Long Tom for trout?

[BeaverQB]

Looking for help with the Long Tom. I fished Fern Ridge and Kirk Pond, as well as the river below the dam, no luck.

People say that the river above Fern Ridge is good for trout -- any suggestions on where a good spot might be to bank fish? Looks like most of the area just above the reservoir is private property...

Thanks for any tips!

 

[mattman40]

I've heard there are trout in the river above the lake as well. Im told the way to access that water is from a kayak or pontoon. My friends used to put in on w11th and float under the bridge. I have never been so take it with a grain of salt. If you end up fishing it update us. Let us know how you did. Ive always been curiouse.

 

[mosd]

i use to fish it years ago on private property and did really really well, but public access i would say just below the dam near fergusen rd or goto monroe dam and fish below it as well.. anywhere where theres moving water, throw a thomas boyant with a bit of worm or 1/8oz flo orange rooster tail with a silver blade

 

[coyo7e]

Neither fern ridge or long tom are suitable for trout IMHO as they're very warm, and I wouldn't want to eat native fish out of the long tom, there is a lot of industrial waste and farm runoff in that water.

I did see an amazing sight below the fern ridge dam by kirk pond a few weeks ago though; an enormous school of small channel cats 5 or 6 inches long.. They were all rising to the surface along the currents and I thought they were oil flows at first.. The water was almost black! Thousands of them in a stretch a hundred feet long. Some big carp jumping around as well, bit nothing I would want to eat sadly.

 

[troutdude]

^^^YEP! There are bows and cuttie's above the reservoir...and I've personally bagged cuttie's below Monroe as well. The fish should be fine to eat, above Fern Ridge, as that water is cleaner (due to a faster flow).

 

[Shaun Solomon]

I did see an amazing sight below the fern ridge dam by kirk pond a few weeks ago though; an enormous school of small channel cats 5 or 6 inches long..

Not channels, bullheads.

 

[BeaverQB]

Went out a couple weekends ago and tried to find some decent bank fishing spots around Veneta with limited success. There's a county park on Territorial that has some access (water was moving very slow -- looked a lot like the water just below the reservoir that's full of carp), and I found one spot under a highway bridge but it was pretty tight.

I'm not sure if there's better bank fishing access further upstream into the foothills, but not super promising around Veneta. FYI.