Vernonia Pond Fishing

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chris61182
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Vernonia Pond is located on the outskirts of the small town of Vernonia on HWY47. Google Maps - Vernonia Pond

The pond is heavily stocked with trout through out the spring, but as the season progresses and the trout fishing slows down, there are plenty of sunfish, bass, and perch to keep the young anglers happy.

A one mile paved path leading around the pond is easily traversed by young hikers, and includes a variety of sign posts offering information about the pond's various flora and fauna. And there is even a play ground for restless legs, young and old.
 
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I take it then that the water is accessible for fishing fairly easily using the path? No boat - always interested in shorline fishing opportunities!
I enjoy bass and panfish more than stocked trout anyway - it's fun to find places to fish in August around here when most of the cold water species are pretty hard to find.
 
Vernonia Pond has great bank access pretty much around the entire pond. There are 2 fishing piers as well. I myself have only caught tiny perch and the stocked trout, but I have seen people pull nice crappy out and heard tell of a handful of decent bass. It is a really great place to bring kids. Last year a few hike-in campsites were set up in the back area of the park. There are also bathrooms and a vending area.

Fishing here may be a little different this year than in years past because of the flooding last year. There is no telling what kind of fish may be in there now!
 
Vernonia is a good all-around fishery. The bass in there grow big, some exceeding 8lbs. However, the better bass spots are fished form a boat rather than the shore accesses. I wonder how it changed because of last winter's floods.
 
Do I understand you correctly, there is a boat ramp ?? Once I got a magic carpet (boat) I try to keep the bank fishing to creeks and rivers; the lakes and ponds are for the boat.....once you get away from the shore line every thing changes.
 
It's a very primitive boat launch, mainly for cartoppers. It launches VERY shallow and often I have to tilt my MinnKota up into roooster tail mode to get going, sometimes we just pole to deeper water with an oar.

Your SmokerCraft, however, would be to big to launch. Also they have a no combustion engine rule on the pond.

Try spinnerbaits and floating minnow lures like Rebels and Rapalas. Remember, the best structure for bass on that lake is not the lily pads but the stumps and timber. Think jigs and crankbaits (Square-lips deflect off wood better.)
 
Vernonia Pond

Vernonia pond seems to be good for fishing right now. I saw a guy pull out a 4.5lb beautiful trout yesterday and I had on a monster trout over 5lbs on but lost him. It seems the trout like to hangout near the west pier more than anywhere else. I plan on going back today to hopefully catch that trout again. It was the nicest trout I have ever seen! It looked like a steely.
 
Welcome to the westcoast version of fish info central,bmac_0021! Thanks for the update on Vernonia Pond,too. I don't get up in that area,but there are others who are right around the corner. We have dozens of members from PDX and all the surrounding areas. Feel free to snoop around and check out the archives for past articles with loads of questions and answers. Perfect way to start off,giving information about a local(?) pond. Thanks and welcome again.
Barb
 
RE: Hey thanks! I'm glad someone has had the great idea by publishing this neatly designed site. Im a web designer myself that loves to fish when not working. I just moved here 2 months ago from Wenatchee, WA. So far I am loving Oregon!
 
well after doing research on the pond a little more, I found out that ODFW stocks adult steelhead in the pond in the winter so the "giant trout" I had on yesterday may as well have been a steelhead. Thats cool :)
 
Giant Trout

Giant Trout

That is way cool! Gotta love those "giant trout"! :D
Welcome to Oregon. Our site is definitely one of the coolest and,hopefully,one of the easiest to use. If you have any problems,give us a shout and maybe it can be fixed.
Barb
 
I fished Vernonia pond back in the 80's when it was just a dirt road around the lake but the fishing was just as good then. question is this there used to be rumors then about a sturgeon that someone planted in the lake along time ago and when fishing back then I did happen to see very very large tail fins out of the water similar to redfishtailing while eating on the bottom has anyone ever catch what could have been a sturgeon out of there or is it still there.
 
This is one of my favorite places to fish. Since it has such a plethora of fish in there. I hooked into a nice size Bass, lost it, but it was a fun fight for a few minutes. He broke my 4lbs. Leader.......I have had great success with White lures for Bass and Trout.

My friend who was in the Boat with me caught a 19" trout on just a size 6 hook, 18" leader, and 1/4oz. weight, jigging a worm off the bottom. Spring time is best for this place IMHO.
 
I enjoy fishing Lake Vernonia in my Float tube and Canoe... I tried my 16' boat, but it is a real work out getting it to deep enough water to lower my Electric Motor and start to move.

The 'Recycled Steelies' and big Bass both make for a real challenge on light line. I find that trolling 'real' slow, and I do mean 'REAL' slow with a jointed Rapala is killer.
I'm not going to 'tell' the where in the pond to fish like this, you will be required to put in your own time for that. If you pull a #10 - 14 fly, you can pick up other species like Bluegill and Crappie. Fishable year around!
 
This is my first post. I have been lurking in the shadows off and on for quite some time, and found this forum to be interesting and informative.

I've fished the "mill pond" in Vernonia off and on since the early 1970's. It is, and always has been, a good year round fishery.

A "pumpkin seed" swirl tale grub about an 1 1/2" long on a jig head will catch any species in the pond. Cast and retrieve VERY slowly. Avoid chartreuse colored jig heads unless you want to spend nearly all your time unhooking small perch.

Orange power bait with silver sparkles in it works good for big trout and steelhead. I put a small bullet weight immediately above the hook, and then cover the hook and weight with a nice gob of power bait. Suspend the whole mess about 18" below a small bobber, and let it drift. (The weight keeps the line tight under the bobber, and keeps the power bait from floating to the top.)

I've caught trout, steelhead, catfish, bass, crappy, bluegill, and perch all on the same day off the same tackle. The fish just ain't all that picky.

If you like to fly fish, a hot summer evening is the best time. Use a royal coachman, buck haired caddis, or a plain old mosquito.

And by the way, Vernonia pond is home to crappy and bluegill the size of a dinner plate!
 
welcome Boo! and thats a wealth of info on the pond... myself I like it best in March/april.... and I use wooly buggers and carrot flies... sometimes a real big streamer to try to coax a fat bass, do you live in the vernonia area?
 
Boo -
So you've been fishing the pond almost as long as I have... I began fishing it in 1968... the OA pond or Ed Miller's Cedar mill pond for Bluegill and stunted Catfish. We probably have fished there together and know each other...;)

Do you remember fishing with "Bugs" in the Vernonia Mill Pond for Trout? Those Dragonfly larva (Hellgrammites) that lived under every log and stick in the pond? I found a bunch a while back and I'll be danged if they didn't pick up a big Trout on every cast.

Many a Vernonia memory from that old pond, from Crawdads out of the Nehalem below the pump wall to camping out under those old chunks of concrete from the old mill and making campfires out of that old creosote wood. Back in the days of Mario's Pizza, no cell phones and unlocked doors on our houses!!
 
Ah yes -- the mighty Hallgamite! I remember them well, but I haven't looked for any in ages.

Everything is different now. Mario's and the Pine Cone Cafe are long gone of course. I tried to go out to the old bridge at the end of Keasey Route awhile back, but could not find access to Rock Creek because everything is fenced and posted no trespassing.

The mill pond is still one of my favorite fishing holes. I have a small inflatable boat called a Sea Eagle and a Minkota 28 I use. Nice set-up for ponds like Vernonia Lake.
 
Yeah, weird that Mario's and the Pine Cone are gone... same as when I drive into
town behind Sunnyside Grocery/Gas instead of in front of it and through the old 'S' curve over the Nehalem River.

I was using my aluminum Klamath or my Caddis float tube... but I picked up a 15' Coleman Canoe and mounted my Minnkota Endura 30 to it... I fixed it up as a 'small water' fishing rig. Easy to launch and flies with the electric mounted on the stern transom.
 
gonagin said:
The floods never even got close to the pond. I know, I live here.
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I understood that the water crested over the top and into the pond over on the Southeast corner of the pond over by where Coal Creek comes into the Nehalem.... not true?
I was amazed when I originally heard that because it's quite the little berm at that location. So, how much of the OA mill site was under water? I was told a lot of "flood tales"... things like Bear Creek was flowing over Hwy 47 by the flashing light and that you couldn't get to Swords old house across from Anderson Park. How much was just B.S. and how much was truth???

Boo said:
Ah yes -- the mighty Hallgamite! I remember them well, but I haven't looked for any in ages.

Everything is different now. Mario's and the Pine Cone Cafe are long gone of course. I tried to go out to the old bridge at the end of Keasey Route awhile back, but could not find access to Rock Creek because everything is fenced and posted no trespassing.

The mill pond is still one of my favorite fishing holes. I have a small inflatable boat called a Sea Eagle and a Minkota 28 I use. Nice set-up for ponds like Vernonia Lake.
Click to expand...

I was going to walk the old railroad grade out of Vernonia and head up Rock Creek , but a lot of it was the same way, all blocked off and posted, "no tresspass".... really sucks because I wanted to relive some of my childhood memories and fish some of the holes up behind the old Perry's Sports Camp.

So.... instead I went to Lake Vernonia and hunted up some Hellgrammites for bait... they still work (really well)... I didn't have my boats with me, so I fished off of the old log dump wall... ten bugs = ten nice trout in about twenty minutes!!! I had quite a few people trying to see what I was using and how I was fishing! All catch-n-release, but what a blast... fish ranged from 9" to 17" with most at the lower end of that size range... ran out of bugs and the fishing stopped other than a nibble here and a nibble there!

Do you know if the fishing is still any good at Floeter's, Kauppi or Gunner's Lakes anymore? I haven't been to any of them in twenty years... maybe time to relive some of my old 'balloon tire bike' fisheries?!?!?
 
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