Olallie Lake- 07/26/08 - 07/27/08- Maybe next year...

Drove up to Olallie lake this weekend, only to find out once there (10PM), that all the camp sites were technically closed.  Sorry didn't get a picture of the sign, I was in shock.  Saw someone had written a note on the sign and said they were going to be staying in the Peninsula campground, decided to drive on and check it out. It was gated off to the actual resort section, the sign read that Olallie Lake was going to be closed this year due to repairs. 

Even with the resort closed, there was plenty of campers.  Most all of the accessible camp sites on Olallie were taken, so found a spot on Lake Monon (sister lake to Olallaie, they practically touch).  There was a couple patches of snow along the roadside still.  The mosquitoes were horrible, I have literally 100+ bites...  Got up early the next day and did a bit of fishing on Olallie. Something didn't seem quite right but I couldn't put my finger on it.  There were about 20 other boats out on the water, no one seemed to be catching anything.  Fished for a good 3 hours or so, tried worms off the bottom, trolling with flashers and a wedding ring, with a rooster tail, ect.  Nothing.

Later in the day, other campers started driving around and asking if I had caught anything, I told them I hadn't had so much as a bite.  "Winterkill" seemed to be a common theme up there, and apparently nobody was catching any fish.  Was also told by a few people that ODFW had not stocked the lake this year.  Then I realized what seemed so odd, the whole time I was there I didn't see any fish surface.  I spent a good 10+ hours on the water this weekend on both Olallaie and Monon combined.

The only saving grace was that we had the kayaks to play around in, and go kayaking.  If I was bank fishing and had to deal with that many mosquitoes then it would have really sucked.

So I suggest choosing another lake this year for a meetup.

Took a couple pictures I'll post them later

Also finally got my dog in the yak with me, haha he looks like a bumblebee with his pfd on, I'll have to post pics when I get home.

It's approximately 21 miles from Ripplebrook Ranger Station to FSR 4690.  Everytime I always think I went too far, but I keep driving towards Detroit until I see the white spray paint on the road with an arrow to the left saying <--- OLALLIE.  Once you get to the single lane forestry road (4690) the first 6 miles are paved, then there is 7 miles of gravel/dirt.  The washboard can get bad in spots which will take you from like 25mph to like 5-10.  basically stay to the left and there should be white spray paint on the road when you need to turn.  It's a great place, nice hiking, bring LOTS of insect repellent though...

Thanks for the report PsR, was thinking about goin there, looks like I'll have to find another lake for some camping/fishing. Shouldn't be too hard cept we have so many lakes in oregon. Hard to choose just one.

yes, lots of lakes to choose from.  I bought a map of the Olallie lake area and there are 60 lakes within a couple miles  radius.  I think I might try Timothy Lake or something a bit closer to Estacada next.

Winterkill,  bummer.  A reminder of why there were no native fish in a lot of those high cascades lakes.

Was it both Monon and Olallie?  This tends to happen in shallower lakes during cold winters, but there are some deep lakes in the neighborhood up there (though some require hiking).

Was it both Monon and Olallie?

Olallie for sure.  I tried fishing Monon without success, didn't see any fish surfacing morning, day or night as well.  I was told that some boys had caught 9 fish out of Monon, but I really doubt that.  Monon is a shallow lake, I'd say it gets maybe 20' deep max, most of the lake is about 5'-10', there didn't seem to be any life in the lake except maybe 3 salamanders I saw.  It's really clear and it was odd not to see any fish at all.  But ya, there are lots of lakes in that area, wanted to go and check out horseshoe lake, but wasn't feeling too brave once I started running into patches of snow.

Bleh.  I love that area.  When I first moved to Oregon, my wife and I took our old Honda Civic up there with our canoe, back before the road was "improved."  I think I hit every rock on the road with the oil pan.  Love that area.

Those salamanders (rough skinned newts, actually) are amazing little critters.  No natural predators--their skin contains nerve toxins that will kill or severely mess up pretty much anything.  I love watching them swim, they just kind of laze around, completely unconcerned about the world.

Other neat thing about them is that they have a kind of natural anti-freeze in their cells.  They can survive being frozen solid.

Thought I took some pictures of Olallie Lake and Lake Monon, not sure what happened, all I could find was ones of my dog Ari..

This was the Ari's first time kayaking. On the way back in from his first trip, he jumped the gun cockpit and slid off the bow into the water a few feet from shore.  The doggie pfd worked perfect, kept him afloat, head out of water bobbing around until i could scoop him up. Bulldogs aren't known for being swimmers.