Mountain whitefish

[Fishpdx]

I am new to whitefish fishing because whenever I caught one I always thought it was a pike minnow, but one guy told me it was a mountain whitefish and its really good smoked or pickled. So I wanted to fish for them but have no idea where to catch them and how? Because their mouth is really small but I heard they catch them on jigs. I am gonna try using a small hook with a worm because I heard there were bottom feeders, I am looking for a place to fish around clackamas like willamette river, clackamas river .

 

[rogerdodger]

I caught lots of them in trout streams as a kid over in the Blue Mts (NE Oregon) and they are really tasty, we would get them in the larger deep holes in the streams and I recall they fight deep down and don't jump like 'bows do. Not sure where you would find them over on the west side of the state...cheers, roger

 

[pdxstruve]

In the same boat Carp. I have been trying to nail some locally around Portland and have had no luck. You can nail them year-round on the Deschutes and Crooked Rivers. I snagged a few this summer on the Crooked just downstream from Smith Rock on a small purple #2 Blue Fox. Let me know if you find a local spot to grab some. My smoker is hungry

 

[Fishpdx]

I've heard there's some in the clackamas river at high rocks where the people jump off the rocks ! They say thats the place you can catch them. I'm going to do some fishing today at clackamette cove and might try out high rocks! I will pm you if Had any luck!

 

[Raincatcher]

They can be found at the Big Cliff Reservoir on Highway 22 a few miles west of Detroit Lake. I've seen some real chubby's come out of there.

 

[sapo]

Deschutes has a lot of them, I've hooked some while fly fishing for trout

 

[Baydog]

I can't help you much with locations but you are on the right track with your fishing strategies. Whitey has a smaller mouth/body length than a trout so adjust your bait accordingly. Typical whitefish water where i'm from involves deeper holes or slower runs in medium to large rivers. The only time I've seen them in small streams (<20' wide) was when they were running out of a reservoir to spawn. Whitey looks to school so chances are if you find one you'll find a lot of them. Also they are fall spawners so sometimes in October/November you can find some crazy concentrations of them. They are a winter fishing staple here in Idaho trout water and many a cold winters day fishing has been wrested from skunksville by a strike from whitey.

Tackle- If you're a fly fisherman pretty much any small (<size 12) bead head nymph fished on the bottom is the ticket. Takes can be subtle so usually fish an indicator. For spin gear try meal worms or wax worms on small hook (<12) with either a drift rig or sliding egg sinker. If you make a drift net out of a piece of window screen and a couple dowels you can also screen up your own bait out of the insects drifting in the water column or roll some rocks and pull off whatever you find.

 

[Fishpdx]

So I tried hunting them at clackamette cove but I i had was northern pikeminnow and baby catfish

 

[Baydog]

Pikeminnow aren't a bad sign in and of themselves. Catfish are probably indicative of the need to move upstream to colder waters.
L.