St Helens

[rightstar]

going to see my sister inlaw but want to fish while im up there in St Helens any ideas of where i could go for some trout?

 

[halibuthitman]

Trojan Ponds in Goble... all the creeks are closed until spring-

 

[rightstar]

cool thanks ill see what i can do

 

[Toyracer38]

Also might try Salmonberry Reservoir. Which out in the hills behind St. Helens, up Pittsburg Rd.

 

[Goodtimes]

We had good luck at Trojan ponds last spring (although shortly after stocking). We paddle trolled red and green wedding rings with about 1.5 inches of nightcrawler in the lower hook and a few splitshots about 24 inches up the leader. Then we sat on the bank and rigged a sliding 1/2 oz sinker again on 24" of leader and a size 6 hook with green/chartruese powerbait on one rod and green fishpills on another. Both had about the same number of hits. We had the most action in the north eastern most cove of the pond. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[rightstar]

thanks i read that you have to pay to get in the res and that its a hike to get to it do you know if that's true just so im prepared

 

[Toyracer38]

I haven't been out to Salmonberry in years. I was told there is a permit box at the gate, but the person I talked to didn't think there was a fee. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a $2-$5 day use fee. It is about a 1/4 mile or so, hike in to the lake. It's not a hard hike, just a walk down the gravel road we use to be able to drive down. Besides being stocked yearly with trout, this place also has a healthy smallmouth bass population. Trojan has much easier access, but if your looking for something off the beaten path, Salmonberry might be the ticket for ya.

 

[rightstar]

alright I will have try it out then are the small mouth biting much this time of year i haven't ever really fished them before, should i use float n fly or different jigs? maybe just worms? thanks for the info!

 

[Toyracer38]

I would imagine the smallmouth fishing has slowed with the colder temperatures. Just keep an eye along the bank, might still see groups of them cruising the shallows. I always had luck with a Carolina rigged imitation worm (reddish-brown). I would cast along side the bank maybe 8 feet out, let it settle and then just give it small tugs with a moment in between to let the bait float back to the bottom. Have fun and good luck to ya!

 

[jrbecca]

Can you fish from the shore at Trojan? Or is some kind of boat/flotation required?

 

[halibuthitman]

Can you fish from the shore at Trojan? Or is some kind of boat/flotation required?

its wide open for the most part for great shore fishing, but a float tube is how I like to fish it, when you pull in the pond on the right has stocked rainbows and some lg mouth bass, I prefer to fish the pond on the left, it has considerably larger rainbows but less of them... its full of carp and small mouth bass as well-

 

[Roolinghills]

I made the mistake of going all the way out to Rainier to salmon fish and realized only when I got there that the Columbia was closed. I ended up going to Trojan instead and got my girlfriend her first fish. It's easy to walk around, as it's not that big. Had a great time. You can float it if you have something to row around, but if not you'll be fine. Definitely show up with some bright green and pink bait. I had orange and it didn't work at all. Threw on one ball of bright green and one ball of pink and KILLED it. Don't know what it is about the green/pink combo but it's deadly out there.

The only thing I didn't like about it was watching some guy walk up next to me and take 3 times his limit of trout, then leave. >:{

 

[Wolfden]

Thanks for the info about Trojan.I'm in Scappoose so its a easy drive , I may have too give it a try green and pink it is lol

Dennis

 

[bass]

Good job Roolinghills! Thanks for sharing that information. Makes me wonder what made the color difference important to the trout? Is it visibility (see from further away), slightly different smells, different amounts of floatation (was orange sinking)? All the colors are so crazy it seems hard to believe it is that one looks like food and the other doesn't, but perhaps that is the case. I love to think about stuff like this.

 

[rightstar]

Well I'm sorry to say i didn't get to go out at all this last weekend had some family stuff come up but all is good now. Thinking if all works out ill be headed back to Harriet this weekend to try again. Thanks for the info I will do my best to try Salmonberry and Trojan soon.

 

[Roolinghills]

That outing still baffles me. I tried every color of power bait and just couldn't get anything to entice the fish. After switching to the pink and green I couldn't keep em off. Pink or green by itself? Nothing. Together? MONEY!

I've read articles about fly fishing and jig fishing for steelhead that say you'll improve your chances staying AWAY from one solid color. Apparently the color variation and contrast catches the eye of a fish more than anything. I guess that makes sense, especially when you think about spinners, kwikfish and little cleo's. Most are a variation of colors and patterns. I think that would be the best guess as to why the two together had such an impact, compared to one on it's own.

So, every time I'm coming up empty with trout I'll try two balls of opposite color powerbait. Seems to help when nothing else will.

- Good sized fish, too! Caught the limit that day.. "I like trout fishing better than steelhead" she said. My reply? "That makes one of us"