Stillwater or stream for trout

[Sinkline]

if ya had to choose?

 

[mgman6000]

I learned to trout fish on the streams of the Sierra Nevada 35 years ago and still love walking a stream That said I have caught bigger fish up here in the lakes than I ever caught in the SN My biggest disappointment moving up here is the poor stream fishing in the streams near Portland I have to drive 100+ miles down to Quartzville to get some good fishing in. Up here they don't stock them,you can't use bait and what fish there are there are small. While down on QV the fishing is great. I don't understand why they can throw in 10,000 trout in QV and none up here I C and R so I'm not into meat fishing just some action!

 

[Thuggin4Life]

I really enjoy the hunt for trount on rivers and streams were stocking doesn't occur. But I own a boat and love to troll and even though there are some big fish to be found in streams you get into more bigger fish on lakes and in oregon we have so many lakes with a variety of species to target that i would have to say hands down lake fishing from my boat but if it was a bank only question then stream.

 

[GDBrown]

It has always been flowing water for me ever since I lived in Bozeman, MT 35 years ago and fished the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin Rivers. If the fish are rising I know I can always catch fish. OTF has been weening me though and I'm trying new still-waters every chance I get.

 

[mgman6000]

If the fishing is good Yes Is there any good fishing on the Mollala near Molino? That is just down the road Is there any bank access there?

 

[steelhead_slayer]

streams! i admit i haven't fish still water much so it 's kinda lop sided for me .but i love fishing streams.the challenge of presenting your fly naturally down the current into the perfect feeding hole. then when you do hook a fish your not only fighting a fish that has spent it's life swimming against the current, your also fighting that same current, and avoiding obstacles the whole time. stream fishing requires skill and experience to land a good percentage of hookups

 

[SmallStreams]

Streams, as you might guess by my handle!

I have good memories of lake fishing with my dad, but I really like beating the brush to find a trout in water that none would suspect contain trout. There's no denying that sizeable water helps create sizeable fish, but if it were only about the fish, then I'd be fishing the lakes.

These days, I'm concentrating on non-stocked Willamette valley streams that allow 5 trout per day and trips to the northern coast for searun cutthroat. The big trout do appear in the Deschutes drainage... saw a honkin' big pair of brook trout in the Little Deschutes near Highway 58 last weekend.

I'm saving the lakes for when I'm too feeble to bust through the brush.

 

[Thuggin4Life]

I bet if was a fly fisher it would be streams.

 

[rippin fish lips]

I'm all for streams!! I mainly only fish streams, But if the streams are closed and the only place i can fish is still water, then still water it is! And i have caught numuras big fish in streams... plenty of 18 inchers and above.

 

[Markcanby]

Streams all the way!! There are big fish in streams around here I have caught 8 over 16" in 4 different rivers this year.
The Molalla does have some good trout in it.

 

[mgman6000]

Any hints of where on the Mollala? I just moved up here in Dec and don't know the streams that well.

 

[Markcanby]

Almost any big riffle there are about 7 from Wagon Wheel to Goods. But the water is just to warm at the moment.

 

[troutramp]

I prefer streams, and I am a flyfisherman as well. I do enjoy reseviors, but I know where to find trout in a stream, where as in a lake I am not to confident. I dont like to troll lakes with sinking lines I find it boring as I do fishing indicator rigs in lakes (chronimids). Some lakes in AZ that are real shallow harbor great dry fly action at times and I enjoy that a lot.

 

[mgman6000]

Thanks, do you have to drift it or there some bank access?

 

[Markcanby]

I run a toon myself but spend a lot of time on my feet.

 

[GraphiteZen]

Streams!

When I was younger I would catch fish as large as 14'' in the same stream.... Fun stuff!

 

[GungasUncle]

I know this is an old thread but...

Streams! I love fishing small streams. I don't care greatly about the size of the fish (big fish are nice, but "big" is a relative term for any given body of water). There's just nothing like spending a day wading/hiking along a pretty little stream, and occasionally getting to say hello to one of it's resident fish. There's also to me a bit more of a challenge in stream fishing - the reading of the water, getting your drift or presentation just right to hit that one spot to put your lure on a collision course with the fish... still water fishing is fun - but just not as fun for me as stream fishing!

 

[halibuthitman]

I learned to trout fish on the streams of the Sierra Nevada 35 years ago and still love walking a stream That said I have caught bigger fish up here in the lakes than I ever caught in the SN My biggest disappointment moving up here is the poor stream fishing in the streams near Portland I have to drive 100+ miles down to Quartzville to get some good fishing in. Up here they don't stock them,you can't use bait and what fish there are there are small. While down on QV the fishing is great. I don't understand why they can throw in 10,000 trout in QV and none up here I C and R so I'm not into meat fishing just some action!

throwing 10,000 planters in a steelhead tributary ( which is what almost every portland area stream is ) would cause competition and pressure that would most likely finish off any native steelhead runs that are left in them-

 

[Markcanby]

I know this is an old thread but...

Streams! I love fishing small streams. I don't care greatly about the size of the fish (big fish are nice, but "big" is a relative term for any given body of water). There's just nothing like spending a day wading/hiking along a pretty little stream, and occasionally getting to say hello to one of it's resident fish. There's also to me a bit more of a challenge in stream fishing - the reading of the water, getting your drift or presentation just right to hit that one spot to put your lure on a collision course with the fish... still water fishing is fun - but just not as fun for me as stream fishing!

You just haven't fished the right streams. Last year I caught 4 trout over 14" is a stream an in a creek over by Mcminnville I caught 30 in one day. as for planters they are like HHM said. The reason we have Steelhead up here is because the streams don't provide enough food to sustain a breeding population so they go out to sea.

 

[GungasUncle]

throwing 10,000 planters in a steelhead tributary ( which is what almost every portland area stream is ) would cause competition and pressure that would most likely finish off any native steelhead runs that are left in them-

Yep. That's also the reason that a lot of small streams have been closed to fishing over the years - they're salmon and steelhead rookeries and most of the "trout" that people catch in there are actually salmon and steelhead smolt. As a good rule - in the Portland area and along the coast at least - if it's not a cutthroat, it's probably a smolt. There are some naturally reproducing rainbows that are decendents of the fish that used to get stocked in a lot of streams, and in the upper reaches of some rivers like the Clack there are brookies and the oddball brown - also left overs from long ago stockings - but in the small streams like Johnson Creek or Fanno Creek - "trout" will be cutties, anything else is a really good chance that it's a smolt.