The lake

[Lamzy]

I ventured up H Haggis lake this afternoon to cast a few flys.
The water was kinda green and the wind was blowing in gusts at a good clip.
I was fishing from the bank and I used my 12wt line with different weighted flys, boyoboy did move.
There were only two or three boats in the lake. There was a slew of fisher persons fishing up near the dam.
I did not see any fish caught, including my self. The sun was a shining so it was a good couple of hrs. spent.
KiltedBob

 

[troutdude]

Haggis Lake?

 

[Lamzy]

Well some folks call it Henry Hagg lake.

 

[GDBrown]

I was there from 2-5 PM fishing from my boat on anchor and landed 4 out of 8. Then moved around a little seeing if the fish were spread out yet. They are still close to the dump points from what I saw. Every one that I talked to who had caught fish did it with PowerBait or PowerEgss. Water temp was 44 degrees and the lake current was counterclockwise as usual. I did not venture into the shallow end of the lake on this trip so this report covers from Launch A to the dam and down the other side of the lake. The only guy I saw with a flyrod, besides me, had on a kilt and was fishing near the parking lot by the dam. Was that you, Lamzy?

 

[Lamzy]

The guy fly fishing in a kilt was me.
You were the grey aluminium boat that ancored out in front of me?
I guess it is a small world or lake as the case may be.
I take it they stock into Scoggins creek?
I like to fish in Scoggins creek right there at the picinic area.
KiltedBob

 

[GungasUncle]

Hey Lamzy - do you have waders that fit under the kilt, or just go with waterproof kilt?

Couple seasons back, right after the opener, there was a fellow pitching flies who hooked into and landed a 10lb brooder up in the Scoggins Arm. I'd give the fish another week or so to disperse - sunny weather should help that along.

I think I'm going to try sneaking out there next week - provided the wife isn't in labor. I'll look for a kilt wearing fishing machine while there.

 

[GDBrown]

The guy fly fishing in a kilt was me.
You were the grey aluminium boat that ancored out in front of me?
I guess it is a small world or lake as the case may be.
I take it they stock into Scoggins creek?
I like to fish in Scoggins creek right there at the picinic area.
KiltedBob

Yes, that was me in the boat. I could tell there were fish near me on my fish finder but I was not having any luck in that area. They don't really stock fish in the creek but I have seen some fish up in those arms of the lake. Where you were fishing is OK but most of the fish are around the corner to your right where it drops OFF real fast, they like the shade from the trees. All the fish on my finder were 10-15ft down in the water column.

 

[GungasUncle]

GD - sounds like a sinking fly line and some juicy looking woolly buggers could do the trick! Got any in bright pink for the steelhead, er, brooder trout? I'm still trying to come up with a suitable fly that immitates a pellet of Purina Trout Chow - but the best imitation I could ever come up with was made out of deer hair, and that floats like a cork...

 

[GDBrown]

GD - sounds like a sinking fly line and some juicy looking woolly buggers could do the trick! Got any in bright pink for the steelhead, er, brooder trout? I'm still trying to come up with a suitable fly that immitates a pellet of Purina Trout Chow - but the best imitation I could ever come up with was made out of deer hair, and that floats like a cork...

Tie a glow bug using tan or brown yarn if you can find it. Or dye some of the white to any color you want. That's the best I've been able to come up with. But I have not tried it yet only have an idea. My hands don't let me tie flies any more and I have not seen brown glow bugs in any fly shops. LOL

 

[Drew9870]

Try a white crystal bugger with a beadhead and some lead around the hook, size according to water clarity and size of fish. Those hatchery Trout DO NOT CARE what they eat, they live on a Seefood diet = see something and eat it, white is good for hatchery fish in clear and muddy water, it can be seen from further away and in turn, covers more water.

When people say they believe one fly did the magic one day on a stocker pond/lake, it becomes obvious that they either didn't try anything else, or they weren't properly presenting the last fly (not enough weight, etc).

I've caught hatchery Trout on some funky colored crystal buggers, like bright Yellow w/white tail, Red w/black tail, and Orange w/white, nothing appears natural to them, it just appears to be a meal until they sample it.

 

[nofx42025]

Is there a good website which lists the water temps for Hagg?

 

[Denduran87]

I was up there on saturday and we limited out. Caught a few really nice 3-4#'s was a good day other than the rain/wind.

 

[GDBrown]

.......I've caught hatchery Trout on some funky colored crystal buggers, like bright Yellow w/white tail, Red w/black tail, and Orange w/white, nothing appears natural to them, it just appears to be a meal until they sample it.

I really would like to see some photographic verification of your exploits. You do a lot of bragging with little bing verified except your trophies.

 

[Drew9870]

I really would like to see some photographic verification of your exploits. You do a lot of bragging with little bing verified except your trophies.

Trophies, lol.

Maybe I can convince mrlindeman to bring his hatcam to Wirth this week after stocking, I'll post a couple pics of the buggers I speak of in the Stocker fishing advice thread, not going to be good quality at all, but they are the exact ones that caught the fish, they were kind of just a prototype for maximum visibility.

 

[GDBrown]

Fish with the fly in it's mouth, OK. Works for me.

 

[Drew9870]

Oh you will believe the kid caught a 32lb Catfish but not the stocker Trout eating the yellow fly :lol:.

That was 'supposed to be' a sarcastic comment .

 

[GungasUncle]

I believe they'll hit a yellow fly...

I've caught plenty of trout on yellow rooster tails not to think so. My favorite rooster tail is hot pink w/ silver blade. I can't recall any item in nature that is neon pink - aside from a few freaks of nature in downtown Portland... but nothing a trout would normally see or want to eat.

Look at some of the more popular steelhead setups - drifitng a pink pearl corkie with hot pink yarn. Not a natural color. Natural fish eggs are red or orange... but these fish just kill such setups - wild fish and brats alike.

But that doesn't mean that there aren't times they won't get picky and refuse certain colors or presentations. Just like the opposite being true, sometimes when the fish are on the bite - they'll eat anything. Hungry fish are more often that case - I used to keep in touch with an outdoor author when I was a kid - he wrote a few articles about a pond/small lake that his friend owned property on. It was a private affair - not a public lake. Big trout - in the sense that they were long. The trout had gotten huge, but then the food supply dropped off. The lake owners didn't keep up stocking baitfish, but they had no problems dumping in trout once a year. The little trout stunted or just died. The bigger trout outcompeted them for what food there was. He said that they would keep fish for dinner - and when they cut them open, their bellies were more full of twigs, leaves, and once - a cigarette butt. They were eating ANYTHING that hit the water, because there was very little to eat otherwise. Water PH was off so that bug life was kind of sparse. Not much in the way of baitfish. They didn't want to spend the money on a floating feeder that dispensed Purina Trout Chow. He said any fly or lure or bait - or even a bare hook - tossed into that water was attacked like Albert Einstein's brain at a zombie convention.

Fish can become conditioned to any behavior type - and their surroundings generally have a lot to do with it. Yes, stocker trout can be dumb as a stump and eat anything that falls into the water - but so can wild, native fish. Just as wild native fish can be wily and hard to catch - so can stockers.

Fish behavior is an interesting thing - and just like people - sometimes they just don't act how you'd expect them to. That that's what makes it interesting - and why we call it fishing - not harvesting.

 

[Denduran87]

i agree with Guncle they do go for some wild stuff but the way some people talk about stockers is like they are so dumb they just jump in the boat which everyone who goes for them knows is not the case! They have good days and bad days. I have been skunked fishing for stocker trout so they must have some kind of preference.