Rainy and Black lakes

[brookie47]

Did a little exploring over the weekend and fished two lakes i`d never heard of before. Both lakes are on the hood river side of mt hood. Both lakes are very small with brook trout. I caught 15 out of Black with the biggest 9 inches. Rainy lake looked like it should have held larger brook trout but i only caught 3 with the biggest 11 inches. I ran into a local that has been fishing it for 20 years and he said it`s not unusual to pull out 15 inch brookies out of Rainy. Wish i could have stayed until dark, the fishing was ready to turn on when i had to get home. Anyone else fish these lakes?? What about North lake, just down the trail from rainy?

 

[brookie47]

pics of Black lake and its monster fish

pics of Black lake and its monster fish

pics of Black lake

 

[cookshot]

Never heard of either, looks pretty sweet though. Did you fish any other of those little lakes around there?

 

[brookie47]

North lake is 1 1/2 miles past Rainy. I`ve been hearing rumors of better fishing than Rainy or Black. It is a little deeper and should hold some bigger fish. I`m thinking about heading to North sunday for the day. I`ll let you know how i do.

 

[troutdude]

Nice report. I once lived in Sandy for a bit. But, I hadn't heard of those lakes till now. Thank you.

BTW, where you fly or spin fishing? Would you mind telling what those fish were hitting?

 

[brookie47]

Float tubing and flyfishing the only way to go!!! I was using a slow sinking flyline called the stillwater, the entire fly line is transparent and in theory catches more fish. this is an excellent flyline for the shallower lakes and fishing over weed beds.

I was using callibaetis emergers fished in the top 1-3 feet of water. I left my dry flies in the car, i should have brought them.

 

[troutdude]

Well, you still did pretty darn good w/ emergers. Thank you.

P.S. I like my float tube too!

 

[eggs]

I have heard of them and wanted to try them out... Last time I took a adventure over to them the road was GARBAGE and needed more clearance then my subaru had and I have take that subaru in places it shouldnt have ever made it. How was the road?? I do have a jeep now so shouldnt be a problem but wondering none the less. Those lakes are known for rain when the rest of the state is blue skies thanks to Mt. Hood's effect on the weather.

 

[brookie47]

My first trip up was by myself. Took my old Ford Ranger and it did pretty good. Last weekend I decided to load up the Ford Explorer with my wife, two boys and the dog. About 10 miles up I blew out one of my rear tires. It went flat in an instant. Huge pothole with a sharp rock in the bottom. Had to change the tire on a pretty good slope and my spare was only 3/4`s full of air. So i decided to head back to Hood river. Needless to say we never made it to North or Rainy lake this time!!! Bummer, I was looking forward to fishing North.

You are right the roads are in terrible shape. I learned one thing never leave home without Fix a Flat.

EGGS, I still plan on heading to those Ollalie area spots you told me about. Dark lake is next on my list.

 

[eggs]

right on!! thanks for the report and have fun at Dark!