Catfish near Lebanon or Albany?

[Pharcyde]

Hello fellow anglers. I'm new to this forum and not sure where I should post this. I live in Lebanon so I figured this would be a good place to ask. I've been fishing for over 20 years now and only recently started fishing here in Oregon. I miss the days when I could go out and catch 20 pounders left and right. I was wondering if there were any good spots for big cats near Lebanon and Albany. I don't mind going out a ways but prefer to stay closer to home so I can get back quick
to clean and fry it up.

Thanks in advance,
Pharcyde

 

[troutdude]

Ha ha ha! LOVE your moniker!!!

Welcome to OFF. Glad to have ya.

Try the mouth of the Mary's River, where it flows into the Willy (s. end of Corvallis). A couple of years ago, a 50 pounder was bagged. No joke. It was in the paper.

I'm sure their are, plenty of other places too. Maybe Cheadle Lake, in Lebanon? And they are all over the place, in the Willy and sloughs.

Good luck. We'll be lookin' for some reports n' pics.

 

[Pharcyde]

Thanks troutdude. I'll have to plan a trip that way soon. Im not sure about cheadle though. There are a lot of bluegill and lmb there. I haven't caught anything else out of there yet. Its too weedy for me to go there often. If there are big cats in the willy though, I look forward to a trip out there.

 

[hydropsyche]

There are some big cats in the willy that have been posted here check out the archives you might find some good info. On another note why don't you just try and catch a sturgeon. They got more fight and probably more abundant than large cats around there. I am from Albany and any park or green way i have explored has held unexpected surprises.

 

[Pharcyde]

I plan to go for some sturgeon someday. I need to dig up some more info on them first.

 

[Pharcyde]

I'm confident I can land a decent cat on my 7' competitor, but not so much a sturgeon. I don't have the money to buy the gear for it at the moment.

 

[hydropsyche]

yeah you might be under powered for most of what the willy has to throw at you in large species mostley cause tha current and tha size

 

[Moe]

The trick to catfish in the willie and Columbia is to find the deep holes that don't have sturgeon in them. This is to get the big channels. Although if you want any kind of catfish just fish worms and strios of bluegill on a double drop shot rig

 

[Moe]

That'll get you plenty of bullheads. Don't cut the bluegill into chunks but rather strips because it wiggles in the current and is more attractive than chunks

 

[Pharcyde]

Thanks for that bit of info. I'm gonna try it out one of these days

 

[TTFishon]

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