Oregon Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Monday, April 4th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for about fours hit four fish lost nicest one at boat around 3 to 3.5. Lot of debris in water so be careful. Dad went out following weekend had three in a short period of time nicest went 3.25 all smalls.
      City: Eagle Point

      Tips: Cranks jigs soft baits

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: This lake used to be a top producer of bass not just along the coast but anywhere in oregon many years ago. Nobody seems to know what happened to it.
      Last time i fished it it was full of stunted perch which may be part of the problem.
      Perhaps some sort of algae bloom or even over fishing caused this lake to be a dud.
      Wonder if the ODFW have bothered looking into it.
      Would be nice if just a little of our licence fees went to Oregon's warmwater fishery.

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: 42-43

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for a few hours Saturday in The Dalles pool. It was COLD. Did manage to hook 8 and land 6. Fish came from 5-25ft. Mostly all on soft plastics in the deeper range. Fish ranged from 2-3.5lbs. Nothing big but they are out there. Was not finding the fish schooled up which is odd for this time of year. Picked all of them off here and there.
      City: Lyle

      Tips: Dress warm and good luck.

    • By

      Water Temp: 48 - 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Crater Bass held a tournament at Tahkenitch lake on Saturday March 26th. 10 boats took part in the event. It was a tough day fishing with the winning boat having five fish for around 12 lbs. Most fish were caught on senco's or jigs in the North Arm. Fish were scattered from 2 feet to about 15 feet. The lake was very full but the bass did not seem to be up in the flooded areas. The largest fish was about 3.5 lbs.
      City: Central Point

      Tips: Fish around 8 - 10 feet on points. dark colored senco's seemed to work best with a slow dead stick presentation.

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I have fished this lake on many occations and have done very good at it. The water is a tea color and plenty of cover for Mr Bass! In summer months I have done very well with jigs flipped up under the tree limbs or next to laydown logs and have pulled out some big fish. The crawdad population must be high in this lake because any bass that I have ever kept have always had crawdad in thier tummy's. I have also done good with crankbaits along the shore bumping the logs with them. One of my top lakes to fish, not very big and easy to figure out a pattern and locate the fish.
      City: Reedsport

      Tips: Fish slow, they are in the lake!

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: 45

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for a couple of hours on Sunday. Caught one 4 lb. Large Mouth in a cove in 2 feet of water. Fish was next to willow bush. Caught the fish on a smoke and black flake hula grub. Fished in deeper water on points in main lake with two bites but no fish.
      City: Central Point

      Tips: Water is very dirty. pitch to cover and hope for the best.

Saturday, March 19th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: 49-50

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Well we had a club tourney here last week with 13 teams and fishing was slow. This being my first time on the lake I was hoping to see some big bags brought in based on the stories I have heard about the lake but for this weekend it was not to be. First place won with just over 7.5lbs for two fish. My partner and I finished second and got big fish with one fish for 6.95lbs. Five other teams also brought in one fish of varying sizes. Most of the fish were caught flipping blowdowns. My fish was caught on a chatterbait throwing to offshore structure.
      City: Lyle

      Tips: Make sure you check your drap before you go out, I broke off a second fish as big as the first but broke it off because my drap was fully wrench down.

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I hate to be the one to post this, but I have tried to fish this lake the last two years (2009-2010) and the fishing is really poor at best. You may or may not catch a fish out of here. Most of the guys I have talked to have not caught anything out of here either. It seems that the Bass have just died off.

Monday, March 7th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: hey bassnbob from yoncalla???..... i just got the new abu garcia stx reel and am dying to use it!!

      do you know what the water temp is on the coast?? those fish seem to wake up faster than around here in cottage grove.....possibly tahkenitch or tenmile....thanks....oh and i'm looking to fish around spring break when school gets off , so march 21st.......
      City: cottage grove

      Tips: want to flip some lily pads for bedding bass. etc....

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: gettin' there

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I'm usually not one to listen to gossip or rumors but has anyone else heard anything at all about a 12.3 lb. bass that someone caught at get this- Creswell Pond! I would find it absolutely hilarious if it was true. I refer to that place as the "Dead Sea". Fished it a handful of times with nothing to show for it. Woundn't it be right on if the new Oregon state record came from another highly unlikely place like that! If it's true I may give up fishing Cottage Grove Lake and concentrate on getting my kayak into every pond within 20 miles of my house!
      City: yoncalla

      Tips: Don't wait until the start of the bass season to decide to put power disc brakes/rebuild the suspension on your '56 Chevy. I should have started ordering parts the day after Christmas!!! Go and let us know how you do. See you out there soon.

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: water level ris

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: the bass season is about to start. hoping for three to five days of sun so i can hit up my secret water level spot , usually land 4-15 bass every early year. bass master classic is just killing me to watch. but thats how it goes.
      City: cottage grove

      Tips: stay calm cuz fishing with this cold weather is a waste. even if you catch one remember you will always catch your share when the weather warms. small worm in the face makes em bite if you know what your doing. ha.

      biggest fish = 8.8 pounds on white spinnerbait of all lures !

    • By

      Water Temp: too cold

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Just put the rod and reel away and learn to go into hibernation november- most of march. Sometimes we'll warm up enough to start catching a few during spring break. That is my starting point. Don't waste your time before then. I've only had one occasion where I hooked up in Feb. They were monster females though!
      City: Salem

      Tips: Play golf. Try to keep your mind off fishing. Don't watch fishing on T.V.

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: 48 to 49

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fished tenmile today for about six hours didnt have one bite at all seen 3 three pounders together up shallow how do you catch bass this this time of year the lake has dropped quit a bit from what i heard it was at
      City: yoncalla

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: who cares

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Took a drive by Cottage Grove Lake today to see how full it's getting. It was actually fuller than I thought it would be but pretty mudded up. I found a way to keep my fishing mind going through this 3 month off season. I'm planning out a trip for some time in June/July. Gonna go out and fish for 24 hours straight. I'm sure lots of guys have done it before but I never have. It's been fun trying to figure out how to pack just enough stuff without cluttering up the boat. Trying to figure out when to start the day has been fun too. I'm gonna try to let the moon help out with the lighting if at all possible. It should be fun and once I catch up on my sleep I'll be sure to post a huge report about the trip right here.
      City: yoncalla, or

      Tips: If the weather continues (Semi steady rain) I'm thinking I may have to start tossing a jig about Feb. 20th or so. I never see anyone else bass fishing that early usually but the fish are almost always egg laden fatties! Dress up warm and give it a shot!

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

    • By

      Water Temp: gotta be 50??

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Spent about 3 hours over 2 mornings last Thursday and Friday giving Cottage Grove one last try. Tossed a small swimbait, a large jerkbait and a jig/beaver. Basically froze my butt off for nothing. No bites and no fish! Too many chores to tend to so the kayak stayed in the garage. Spent a couple hours going through my tackle. Got it all organized and found a couple swimbaits I'd stashed. Also inventoried my jig and beaver supply and I've got plenty to last 'till next May/early June. Finally finished doing a complete inventory of all the rods and reels. Over the next 3 months I'll work on lubing and cleaning all the spinning reels and maybe send another batch of Shimano baitcasters off to Dan at ReelEx. Middle of next February I'll be ready to "Say hello to my little friends" at my favorite lake. Have a great winter!!
      City: yoncalla

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

    • By

      Water Temp: cooler

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tried Cottage Grove on the 2nd and 3rd with not even a bite! Used a jig and beaver mostly and did hear and see some activity but no fish. I'm gonna try to get out Thursday and Friday early and then launch the kayak Sunday morning. Curious to see how this shot of rain affects the bite- or should I say "Lack of bite". I'd really love to get at least one more good fish before the season ends.
      City: yoncalla

      Tips: I'll probably toss a jerkbait of some sort- probably a suspending one. A jig and beaver and also give the old drop shot a try. I've graphed some groups of fish holding on small edges and drop offs this time of year but havn't had any luck getting them to bite. Maybe a 4" Aaron's Magic worm dangling in their face for 30-40 seconds will interest them. We shall see.

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

    • By

      Water Temp: our pool-52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got to Cottage Grove 20 minutes before first light. Grabbed my stuff and headed down to the water at about 7:25AM. Tried 3 different lures for about 15 minutes each with no bites- a jerkbait, a crankbait and a 6" swimbait. So of course with my fishing time evaporating I tied on a jig and beaver. I got a bite on the first cast. It was a 12"- 1 pound bass! Not a monster for sure but it told me 2 things. There are fish here and they will bite! I tossed back out to the same area wondering if I'd get another one pound (Or even smaller!!) bass. I did actually say out loud to the first fish "Go tell your Mom and sister to come bite my lure". I got a hard bite- set the hook hard and the fight was on. This fish went 3.2 and was 18" long. Never really jumped just pulled hard. Got a couple photos including one of the release. Made several more casts and then got a real sharp bite-set the hook and missed. Let the jig drop hoping it would hit it again. It did not. About 4 or 5 casts later I feel a bite- set hard and the fish pulled hard enough to yank about 8-10 feet of line off the spool before I could tighten up the drag. This fish REALLY dug hard and wallowed on top a couple times before I landed it. It looked big enough to break my best Oregon bass record of 5.10 but not this time. She was 21 1/2" and 5 pounds, 4 ounces. Funny how the fish got bigger- happens like that in the postspawn sometimes too. This time I actually had the camera with me. And it was charged up and ready to shoot! Took 3 photos and gently slid her back in the water to go make some babies for my kids to catch. All 3 fish were caught in about a 25 minute period and then no more bites for the last 1/2 hour. I'm pretty surprised the big fish didn't nail my swimbait- I swam it right through the same areas I got the big fish. Now the question of the year- will this be my last bass of 2010? I think I'll have at least a couple more chances to go soon here so we'll see. The latest I've caught one was on Nov. 7th of 2008. It was a 3.11 and came from the same general area as these fish today. And of course came on my favorite lure!
      City: yoncalla

      Tips: Bundle up, grab some jigs and go. Don't be afraid to fish real shallow either. The biggest fish today was closer to shore than the smallest one. Normally our pool is "roughly" the same temp as the lake. I checked it about an hour after I got home and it was 52 degrees. So until we get either some really strong winds and/or some bone chilling temps to drop the temp down to the mid to high 40's there's really no reason to not go try to catch some nice bass. See you out there!

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

    • By

      Water Temp: 56-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went to Cottage Grove with Carl and his brother Wayne. We launched at about 7:45 and headed up the lake. It has dropped quite a bit since our trip 2 weeks ago. When we hit water about 6' deep we put down the troller and started casting crankbaits. Got nothing for an hour and then Carl got a 16" trout on his shallow running squarebill crank. We were hoping he was bunched up with a group of bass but he was not. We worked our way up the mouth of the creek but the water just got colder and colder and it was pretty murky too. We idled out into the main body and when we were clear of the shallows we high tailed it over to Shortridge Cove. Still tossing cranks mostly and a rattle trap for Carl. I tossed my DD-14 up pretty shallow and felt it grinding bottom and as soon as it hit deeper water a 3.3, 17 1/2" bass nailed it. Wayne netted it for me and again we hoped for a few more like it to make it to the boat. We worked down the big rock wall to the dam and saw a ton of bass fry but didn't get bit. Wayne threw his crankbait out between the 2 barriers at the dam and got a nice chunky 12" bass. And a few minutes later got a 6"er on a castmaster he'd tied on! I feel like it was mostly my fault we didn't have a more productive day. We wasted a lot of time heading up the creek just to find cooler temps. We saw 56 degree water while the main body had some 61.9! Should have been tossing our cranks and maybe a few rip baits along the wall and around Shortridge especially first thing in the morning. But we did have fun shooting the breeze and got to hear lots of cool stories from Carl and his 10 year older brother. Hopefully we can all do a swimbait/jig trip next June/July at my favorite bass lake- Cottage Grove Lake!!
      City: yoncalla

      Tips: The lake was fairly murky up the creek but it was fairly clear near the dam. Next trip will probably be in the kayak if I can get a decent weather day a couple weeks from now. Long as the wind isn't blowing much and it's not pouring I'll be there. It was pretty cool the day I got my biggest bass out of this lake- October 30th!!

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I have also caught a spot from lost creek also right at the marina...I love spots but would hope that they wont take over and have tons of dinks. I have also caught around 10 smallmouth out of Kellys Slough and im sure thats not all of them, I never knew there were smallmouth in there but several of them were right at 2lbs..They are talking about taking out Gold Ray Dam, I wonder if the smallmouth will take over the Rogue like they did the Umpqua
      City: medford

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

    • By

      Water Temp: 63-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Carl an I had a fun day at Cottage Grove today. We launched at barely safe light and had the lake all to ourselves for a while. We tried several spots with no bites. I was kind of shocked we couldn't find a jig fish or 2 and Carl was tossing a rattle trap the first couple hours and getting the same thing I was- SQUAT! So we kept moving and tried an area with some steeper banks and a few little pockets. By now Carl had switched up and put on a crankbait. As a matter of fact it was his first time tossing a crankbait. We worked down the bank and finally Carl gets a bite. And another, and another and another. How about 4 fish in 4 casts! None were 12" long but most were 9-10" with big fat bellies. So by the time I found a similar lure, tied it on and casted out Carl already had 6 fish. Nothing like a little friendly competition when it comes to fishin'. He seemed to have a lure the fish liked just a bit better- mine had a red Gamakatsu treble on the belly. Supposed to make it more attractive to the bass- not to these little guys. We kept fishing the area for at least an hour. I finally got one to make it 6-1. Carl had 2 on back to back casts and the score was 10-4. Then the bite slowed a bit and we got stuck at 12-4 for a little while. Oh almost forgot- Carl's 7th fish was a very nice looking rainbow! He asked for the net but we both agreed later it was best we didn't net it. We were letting them all go anyway and they roll in the net like a darn catfish. That is a mess with 2 treble hooks. So of course what happens- my next fish is also a trout- only about 15" or so- Carl's was about 18". I ask for the net and Carl obliges. And the trout proceeds to tangle itself and both trebles up so bad I knew it would involve scissors to get my lure back. So now I'm busy trying to keep the boat headed into the wind, not run aground and untangling a 2 treble hook nylon nightmare while Carl keeps on casting and catching. Took about 12 minutes but strangely enough Carl only got 2 during that time. So I toss back in and get number 5. The score is now 14-5. I'm getting my butt kicked! And man are we having fun. At this point I tell him sure wish one of my kids were here to get in on this action- they would love it. One more fish and Carl's got me tripled up. I got another couple to put it at 14-7. Carl gets another next cast and it's 15-7. But the bite has slowed somewhat and eventually it dies. So we move down the bank a couple hundred yards casting all the way 'till we hit another active batch of fish. Carl's catching them every cast but then his line gets tangled in a treble and he's busy cutting it out and retying his lure. While he's doing that I keep on casting and soon the score is at 19-14. We decide to hit one more spot on the way back to the ramp- a deep cut with a boulder strewn steep bank next door. I toss my 6" trout swimbait and he starts tossing his rattletrap. About 5 minutes in Carl hears a fish jump off to our left about a cast away. He has just pulled the lure out of the water from his previous cast so he lets it fly. It lands right in the middle of the ring and 2 seconds later BAM! Fish on! He gets it to the side of the boat and it's another nice trout- 17-18" or so. He let it shake off and that's how we ended our day. Carl got 20 fish- 19 on the crankbait and 1 on the rattletrap. I got 14 for the day and had a blast- except for that darn net thing. It was totally avoidable too. I have a new long handled rubber net that I keep in my trunk so it's ready when I shore fish. And besides forgetting to load it I left my fishing glasses and the weigh stick in the trunk too. And of course the camera! Unloading and loading the boat was pretty easy with 2 adults- one who didn't mind wading a bit. I'm hoping we can go out again next week and try to solve the puzzle of where are the big ones hiding. We tried deeper and we tossed up real shallow too but only one bass out of 31 was over 12". I tossed the jig some when the bite slowed down and got no takers. Tried a couple different styles and colors too.
      City: yoncalla

      Tips: The weather was perfect- misty at first and it stayed overcast and cloudy the whole time we were there. Normally this is custom made for my jig bite. Water temps were 63 to 65 degrees- perfect for the fish to be eating up for winter. With the shorter hours of daylight they gotta know winters coming and I'm sure the big ones if we could have located them would have been feeding too. We'll keep searching next trip and hopefully have an even better "Day to Remember"!!