Laurence Lake

Since folks are giving weekend reports, I thought I'd add mine.

I headed over to Laurence yesterday, getting a very late start.  Went for a run with the dog on Saturday, and afterwards while working in the yard I made the mistake of wearing the really crappy Nike sandals that were given to me as a gift by a nephew.  Woke up Sunday with arch pain that was killing me.  After helping the wife with a couple projects, loading the kayak, gear, and dog, I was off to REI before noon to pick up a pair of Chaco river sandals (if you need good arch support, these are the best water sandals out there, bar none).

Finally got up to Laurence around 2:30, rigged up and launched by 2:45.  For this trip, I wanted to try out the wife's OK Prowler 13, so I bought it instead of my big game.  This was exciting.  Between me, my fishing gear, and my 50 pound dog, the boat was quite heavily loaded (standing water in the footwells).  Worse, the 50# dog on the rear deck had the boat a bit out of trim (riding nose-high).  Finally, Laurence's afternoon winds were at gale force.  I ended up fishing the semi-sheltered area near the dam, to avoid the whitecaps.

All that said, the boat did great.  Even with the load, it is VERY agile, much more so than my Big Game.  Turns on a dime, but still tracks well in response to steering strokes.  Coming off the Big Game, it also feels like a speed demon (though I'd guess it is about as fast as my old Hobie Outback was when being peddled.)  Maintaining a good trolling speed is a breeze, much less work than the Big Game.

The fishing was hit or miss.  I was trolling with fly gear, first with a bead  head wooly bugger on a Type III sink tip.  Had one take down on this, but it came unbuttoned.  Later in the day I saw a few fish jumping, and swapped over to a floating line with an olive bugger, with a little bit of twist on weight added to the leader.  Nada.  Talked to a couple folks who had some luck, but the east end of the lake was clearly not producing so well.  However, I had gorgeous views of Mt. Hood and a hungry osprey for company (he had no better luck than my dog and I) so it was all good.

Drove over to the main launch area before leaving at around 6:30, to play fetch with the dog for a bit and see if anyone else had any luck.  Nada.  But of course, the whitecaps were then starting to settle.  I've always had better luck at the west end of the lake, but alas, I had to get back to Portland last night.

One thing... on my drive in, on Laurence Lake Road, I passed a pickup with two OK fishing yaks strapped to the roof.  Anyone from this board, by chance?

Thanks for the report 3w. Trolling a bugger on a sink tip is a lot of fun! I've used that a lot in the winter and is awesome. Fighting fish on fly reels is just too fun. Gonna have to get a knuckle buster reel for the trolling rod one day. I've actually heard of a lot of people who use spin gear trolling buggers for trout. Black & beaded seems to be the go to pattern.

Z

I've actually heard of a lot of people who use spin gear trolling buggers for trout.

Yup.  It works great on a spin outfit.  I like to troll Carey Specials for trout.  Or in the late evening, any old mosquito pattern on a s-l-o-w troll.

-Allen