Hit Hagg Lake with my son again on Sunday.

[bass]

Zach and I took the kayak out yesterday to fish for trout in the rain. We did not find any fish in the spot we had done well in a couple of weeks ago and so we kept going farther down the lake. Finally after about an hour and a half of no fish we found a spot where we started getting bit like crazy. Only bad thing was we were losing them at an equal pace

When we fish Zach likes to have both rods back by me then I hand him one when we hook up. First rod goes off and I set the hook and feel a fish, I am turning to hand the rod to Zach when he says dad, the other rod. It is completely bent down and the drag is going out. I try to put the first rod back into the holder and grab the second rod. I pick up the second rod and feel a big head shake and then nothing. Pick up the first rod back out of the holder, that fish is gone too.

Man that was brutal. After that I got the rods rigged back up and we started trolling again. Every 5-10 minutes we would have a take down. Finally, amidst a ton of missed strikes and lost fish, we got three into the kayak, two 10” and one itsy bitsy 8” fish. The first fish was bleeding when we threw it back and it was twitching on the surface. Two gulls landed and were trying to peck at it when a huge bald eagle swooped down and grabbed it. We were probably about 50’ away and it was really cool to watch.

Well, the bite is going great and we have it dialed in when Zach lets me know he really has to go to the bathroom. So I pull the rods in and head over to a boat ramp so he can use the facilities (about 1 mile there and 1 mile back). While I was at the dock waiting for Zach I decided to add a stinger hook to our spinners (about 3” of line to a small hook). So 45 minutes later we finally get back to where we were fishing. Takes us a about 15 minutes to find the fish but when we do the hookup ratio goes way up. However, we still did a great job of losing fish.

Main problem is that the net we were using is a wading net with a short handle and it is hard to get the fish close enough to net with the 3-4’ leader on the trolling rigs I had set up. The two scariest were when Zach tried to pull one into the net and the lure came flying out and stuck in my ear. Zach laughed and said it looked like a pretty pink earing. Fortunately it did not sink past the barb since it hit the cartilage. Later I returned the favor when my lure came flying out and struck him, fortunately just bouncing off. I am definitely getting a longer handled net before we go out again!

Well we ended up trolling back and forth across the dam face just once more time catching landing another 3 fish and losing a couple of big fish in the process when Zach decides we wants to leave. So I pulled in the rods and we headed back to the ramp. When I was partway done loading I called in our fried chicken order and we picked it up on the way home. A really delicious end to a wet and fun day on the water.

I think next time we will just fish closer to the bathrooms

 

[montym]

Where exactly do you get your fried chicken? You have written so many times about it that I have to taste some when I go to Hagg the next time.

Why don't you start carrying a jug for Zach? Did you use any of his special worms this time?

Cheers
M

 

[bass]

Where exactly do you get your fried chicken? You have written so many times about it that I have to taste some when I go to Hagg the next time.

Why don't you start carrying a jug for Zach? Did you use any of his special worms this time?

Cheers
M

Fried chicken is from the Lake stop grocery which is the bait and general store on the way into Hagg:

Lake Stop Grocery
Address: 8015 SW Old Highway 47, Gaston, OR 97119
Phone503) 357-4270

I call ahead and order while I am packing up at the ramp, usually takes 25 minutes or so until it is ready. Yum!

I tried to get Zach to just go up on shore and well, go. With the lake so low right now it is a long muddy trek to find cover. I do not think he could get comfortable enough to go in a jug in the kayak. However, running him over to the bathroom is a small price to pay for getting to spend a bunch of time with him out in the kayak!

He tried his special bait (mixing the worms with some gulp maggots and powerbait and scent) but since we did not get a bite in the first 5 minutes he lost interest in making it. His theory is that it only works when it is warmer out

 

[troutdude]

Using the old tried n' true hot pink earring spinners again, eh?

 

[bass]

Using the old tried n' true hot pink earring spinners again, eh?

Yes, they are even better than wedding ring spinners. Plus it turns out that blood mixed with just a few tears is a killer scent

 

[troutdude]

^^^ I may have to try that! LOL

 

[PK Yi]

nice story. was there the other day, got only 1 in ....3 hours? so were you trolling close/along the dam? how far from it?

 

[bass]

nice story. was there the other day, got only 1 in ....3 hours? so were you trolling close/along the dam? how far from it?

I was keeping closer to shore turning back out towards deeper water when we hit 25 to 35' of water, going and going in and out as needed. I saw fish being caught closer in like we were fishing as well as out in the middle of the lake. We caught most of our fish closer to the South end of the dam, but that is where we fished for the most part. I saw folks also doing pretty well from shore near that area as well.

I keep my set up pretty simple. Three way swivel with 1oz on a dropper of about 1-2'. Leader of about 3-4' to the lure. Last time all we used were a 1/16oz pink roostertail on one rod and 1/32 oz panther martin (yellow, red dots, silver blade) on the other. Both were baited with 1/2 a night crawler. Then we just troll around in a serpentine fashion at 1-1.5mph. I had about 15 pulls (about 2' each) out on both rods. The water is pretty clear right now so I think the fish will move pretty far to hit a bait. Other folks were catching fish trolling faster and shallower than us as well as deeper than us. Seemed like the fish were kind of everywhere on Sunday.

We did spend a good bit of time fishing water that seemed empty. We both kept our eyes peeled for swirls as well as for fish on the depthfinder. When we saw some surface activity we would catch fish in that area.

Also talked to someone who did well dragging flies closer to boat ramp C. I think he had that end of the lake mostly to himself. So, I would say that the key is keep moving until you catch a fish and then try and troll back over that area a few times. I think the fish do move a bit. The first spot (pre-bathroom break) spot we fished seemed loaded with fish but by the time we got back we did not get another bite there.

Best of luck!

 

[PK Yi]

that's great info. thanks.

just got back from hagg with a friend. I was using a z-ray, had 5 on but lost all five. got it to the raft and they broke off. just wasn't hooked very well enough I think.

to my surprise, there was actually a lot of people there. which would mean that it's totally packed during the summer months.

 

[bass]

that's great info. thanks.

just got back from hagg with a friend. I was using a z-ray, had 5 on but lost all five. got it to the raft and they broke off. just wasn't hooked very well enough I think.

to my surprise, there was actually a lot of people there. which would mean that it's totally packed during the summer months.

Last weekend I think that there were probably about 15-20 boats on the water most of the day. I don't think that there were more than that but perhaps I am misestimating. Most everyone launched at A. I think only myself and one other kayaker launched at C.

When I fished Hagg in June the lake was not too crowded until after noon. The pleasure boat crowd tends to want to be out there during the warmest part of the day. The shoreline was pretty crowded with folks fishing, but the boat traffic was not too bad early in the day.

Bummer about losing all the fish. My son and I lost a ton of fish on Sunday for sure. Adding the stinger definitely helped some. You could probably do that with the z-ray as well. I definitely need to adopt your net handle extender!