Looking to branch out, suggestions?

Hello, I am pretty new to kayaking, but am ready to start branching out from my home water of Hagg lake. I have next week off, so now is the perfect time to try somewhere new. Any suggestions within 2 hours of the Beaverton? I was leaning towards one of the lakes toward the coast to beat the heat. Catching fish is more important than catching trophies. I have mainly been trolling for trout, but I did target pan fish the other day and was able to catch a few crappie. I would also like to try Kokanee fishing, but I need to try my new down rigger first. 

I would recommend tillamook bay, tides are doable late next week. Fishing has been tough there recently, but eeking out a few fish should be doable.  I'm looking at thurs myself, if the work week don't kick my butt too much. It will necessitate a 530am launch though, which means a 3am wake up 🙄

I’m finally giving up on Willamette springers, and really looking forward to some kokanee (and trout) fishing.

The first lake on my list is Detroit. It’s about 1:45 from where I live off of Skyline, a couple miles north of Cornell.  Detroit is supposed to be really good for rainbows and kokes, and if I’m interpreting the regs  correctly, you can keep 5 trout + 5 kokanee, or up to 10 kokanee. 

I’ve fished Greenpeter, and did okay, but wasn’t too impressed by the tiny size of the average kokanee there.  Greenpeter is slightly over 2 hours from my house. 

There is also Dexter Reservoir, which has stocked trout and warm water species. Dexter is right at 2 hours away, but it sounds like it would be a similar fishery to Hagg, so what would be the point?

The best way to try out your new downrigger is to get out and fish with it.  I’ve tried stacking 2 rods on my downrigger, but couldn’t seem to avoid getting my lines tangled when I would get a fish on.  Now I run one rod on my rigger, and the other either with weight or a Jet Diver. 
I would replace the downrigger cable with 200 pound braid, both for safety reasons, and to eliminate the aggravating harmonic vibration that often occurs with SS cable.  Scotty sells 300 yard spools of 200# braid for that purpose. 

I’m looking at a day trip to Detroit on Sunday if you’re interested. 

Also, planning to troll this afternoon and evening at Hagg. 

I chose to go with 80 lb braid for my downrigger.  I was worried that a ball hangup could be dangerous with 200 lb line on my yak especially in a heavy swell situation.  I would rather lose a ball than find myself flipped in rough conditions. 

I'm also in Beaverton. Merwin is great for kokes, especially with your downrigger. You could also do bass on the Willy from George Rogers to Mary S Young. Neither are near the coast, but they're wet.

Thanks for the reply’s. Where do you launch at Detroit? I know I have seen a lot reports about the water being really low. How is the parking for launching on the Willy? I have heard of a lot of break-ins at certain boat ramps. I am probably going to Hagg this afternoon evening too. I will be in the sea grass green outback.