Fishing Reports

            Lava Lake opened last Saturday and it’s usually really good fishing when it first opens up. Thu & I grabbed the boat and ran up on Monday morning to give it a try.

            It was a beautiful day with lots of sun, warm temps and a nice breeze for wind drifting across the lake. We set up with type 2 sinking lines, 4X leaders and set a water anchor off the side of the boat to control our drift speed. Thu started with a Prince Nymph and I tied on a good old, time tested, Olive Crane Bugger.

            Well, the Prince Nymph and you know who, got the first three fish in a row and I started to re-think my fly choice. On my next cast, my faith was restored as I hooked and landed a nice 12-inch trout. We hooked a few more with the same flies and decided start changing patterns see what else might work better. I stripped a number of different Bugger/leech patterns and Thu switched between nymph patterns. It turned out we caught fish on most everything we tried. The peacock body Carey Special and the Olive Crane Bugger were the most productive streamers and the Prince, Pheasant Tail and Bloody Mary where the best nymphs we tried. Imagine that, all those flies have peacock or peacock color in them.

            We pretty much covered the whole lake and caught fish everywhere, and sometimes in bunches! In two spots I caught 5 fish on 5 casts in a row. Out of the close to 30 fish we landed, there were only a few that went over 16 inches and the average was 11 to 14 inches. There were a few fish caught in deeper water, but most were taking at about 6 to 8 feet deep. It was a lot of fun because these fish weren’t huge, but they sure hit and acted like they were. These things will change as the water warms up, so get out there and have some fun while it’s good.

 

The Patient Angler              patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

  Thu and I took a three day weekend and joined Rick & Cheryl, some friends of ours who were camping at Big Lava Lake.  We just picked up a new tent trailer and thought the weekend camping trip to the lake would make a good shake down cruse.  So we packed up the trailer, a couple of float tubes, food and the necessary beverages for the weekend and headed to the lake. When we got there 45 minutes later, we quickly set up camp and joined our friends for dinner. It’s great to live so close to so many beautiful places.

   The next morning the wind was up with the oncoming thunderstorm, so Rick took us out in his boat to join the line of boats that were wind drifting across the lake trolling sinking lines with bugger patterns. The fish were pretty active giving us strikes every 15 to 20 minutes. Not all of the hits were hook-ups, but we did manage to land 6 or 7 feisty trout. If you haven’t fished Lava, The Rainbow trout average 13 to 16 inches with a good number of 17 to 20 inch and a few fish that go up to 5 or 6 pounds.  No matter what size fish you catch, they normally hit hard and fight like the dickens, especially when you get them close to the boat. So it’s a good idea when you fish Lava to bring a good net along. If you plan to catch and release, the new rubber nets are the best ones for both you and the fish. Your fly or hooks won’t get caught in them and they do the least harm to the fish.

After a big lunch and a nap it was out for the evening fish. You can fish the lake all day this time of year; I just like the big lunch and nap part. Anyway I jumped in a float tube and kicked out to the southwest corner of the lake and started casting and stripping a small green Crane Bugger. In the next couple of hours, I hooked a dozen fish and landed 8 of them. Most were very respectable fish, but one that I lost close to my tube was easily 24+ inches. The funny thing was that the next morning, I fish the same area again for 3 hours and only caught one fish.

  On Monday morning the weather had cleared up and it was a bluebird day out. We ate a quick breakfast and kicked out on the glassy waters enjoying the morning sunshine.  The fishing was slow at first, but about 9:00 the lake turned on for us and we were hooking fish every couple of minutes. We were fishing the southeast part of the lake and although there were a lot of them, with the exception of a few most were smaller than the fish were catching the days before.  With great weather and lots of action, what else could you really ask for?

  After lunch and breaking down camp we made the short drive home, talking about the fun we had and where our next outing would be.  Maybe the North Santiam for steelhead???  I’ll let you know soon.

The Patient Angler              patientangler.com

Peter Bowers