Lakes Henry Hagg Lake Fishing Reports

[fromthelogo]

Fisherman's Marine usually has the best supply in Portland. If they are out, I usually order from Bass Pro Shops. Sometimes you can find them on Amazon.

 

[bass]

Sorry I was not very clear @Ashton

On the East side of the river the morning shade is long, on the West side the evening shade is long.

Cabela's in Tualatin is weirdly empty. I am worried they are going to close the store. I hope not but it seems hard to stay open with no fishing tackle. Fisherman's is definitely better stocked right now. I usually go to both stores and try to spread my money around but right now Cabela's seems to be a waste of gas.

I agree with @fromthelogo that Amazon is a good source for a lot of things. I have also had very good luck ordering from Tackle Warehouse.

 

[Ashton]

@bass so I want to fish the east in the morning and west at night

 

[bass]

@bass so I want to fish the east in the morning and west at night

Yes, if you do that you maximize the amount of time you have in the shade. Not completely critical but it is favorable.

 

[Ashton]

@bass sorry about all the questions but what in your experience is the best spots on the east side and west side

 

[Casting Call]

I believe Sportsman bought out Cabel's (local franchise) Big fish eat little fish. Don't they? Tony

 

[Fishnsleep]

Decided to stay local and fish with my friend Chris, given the poor ocean forecast. The water temperature at Hagg Lake, according to my fish finder was 76.6 degrees. Very warm, especially for trout, the target species. Not having down riggers, and wanting to fish deep, due to the temperature, used a 3 oz bottom bouncer with a nightcrawler harness. I figured the trout would be in deeper cooler water.

The surprise was a beautiful largemouth bass that slammed the set up as we were trolling by the dam. Hagg Lake gets a lot of bass fishing pressure, it is known to contain large bass. To catch one this big was a real treat. The fish was released quickly after a couple of photos, to hopefully spawn and wait for the next lucky angler.

 

[jamisonace]

Damn! Nice fish! Did you think it was a monster trout at first or did you know it was a bass?

 

[bass]

Nice! Hagg has some nice bass but they get a lot of pressure and are generally kind of difficult to catch. It is really cool that you caught such a nice fish.

I have only fished Hagg a few times in the summer for trout. I use the same setup I always do, 10lb braid on my trolling rods (super thin) and a 6lb fluorocarbon leader. The only change I made for the summer was to use 2oz of lead. With the thin line and that weight I could fish very deep. I just troll for a bit and if I did not get bit then let out 10 more feet of line. Repeat until you find the magic depth. To help get deep I do not add any kind of bling. Just a 1/24oz roostertail with 1/2 nightcrawler. I do add a trailer hook.

I stopped fishing for trout in the summer because I pretty much only C&R and bringing them up to the warm surface water seemed to hurt them. They had a hard time recovering. If you are keeping them then I recommend trying the setup I describe. If you are fishing C&R it is better to let them be until the surface temp has cooled back into the mid to low 60s.

 

[Fishnsleep]

Damn! Nice fish! Did you think it was a monster trout at first or did you know it was a bass?

Thought it was a really big trout, until it started taking drag hard and fast, it was fun!

 

[Fishnsleep]

Nice! Hagg has some nice bass but they get a lot of pressure and are generally kind of difficult to catch. It is really cool that you caught such a nice fish.

I have only fished Hagg a few times in the summer for trout. I use the same setup I always do, 10lb braid on my trolling rods (super thin) and a 6lb fluorocarbon leader. The only change I made for the summer was to use 2oz of lead. With the thin line and that weight I could fish very deep. I just troll for a bit and if I did not get bit then let out 10 more feet of line. Repeat until you find the magic depth. To help get deep I do not add any kind of bling. Just a 1/24oz roostertail with 1/2 nightcrawler. I do add a trailer hook.

I stopped fishing for trout in the summer because I pretty much only C&R and bringing them up to the warm surface water seemed to hurt them. They had a hard time recovering. If you are keeping them then I recommend trying the setup I describe. If you are fishing C&R it is better to let them be until the surface temp has cooled back into the mid to low 60s.

Thanks for the tip, I do enjoy eating them on occasion. Would have ate trout, had I caught any. I agree I would leave them alone in warm water, unless you plan to harvest/eat.

 

[Aervax]

Congratulations. That is a spectacular bass! Well done on landing it, too. Those big pigs get away before netting more often than not. Surprise fish make for great fun.

 

[troutdude]

That's a beautiful specimen!!! I'm glad that you were rewarded for your efforts!

 

[Gulfstream]

TOAD!

 

[bass]

@bass sorry about all the questions but what in your experience is the best spots on the east side and west side

I don't fish the East side from the bank but any place rocky is good. I know folks do well off of Elk rock island.

On the West side it is the same story. Any place you can get to that has rocks. George Rogers park in Lake Oswego, 10th street launch in West Linn, Mary S. Young park provides a lot of shoreline access. I usually scout for spots by looking at Google maps and slowly moving along the riverbanks.

 

[bass]

I believe Sportsman bought out Cabel's (local franchise) Big fish eat little fish. Don't they? Tony

Hey @Casting Call , Bass Pro Shops bought Cabela's a few years back and took them private.

Having looked around a bunch I see empty shelves at a lot of stores. Sportsman's Warehouse off of 185th is pretty empty just like Cabela's. Fisherman's Marine's inventory is low but not as quite as bad as Cabela's or Sportsman's.

I am not sure if it is a supply chain issue or if they are all keeping their brick and mortar locations' inventories low since they don't think they will get the foot traffic. It seems like online ordering is not too bad.

 

[DOKF]

Son and I hit Hagg Lake this week and last. It was our first outings, and we are still learning the water paddling our canoe around.

Last week we trolled a jet diver / ford fender / wedding ring combo and hooked about 10 rainbows all 9 ~ 10". Also tried trolling and casting black wooly bugger on sinking line, but no strikes.

This week was slower, but we landed a 12" and 18" very fat trout both on a jet diver / mack's flash lite / wedding ring combo. We also broke out the fly rod again, and the boy caught a couple 10 " trout on a black wooly bugger, plus lost a very nice trout (12" ?) at the net.

We plan the go out again next week for more of the same, may slight change up in gang trolls, maybe more fly casting.

Any suggestions? Gang trolls, lures, flies to try?

 

[Raincatcher]

Be sure to check the regs...
http://www.eregulations.com/oregon/fishing/willamette-zone/

 

[troutdude]

Excellent report; welcome to OFF.

Hagg is one of my favorite places. My avatar pic was taken several years ago from the parking lot, at Ramp A. The moon was setting prior to sunrise. I only wish that I would've had a better phone or camera back then.

When "trolling" Woolly Buggers, or any fly for that matter, think of sitting in a float tube and making two very slow kicks. Then drifting a bit. Then a couple of slow kicks. That's the speed you want. Slow and steady is the ticket.

Perhaps you slowed your speed down, on your second outing? Which resulted in catching fish. Also try Olive Green and/or Brown Buggers. The same colors in Teeny Nymphs are also good IMO.

Maybe also try an intermediate fly line, instead of a sinking line. The water is cooling down and the fish may now be in the top 10' of the surface. If you have more than one reel--with different lines--you could easily switch, to see what will entice a bite.

Good luck and tight lines, TD

 

[DOKF]

Excellent report; welcome to OFF.

Hagg is one of my favorite places. My avatar pic was taken several years ago from the parking lot, at Ramp A. The moon was setting prior to sunrise. I only wish that I would've had a better phone or camera back then.

When "trolling" Woolly Buggers, or any fly for that matter, think of sitting in a float tube and making two very slow kicks. Then drifting a bit. Then a couple of slow kicks. That's the speed you want. Slow and steady is the ticket.

Perhaps you slowed your speed down, on your second outing? Which resulted in catching fish. Also try Olive Green and/or Brown Buggers. The same colors in Teeny Nymphs are also good IMO.

Maybe also try an intermediate fly line, instead of a sinking line. The water is cooling down and the fish may now be in the top 10' of the surface. If you have more than one reel--with different lines--you could easily switch, to see what will entice a bite.

Good luck and tight lines, TD

Yes, the second outing did have more hits near the surface. A smaller jet diver, and a floating line / bead head bugger. Fish on the bugger was by casting with slow spastic retreival. We did catch one while slowly paddling to dock.

Thx!