Olallie Lake trout

B
bigfootfish
Olallie Lake, which is in the Central Zone(barely! The Willamette Zone is right across Skyline Drive as you arrive from the North)and drains eventually into the Deschutes, is just about my favorite place to camp out, hike, take it easy, get drunk, and catch big rainbows. True, they are all brooders(the bigger ones)and they come from the Oak Springs Hatchery on the Deschutes. But they are funnnnnn to catch, to eat and there's lots of other lakes nearby to fish. I've been going up there since about 1975 when the nearest pavement was in Detroit or Estacada.
The resort was closed these past two summers but new owners will open it up next summer, according to Mt. Hood National Forest HQ. Cool. Those ol' rustic cabins are awesome, or were until the now departed last owners let everything fall into disrepair. I'm looking forward to next summer!:D
Here's a few fish I've caught up there during the past few years. Didn't make it up there this year. Too late now unless you got showshoes.:lol:

BFF
 
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bigfootfish said:
Olallie Lake, which is in the Central Zone(barely! The Willamette Zone is right across Skyline Drive as you arrive from the North)and drains eventually into the Deschutes, is just about my favorite place to camp out, hike, take it easy, get drunk, and catch big rainbows. True, they are all brooders(the bigger ones)and they come from the Oak Springs Hatchery on the Deschutes. But they are funnnnnn to catch, to eat and there's lots of other lakes nearby to fish. I've been going up there since about 1975 when the nearest pavement was in Detroit or Estacada.
The resort was closed these past two summers but new owners will open it up next summer, according to Mt. Hood National Forest HQ. Cool. Those ol' rustic cabins are awesome, or were until the now departed last owners let everything fall into disrepair. I'm looking forward to next summer!:D
Here's a few fish I've caught up there during the past few years. Didn't make it up there this year. Too late now unless you got showshoes.:lol:

BFF
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nice fish bff...
 
Looks like another place i need to visit.
 
Olallie is one of my favorites too. Such a peaceful place. Can't wait till it opens up next year!
 
Yeppers, Olallie is awesome. My wife and I had just rented a yurt up there for the first time ever anywhere when a thunderstorm struck and started the fire up there a few years back. We had to evacuate! Didn't even get to fish. They got all the fires out except for the smouldering one down by Monon, which flared up the next day and went kaboom into the Warm Springs Lands, burning up lots of beetle-killed Ponderosa Pine.

BFF
 
Ya I'd say a fire up there will do some severe damage with all the beetle kill. Will sure change the landscape up there when it finally goes up in smoke.
 
Yeppers! The south end down by Penisula Campground(which got partly toasted)burned down to the dirt. Monon got scorched bad too. Those beautiful little lakes on the Reservation side which kinda run alongside the stream flowing out of Olallie got toasted bigtime. There's something like 50 lakes within 5 miles of Olallie, most all of which have fish, mostly brookies, by the way.
Anyone ever been to the top of Olallie Butte? That's quite the view from up there. And you can go south of Olallie after the snow's way gone and keep going(4 wheel or all wheel a good idea)and come back out on 46 near the powerlines at the border of Willamette and Mt. Hood N. Forests. I usually go to Olallie through Detroit from Albany, though you can get there from Estacada or Hwy. 26 near Clear and Timothy Lakes.
When the fire chased us outa there we went to Detroit, got a motel(we didn't bring a tent what with renting that yurt) and went to Tule Lake off of Forest Route 11 or 10, the one that comes up along Quartzville Creek. While at Tule the next day we saw the mushroom cloud go up when it got really hot from the fire. I got pics of that cloud. I'll post 'em after I smallerize them.:lol:

BFF
 
bigfootfish said:
Yeppers! The south end down by Penisula Campground(which got partly toasted)burned down to the dirt. Monon got scorched bad too. Those beautiful little lakes on the Reservation side which kinda run alongside the stream flowing out of Olallie got toasted bigtime. There's something like 50 lakes within 5 miles of Olallie, most all of which have fish, mostly brookies, by the way.
Anyone ever been to the top of Olallie Butte? That's quite the view from up there. And you can go south of Olallie after the snow's way gone and keep going(4 wheel or all wheel a good idea)and come back out on 46 near the powerlines at the border of Willamette and Mt. Hood N. Forests. I usually go to Olallie through Detroit from Albany, though you can get there from Estacada or Hwy. 26 near Clear and Timothy Lakes.
When the fire chased us outa there we went to Detroit, got a motel(we didn't bring a tent what with renting that yurt) and went to Tule Lake off of Forest Route 11 or 10, the one that comes up along Quartzville Creek. While at Tule the next day we saw the mushroom cloud go up when it got really hot from the fire. I got pics of that cloud. I'll post 'em after I smallerize them.:lol:

BFF
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i have always have said olallie is god's country, there is something about that place that is different then anywhere i have fished, i wish they would let you use a electric trolling though... i have never caught anything big out of there but i am sure he is just itching to get on my line... i will go up again this year, this year i fished there prolly 6 times.
 
bigfootfish, the look on your face in the last picture holding that huge trout is priceless!

Interesting news that there will be new owners. I talked to a forest ranger a couple years ago about the problems up there and he gave me the scoop. The well up there has collapsed and until they dig another, there is no drinking water unless you bring your own or buy it from the store. There was a code violation regarding the propane stoves in the cabins that may be spendy to fix. Another issue was getting propane up there that would be (I'm not sure) different... something about a licenced outfit had to come up and fill or replace the tanks as opposed to the owners bringing up portables. Anyway, I hope the new owners have money.:think:
 
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OnTheFly,
Thanks. I thought I looked goofy. That fish was a fighter. Try trolling spruce flies, or bottom fishing with rainbow glitter powerbait, a big ball of it all by itself with a sliding sinker, or a black roostertail medium sized, or a #3 or 4 bluefox with pink or orange body and a gold or silver blade depending if it's sunny or not. Let's see what else...Oh! A little smokie sausage under a clear bobber. Really!!!:dance:
Fly Fishing is GOOD at Olallie. I watched a guy in a drift boat during a thunderstorm with lightning and hail catch a 18 plus pound rainbow outa there about 6 to 7 years ago. Awesome!!!
One night on a full moon the big ones pigged out all night rolling and sucking down night bugs all night. Fishing was really slowwwwwww the next day. Magic happens there and it is a magical place.

Bff
 
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Another Big Trout..

Another Big Trout..

I've been playing around with my photo software and I thiink I converted a scan of a polaroid bitmat(bmp) to a jpeg file. Let's see if it worked.

Hoorah! It worked!



BFF
 
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I agree!

I agree!

GOT TO SAY I THINK THAT OLALLI LAKE IS A COOL PLACE HOWEVER I HAVE NEVER FISHED THERE, BUT I HAVE CUT A LOT OF FIRE WOOD OUT OF THERE WHEN IT WAS OPEN FOR FIREWOOD CUTTING LAST YEAR; HOWEVER SOMETIMES OF THE YEAR IT IS A MOSQUITO HAVEN!:cool:
 
You got that right. The whole area up there is mosquito hell.:mad: I always spray up with deet bigtime. But it's worth it.

BFF
 
man we yanked out some big ones (all 15ish) this past summer and would limit in under an hour, both me and my wife.. at a lake just south called "horseshoe lake", good small camp ground, well spread out and good fishing on the backside of the lake near the rock slide

BEST tasting wild brook trout that are running around over populating(words from a forest service research guy that scuba's all the lakes in the area) a lake called "dark lake" just to the east(20-30 min hike) of olallie. Talk about an awesome lake, pretty, quite, and you have the whole place to yourself

another good lake to backpack into and camp lakeside and has good cutthrout population is "lower lake".. you are by yourself when camping and fishing, might only see 2 or 3 people all day that are hiking to "fish lake". pulled some nice 12-14 inch cut's last summer
 
eggs said:
man we yanked out some big ones (all 15ish) this past summer and would limit in under an hour, both me and my wife.. at a lake just south called "horseshoe lake", good small camp ground, well spread out and good fishing on the backside of the lake near the rock slide

BEST tasting wild brook trout that are running around over populating(words from a forest service research guy that scuba's all the lakes in the area) a lake called "dark lake" just to the east(20-30 min hike) of olallie. Talk about an awesome lake, pretty, quite, and you have the whole place to yourself

another good lake to backpack into and camp lakeside and has good cutthrout population is "lower lake".. you are by yourself when camping and fishing, might only see 2 or 3 people all day that are hiking to "fish lake". pulled some nice 12-14 inch cut's last summer
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I really need to explore the other lakes up there. 'So many lakes too little time' or how ever the saying goes. That whole area's just begg'in for float tubers.
 
soo true there are tons of lakes.. i am hoping "upper lake" doesn't get winter kill, i would like to try that place out!
 
Olallie Trout

Olallie Trout

Horseshoe Lake has pretty good fishing, so I hear. I've heard of people pulling some good sized fish out of there, rainbows and brookies.
All the big rainbows in Olallie are brooders from the Oak Springs Hatchery on the Lower Deschutes. Very high quality broods. Really good fighters for the most part, in really good condition.
It will be interesting to see if the resort there opens this summer. I've heard that the previous owner sold it for a song to the contractor he hired to make the needed repairs. That's according to the Mt. Hood National Forest HQ people.

BFF
 
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