The Trout Line Newsletter - July 20, 2020
THE TROUT LINE
July 20, 2020
Welcome to The Trout Line Newsletter! This is our Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited Chapter newsletter that will be coming out twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month.
Andy's Fishing Reports
A Day at Hagg Lake
By Andy Andrews
On July 8th, I could take no more. I had to break loose or break. My wife saw it coming and encouraged me to go fishing somewhere, anywhere. I had been quarantined for too long. So I unwrapped my boat, the ‘Lil Sacrifice’, hooked her to my truck, and headed for Hagg Lake. The ‘Lil Sacrifice’ is 14 - foot, V - hull, aluminum hull boat built by Gregor and the 35 - years I have owned her, she has fished and crabbed most of Oregon’s waters. She is the smallest boat I have ever owned but she is safe under most conditions and easy to transport. The boat is propelled by a 15 - horse outboard and can get you safely to shore before storms hit you. We headed for Hagg Lake which is about an hour away from where I live. I have never fished Hagg before though it seems to have a good reputation by some, but just a little metropolitan for my taste.
After paying my $7.00 fee for day use, I drove to C - Ramp where I was going to launch the boat and spend the day. Parking at C - Ramp had spaces for about 150 cars and trailers, but only 7 spaces were occupied while I was there. There was also about a half dozen bank fisherman testing their luck in the area. The picnic and restroom areas were well maintained.
The lake is divided into an area for those interested in water sports and those who enjoy fishing. I turned left after leaving the dock and headed towards the area where Scoggins Creek dumps into the lake. My first impression of the lake is that it lacks character. It looked to me that someone had dug a long hole with a caterpillar and let the area fill with water. The lake is bordered by dirt and rock banks with only an occasional tree that had somehow lost its balance and toppled into the lake. Only when I started up Scoggins Creek did the lake take on any structure that would make a fish happy. The bottom in this area showed some promise with weed growth, old stumps, and other woody debris. This may not be a totally fair assessment of the lake because this was the only place where I could see the bottom. While fishing I did pull up some weeds from the bottom, but upon close examination, I could not find one bug. I spent about 6 - hours trolling the lake using lake gear, switch up to flies, and finally tried old fashioned bait. Nothing provoked a strike from a fish. I never saw a bug on the surface, or a fish break the water. I talked to a few fishermen in boats and fishing the banks and no one claimed to have touched a fish. I finally decided that I was not smart enough to catch a fish on this lake. I abandon all hope, loaded the boat, and went home, skunked!
I had read earlier that ODF&W had stopped posting the time and location of their stocking because traffic in the area became so heavy that it prevented the stocking operation from taking place. This started me thinking that maybe ODF&W should issue punch cards and allow fishermen to catch fish directly from the hatchery rearing tanks. This would save the taxpayers a ton because the hatchery folks could park their trucks and reduce personnel who had been stocking the lake. I think this is a good plan and has merit. My only accomplishment for the day was that I got ‘Lil Sacrifice’ out on the water to stretch her legs.
Laurence Lake
By Andy Andrews
TVTU had a day trip to Laurence Lake on Sunday, July 12. I left town with a light mist hitting the windshield expecting to fish the area furthest from the dam. You can count on a windy afternoon on the lake forcing you to spend the afternoon fishing a wing protected area near the dam. But upon arriving at the lake and talking to another TU member, I found out that the wind had been blowing since 7 am. It became obvious that fishing near the dam was the only option to avoiding a heart attack from pulling on the oars.
Upon my arrival at the lake, several things struck me as different than other visits to Laurence. First, cars were parked on the road some distance before the pay station/campground host site. All campsites were full and the boat launch site was occupied with more vehicles than a wheeling-dealing used car lot. Second, the lake had more water than usual for this time of the year. A small stream that enters the lake by the dam was not a stream but a small extension of the lake. The fishing report from my experience was not good. From the reports I’d received, the bite died about 10:30, my arrival time at the lake. Before 10:30 the catching was quite good.
After rowing back up from the dam, I could see I was going to have a problem. There are few ‘rules’ governing the boat ramp area, none pertain to picnicking in the middle of the boat ramp, as a group of 6 or 8 people had decided to do. There they were, a wagon with the tailgate down, loaded with food, table, and chairs for all the attending folks, smack - dab in the middle of the boat ramp. Now if I had a car, or even a truck, to haul canoe or kayak, the position of the picnickers would not have been a huge problem. But a 14 - foot boat and trailer, it was a big problem. A 10-minute operation turned into a half-hour wheel turning, inching forward, inching backward operation (probably some bad language used), before getting the boat on the trailer. During this time, the picnickers just looked at me as if I was destroying their picnic.
After I had my boat loaded, an official came along and I explained the situation to him, he told me that this was the new norm and we just had to learn to get along with each other.
Fly of the Month - Serendipity
This pattern is a simple chironomid pupa, which fishes well in both lakes and rivers. It is not unusual to see midge hatches on winter days on the Deschutes and other rivers in our area, and as spring arrives in the lakes, the fish will be eager to bulk up by gobbling these morsels which make up a huge percentage of their available food. You'll want to be ready for both opportunities. These pupae are found in a variety of colors, most commonly tan, olive, brown, black, and red.
Hook: Tiemco 2457, sizes 14-18
Thread: 8/0 color to match body
Ribbing: Small copper wire
Body: Sewing thread (larger diameter than tying thread)
Head/wing: Deer hair
1. Tie in a piece of copper wire about halfway back on the curve of the hook, with the wire sticking off the back of the hook.
2. Tie in a 4” or so piece of thread at the same point, with the thread sticking out toward the back.
3. With your fingers on the end of the thread, twist the thread “tight” so that the thread has a nice round “rope” shape, and then wind the thread forward in tight loops to about 1/8 inch behind the eye, tie off and clip. The idea is to create a segmented (not a smooth) body.
4. Counterwrap the wire to the same point, tie off and clip.
5. Clip a small clump of deer hair, and hold it by the tips and blow into the butt ends to fluff out the fine underhair so that by lightly stroking the clump with the other hand from the tips you are holding to the butt ends, you can remove as much of the underhair as possible.
6. Position the deer hair clump on top of the hook at the tie-in point, and holding the back (i.e., non-eye) portion of the clump tightly with your fingers, wrap the clump onto the top of the hook with three or four tight turns. Care must be taken to keep the clump on top of the hook, not spinning around it as you tighten the thread wraps. Then gently lift the front end of the clump up and away from the eye, and put two or three thread wraps around the hook right behind the eye and under the clump, adding several half-hitches, and clip the thread.
7. Carefully trim the front portion of the clump at the eye to create a small head, then clip the back portion of the clump in an angle to form a small wing.
8. I finish the fly with a very small dot of head cement on the thread wraps on the bottom of the fly at the head.
Meetings Location and Dates
Regular chapter meetings are held at the Lucky Labrador Public House 7675 SW Capitol Hwy. Portland, OR 97219 (503) 244-2537. Food and beverage are available. Social get together starts at 6:30 pm and the formal meeting starts at 7:00 pm unless otherwise noted in the newsletter or website.
Sept Meeting - TBD
More Information:
TVTU Website: https://tualatinvalley.tu.org/
TVTU Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/tualatinvalleyTU/
C4C Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/christmasforcoho/
