form the bank. i fought the fish for a bout 1 minute and got it 10 feet from my raft and it started shaking it head and spit the hook. man was i mad. It was the one that got away... But oh well theres other fish in the world.

So i set up at the mouth of the cove and threw out a 1/16th orange with black dot roostertail and as a joke i threw it behind me and counted to 12 and started reeling in and what do ya know i got a little 6 1/2 incher on it. I took a picture with measurements on it and released it. I fished in the cove for another hour with no luck. but i did see a family in the back of the cove catch a nice trout on a spinner. soon after that i rowed back to the dock and beached my raft again and my aunt and uncle came over from the high bank they were fishing at and started fishing next to the sherrifs dock with a worm on a bottom and caught two little bass. I tried it but with no luck. and so ends my fishing day with two rainbow trout C&R. Hope you guys and gals liked my post and report.

 

[Gunga]

I had an early out, from school today, a perk of being a senior. And my aunt decided to spring a surprise trip to hagg lake today. I didn't complain. Any time on the water is better than no time on the water. So me and my aunt Dawna got to the lake around 3. we went straight to boat dock C. She set up near the pier and started to plunk her usual assortment of PB and scents. While i went next to the pier about 25 feet away and rigged up a Beetle spin with a red skirt and a full worm trailing on the hook and proceeded to chuck it near and under the pier at boat dock C.

After 10 minutes of no bites. I switched to over to a long pink worm i use for steel head fishing. I first tried texas rigging it with no luck. i then tried wacky rigging it. The third cast with it wacky rigged i thought i had a bite, it sure felt like it. But went to set the hook but no fish. I fished that spot for another 10 minutes then gave up and moved onto the pier. I then switched both my poles to a lime green senko and a blue medium diver. I tried the worm for 20 minutes all around the pier with no luck. I then tried my medium diver for the next 30 minutes all around the pier again with only one of what i thought was a bite. I switched patterns on the plug and tried it for another 10 minutes, no luck. i then tried the senko for awhile and no luck with it.

After that i tried a size 4 blue fox and size 4 panther martin with no luck. But the guy at the end of the pier brought up 2 small bass that were maybe 5 inches each with just a regular worm on the end of his hook. I then put on a jig and tried that around the pier for awhile with no luck. so i decided to try the boat dock it self. I tried senkos and plugs to no luck with either of them. While my aunt was catching 6 trout. 2 of which she released and the other 4 she gave to other people who hadn't had any luck. We then left to Boat dock A where after only 10 casts aimed at the front of the Sherrifs boat shack i managed to catch that little 7 inch smallie at the top with a medium diver plug that was a shinny blue, silver, and orange. I released it right after the photo was taken. Sorry about the dopey look i wasn't ready for the picture. First bass of the year yay lol. after all the hard work ive put into hagg lake for bass this year i finaly have something to show for it. :lol: I then tried that same spot for 20 minutes with different plugs but no luck. I tried jigs and senkos after that and no luck either.

I began to see a few dots moving in the water under the dock and i went to the dock to investigate. There was an assortment of small bass and bluegills swimming around. I tried catch them for about 30 minutes before my aunt wanted to leave. I tried everything i had in my tackle boxes to catch them but they weren't interested in anything. But one of the bigger bass did bite on a worm i put out on a small bobber. but i missed the bite, i was to busy rigging up my okuma celilo with a small roostertail. soon after that we left. over all today wasn't bad i got my first bass of the year. Hope yall enjoyed this report.

 

[Gunga]

Here are some of the pics from todays fishing trip. The one where im holding two chunky bluegills was pretty funny actually. I caught mine which is in the right hand and when my uncle was about to take the pic his rod went crazy and he brought his up so i decided to hold both of them lol. All in all today was pretty good. And i caught a nice chunky blue gill with my fly rod, FIRST FISH WITH A FLY ROD!

 

[noladude]

Went out with my son hoping to get into some crappie. Hit our fav hole, got two right away (the first on the first cast), then not another crappie at all.
On the upside, did get a great 3lb smallie on ultralight gear. Had a blast landing this gal.

 

[bernduffy]

Another beautiful, if sometimes cool, day at Hagg Lake. Sunny, first half of day was like glass. Water temp 57. Temp has dropped 2 degrees a week for 4 weeks; very steady drop. It will be 53 on closing day.

Very uncrowded for a sunny Sunday, even in November. Maybe 20 craft, 20 bankers. Everyone was hookin' into something sooner or later.
Well, having lost two major sized trout 2 weeks in a row, I showed up with 30# mainline braid and 12# Ultra leader. I triple checked every knot and clasp; sharpened hooks; gave worms a pep talk that Vince Lombardi could only dream of.

After tuning up with a nice couple of 11 inchers...wham: here we go again! Man, when a big one hits you, you know it. I had a lot of confidence in my line and rigging so I set the hook with a Mike Tyson uppercut and knew I had the big fish as long as I didn't do something stupid. (BTW: My chances of DSS are always around 50/50 )

I wasn't looking for fun with this big guy, I wanted him in the net, so I cranked him in, taking pauses for him to crank back and ultimately tire. Measured at an exact 16", it was the big trout I've been trying for. I think I was still smiling as my head hit the pillow last night. I know many of you catch 20" plus rainbows and steelies, but this was my biggest, so I was thrilled.

Where? Caught about 200 yards straight out from Sain Creek (The inlet just south of Ramp C).
Trolling slowly about 30 feet down with an Apex watermelon Kokanee Killer (double hook) chunk of worm and tipped with Berkley Crappie Nibble all behind a large silver willow-leaf lake troll with 1 oz banana weight.

Again I say unto you, trolling brethren: frequently change up speed, depth and direction. I hooked up moments after switching from motor to rowing in a zig-zag pattern. I am learning that you have to put on a bit of a show for these worthy adversaries.

Speaking of which: The strength and beauty of these animals is truly awesome. I know we are the superior species in many ways, but in their element they are magnificent. I hope I never forget that.

 

[bernduffy]

It appears that after a hot start, Hagg lake has really cooled off...perhaps literally. I was trying my best for 8 hours on Wed 3/21 and had the same lack of action for most of the long, cold, wet day. In fact, I've never marked so few fish at Hagg. BTW: I was between the buoys and the dam.
But my persistence paid off in the late afternoon with a very lucky catch of a real beauty: a nice 18 inch rainbow. Biggest trout I've ever caught & and one hell of a fight in which this bad boy actually broke my Symetre's anti-reverse. Talk about a Chinese fire drill...!

Caught about 30 feet from shore between ramp A and the dam. Using a big silver willow blade troll with a watermelon trout killer with a worm chunk. Weighted to run about 15' deep. Very slow speed with lots of zig-zags and occasional speed changes. I was rigged with 20# braid and 8# Maxima leader. After this altercation I won't drop anything less in Hagg's waters. No way light gear would have brought that fish to the net.
I froze my buns off but it was worth it!

 

[veilside180sx]

Trolling 1.3-2 mph with a Rooster Tail or Little Cleo. Little Cleo with no split shot, and the Rooster Tail with 2 split shot 24" above it. The weather was all over the map on Tuesday, as was the cloud cover. I changed lure colors on 3 different occasions to keep the bite going with those weather changes.

You need to find schools of fish and work them. The advice is worth what you paid for it. Just in case you think I'm full of it. My brother in law was very excited to have a fish fry... lol

 

[brookie47]

Took my 8 year old up to Hagg last saturday and had a great time. We fished the cove on the south side of the dam and did pretty well. Isaac had never caught a trout before and was thrilled when he got 3 nice rainbows. When he was reeling in the largest it was so funny watching his face, he had a huge smile and kept saying he didn't know if he could do it. I casually grabbed the net and let him have fun. Bobbers and worms were working excellent. It seemed the trout were holding at the transition from deep to shallow water. On the way home my son talked about how all the people fishing were so nice and friendly, great way to spend a day.

Tight lines!!

 

[Gettin' Jiggy Wid It]

Got to the Lake this morning just after sunrise and was trolling wedding rings by 7:45 am. By 8:45 am I had 4 trout, but it took another hour and a half to get that 5th one for the limit.


The lake was absolutely calm until noon, then a very light wind blew and created a few ripples on the water. All in all, it was perfect weather for Hagg. I've never been on the lake when it was that calm.


After I limited out on trout, i tried drop shotting for smallmouth by the dam. Man, did i get hung up a lot for no results! I need to invest in a fish finder.

 

[MattZ]

i did extremely well at hagg yesterday. i caught 4 of these big devils, nice wild cutthroat cock fish starting to kype out. Got 2 stockies that were well above the size of the average stocky and very very well conditioned, and another 10 or 12 little schooler stockies. got them all on callibaetis nymphs and emergers or chironomids. they would not take big flashy lure flies. they were not eating my damsel or dragon fly nymphs. they wanted size 14 or smaller, and black or red.

All the big fish were in 3 ft or less water and sited. 2 of them made me pee my pants with joy, tail walking, jumping, and otherwise leading me to believe they would break me off. the takes were very strong. One of them was successful in their attempt to break me. I have not caught angry, turbo-charged, mean mothers like that in some time. i may head back in about an hour.

 

[bernduffy]

At 6:30 am air temp below 40 but water 55...I knew it would be an active day and it was. The trout are just so lively at this temperature. On light gear it's a lot of fun. I was sitting on my casserole heat pad with lots of layers and needed every one of them. Fog then rising mist kept the air penetratingly cold till about 11 am. Water surface very calm. Water viz 15'. I netted 10 by 10:30 including a real nice 14".

Things slowed down for me after noon...but I attribute that mostly to my inability to figure what the fish wanted for lunch. But I still landed another 5 by the time I left at sunset. This was the most I've ever boated at Hagg. Thanks to Gettin' Jiggy Wid It for his tips...the snubber and the slower retrieve definitely helped my netting ratio. I only lost 2 takedowns, both from pilot error. My usual percentage is 50% of takedowns landed, so even though this was only one time, I am extremely encouraged.

I continue to get most of my hits during or shortly after speed changes. Champ rig of the day: 1 ounce banana weight, Willow leaf silver/brass lake troll, SNUBBER, watermelon Troutkiller with 1/2 inch worm and hook tipped with crappie nibble.
Seven Hagg days left...go get'em.

 

[troutdude]

Got to the lake about 6:00 a.m. Had my lines in the water, just north of Ramp C, by 6:20. Had my first fish, at 6:30. Proceeded to land 4 more; and missed several bites. Chartruese power eggs w/ scent did the trick. They all, however, were carefully released to get bigger (all ranging from 9 - 12").

Here's the scene at O'Dark Thirty:



Around 8:00, felt a migraine coming on--so I left, to go nip that in the bud. Got it under control, thankfully. While nursing my head--and eating fresh baked pizza for breakfast--saw a 9.6 pounder come into the weigh station!

About 9:15, I pulled into the SW corner near the dam. Met some great peeps there; watched two little kids catch more than the rest of us; and caught 4 or 5 more. I gave those away, to others who wanted 'em.

NOTE: I'll be telling you more, about one of the fellows that I met there. He'll soon be having a HUGE yard sale. He says that he has over 600 rods, and 500 reels that will be for sale and tons of tackle and other gear.

From there, I went back to the ramp C picnic area and caught some zzz's. Then, went down to the water where Seine Creek flows into lake. Got one or two more dinks, then BAM, got a nice 17" hen. She's in the fridge now! Here's some scenery from there, and a couple of pics of my catch. That's a size 10 boot, next to the fish in one pic.









That's Dave, below, from Molalla. I got to watch his epic fight with this hawg, from start to finish. It took about 20 minutes to land it! He kept yellling..."my net is too small & I can't get him into the boat!" So his buddy attached his pontoon Dave's and pulled both Dave--and the fish--to the bank for a safe landing!

I also happened across him, and his pontooning buddy Bruce, at the store afterwards. It weighed in at 11.37. A truly epic fight and fish! It's a "holdover" brooder (planted in the lake last year). I was shown how to tell, by looking at the growth of the tail fin!

The lady who owns there store told us that two 11 pounders, and three 12 pounders were caught today







P.S. A big shout out to fellow OFFER BigFish; for keepin' an eye on my rod; while I was riggin' up the other...and for snappin' the pic of me n' my fish!

 

[troutdude]

Oh yeah; that's right. I had forgotten about Brandon's pocket. There was a 12 pounder caught there yesterday.

Here's the 9.6 pounder that I mentioned above: