Where to fish around Springfield? Skunked so far.

[xltom]

Hey all,

I moved to the eugene/springfield area in 96' and I'm ashamed to say that I have never even had one freshwater bite in all the time I've lived here. I have bought a license 3 times and tried fishing the Mckenzie at clearwater park and spots a bit further east. I have also fished from a boat at dorena and dexter lakes(i think) with no luck.

As a kid on the east coast, I had a creek down the street where I caught pan fish on worms, bread, and corn all day long. I've caught some bass as well and a fair amount of saltwater fish in florida when I visit my folks these days.. Possibly my failure to catch anything around here is a result of my lack of knowledge of the terrain and tactics that work locally...


until I happened across this forum, I was convinced that all there was to fish for was trout and salmon and that they were both just super finnicky eaters or something......I'm seeing here that bass and bluegill do exist out here after all.

If someone here could put me on to some decent fishing here I would be "case of beer" grateful..........xltom

P.S. Does ballenger pond still exist(one thread said it was filled in)?

 

[Admin]

Welcome aboard xltom. I guess your "skunk era" is gonna be over We have a lot of members here from Eugene/Springfield area who will not just tell you where and how, but will take you on the water and hook you up... (sounds wrong... it will be you who will hook up fish, not you hooked :lol

 

[xltom]

Wow, quick response. The last couple of years, I have turned my attention to keeping and breeding fish. That's where I learned about the magic of forums. I'm excited to give fishing another try with a little help this time. I've got my 12 yr old brother in law here for the weekend so I'll be picking up a license today. Probably going to hit the umpqua in elkton when I drive the boy home at 3pm.......Thanks

 

[TTFishon]

Ballenger still has water and fish. The Umqua at Elkton is a good place to catch smallmouth using worms. I know of a pond near Springfield where the water's clean and you can catch bluegill, bass, crappie, bullhead, pike minnow, suckers, and an occasional trout. Let me know if you'd like to try this place and I will send you a PM with directions.

 

[Troutski]

Welcome to OFF...

Welcome to OFF...

Nice to have you on board xltom, I currently reside in the East Springfield area and can give you a few places to give a try. You have really happened onto a great forum, these members do practice what they preach" ask as many questions as you like.." again welcome to the site.

Chuck

 

[xltom]

Thanks guys, I agree this is a great forum. Wish I would have stumbled across it sooner.

The umpqua was fun. It was tough to find slow water with two kids and my girl in tow but we ended up catching a dozen or so smallmouth at the yellow creek boat ramp(on nightcrawlers). Three of those were close to a pound I think. We fished for about two hours. I don't know the size for keepers but I hadn't planned to bring anything home anyway. I am just glad to get over the slump.

Hell yes I'd still like to find a spot here in springfield, so please send me that PM. So far I spotted mention of Ballenger pond and the 5th st(old mill) pond here in your forums. Don't sound too great but if nobody points me in a better direction I may end up checking them out tomorrow.....

 

[specialk0082]

Ballenger still has water and fish. The Umqua at Elkton is a good place to catch smallmouth using worms. I know of a pond near Springfield where the water's clean and you can catch bluegill, bass, crappie, bullhead, pike minnow, suckers, and an occasional trout. Let me know if you'd like to try this place and I will send you a PM with directions.

what pond r u talken about tt?

 

[specialk0082]

welcome and if u like fishing ponds hit me up and maybe we can meet up at my fav. pond in spr.

 

[xltom]

K,

Check your PMs. Let's go fishin'!

 

[Fisher.King]

Well after spending a few minutes writing this out I remembered I'm in the bass forum . But! No fishing information shall be wasted if I can help it!

If you can handle knowing most if your catch came from a breeding pond then Leaburg lake, after it gets stocked, is one of the best places to take children. There's only one problem with Leaburg however, you have to cast out well over 50 feet to get any decent bites. But that's just an extra 50 feet of fun for kids as they're bringing in a 10 inch trout. And if the kids get bored of fishing there's even a fish hatchery not 300 feet from the fishing spot. There's also salmon/steelhead fishing below the dam. The directions are the easiest I've probably ever come across too: Get on highway 126 east-bound and go straight for 11 miles out of town til you see a large dam on your right . The only bait I use there is about half an inch of salad shrimp with enough power bait to float it about a foot off the bottom.

And if you're not down with a half hour drive to the middle of nowhere where you're the only one casting, try Alton Baker Park in the middle of Eugene. Personally I would only eat fish from there caught the day they're planted but you can make that choice on your own. The canal gets stocked with up to a thousand or so 8 to 12 inchers every couple weeks for over half the year. There's canoe rentals and lots of ducks, and in the summer there are some funky multi-passenger bikes for rent. Salmon and steelhead pass through the channel occasionally as well as year round carp fishing. Please remember to NOT feed the wildlife at Alton Baker or anywhere else, signs around the park explain in detail.

 

[ryguy]

tt What pond?

tt What pond?

hey id like to know about that pond.

 

[TTFishon]

hey id like to know about that pond.

It's the same pond I told you about in the PM's.

 

[smokemwhenucatchem]

Hey I too moved here from the Midwest and back there I could always catch a mess of bluegill or catfish. And with some work some nice largemouth. Of course here the trout is the fish we take our kids to catch and personnally I like to catch em too. Try Junction City pond just north of the Eugene airport on hwy 99 try fishing the SW side of the pond and you can go to the ODFW web site to see when stocking is scheduled for. look at the willamette zone for the springfield area. alton baker and leaburg lake are also stocked and are on that schedule too.

 

[fourgotten]

There's also Kirk Pond and Fern Ridge reservoir (both contain good bass, crappie, and panfish).

Among others...

 

[xltom]

Sounds good. I know where fern ridge is, where's kirk?

 

[TTFishon]

Sounds good. I know where fern ridge is, where's kirk?

Kirk's right below the Fern Ridge Dam.

 

[Bucktrack]

Hey all,

I moved to the eugene/springfield area in 96' and I'm ashamed to say that I have never even had one freshwater bite in all the time I've lived here. I have bought a license 3 times and tried fishing the Mckenzie at clearwater park and spots a bit further east. I have also fished from a boat at dorena and dexter lakes(i think) with no luck.

As a kid on the east coast, I had a creek down the street where I caught pan fish on worms, bread, and corn all day long. I've caught some bass as well and a fair amount of saltwater fish in florida when I visit my folks these days.. Possibly my failure to catch anything around here is a result of my lack of knowledge of the terrain and tactics that work locally...


until I happened across this forum, I was convinced that all there was to fish for was trout and salmon and that they were both just super finnicky eaters or something......I'm seeing here that bass and bluegill do exist out here after all.

If someone here could put me on to some decent fishing here I would be "case of beer" grateful..........xltom

P.S. Does ballenger pond still exist(one thread said it was filled in)?

Mckenzie river doesn't go by Clearwater that's the willamette