Lake Simtustus / Billy Chinook 07/19-07/20

Glad to hear you had a great time and caught some fish. Looking forward to the pictures and report.  Any intel you're willing to share would be greatly appreciated.

Brian

It was a little smoky one of the days, and then we saw smoke starting up the hill on are way home on Monday.



Billy Chinook was nice, but very crowded with power boats.  As we were gearing up we were given the tip that it was choppy out, from all the pb traffic. Was pointed to the no-wake zone. Decided to take the advice and head to the nw zone. Had lots of fun on the way, wakes from all directions , Some rather large ones too.

Caught five 6" whitefish (i think). I kept thinking it was the same one. Later we went swimming and there were at least 30 of the same fish around us in the water.  They were actually nibbling at my gf's toes.

We moved on to our next reservations and to meet up with the rest of our party the next day at Lake Simtustus.  It's very quiet and not a lot of traffic, was great.  Had some success catching some fat trout. By the size of the fish I definetly thought at the time I was catching 16" steel head, haha but the largest turned out to be 13 1/2".  I didn't have much success until I got some time tested tips on trolling lake Simtustus.  I heard the following set-up from two unrelated sources that were seasoned on fishing the lake.  It worked like a charm for me it sounds a bit over the top maybe, but i didn't have much luck without.

A Ford fender
some weight, size depending on time of day, depth, speed. Then a trolling snubber to help set the hook
then a wedding ring (green, pink, and orange were all successful for our group)
Tied a secondary hook off of the first on the wedding ring, tried to get 1/2" apart.  Bait the hook with a small 1/2" or so piece of worm along the shank of the hook, and then around the bend white corn that has been soaked overnight in tuna oil.  One can of white canned corn with the water drained out, and then the oil from two cans of tuna in oil.  Then a few squirts of anise/crawfish (or krill) scent.  Once both hooks are baited dip the entire wedding ring into the can of corn and juice, and grab the line drop it out and start catching fish.  It became easy once you got to the hot spots, I was following along side my gf's familys party boat and giving them a show for there money.

In my right hand is my catch, in my let hand is the party boats combined catch for the afternoon.



All of the fish were really healthy looking, looks like they eat good up there at the lake.

Lots of wildlife out there in the desert, really pretty place.  I highly recommend.  Here are a few pictures I thought i'd share.






Hope this made sense, running on empty.  Going to go fish Scappoose Bay tomorrow morning though. =)

Great pics PSR. Love all the scenery shots. Great haul on the fish too. Nothing like outfishing PB's!!!!

Z