Garrison Lake Report

A recent move brought me much closer to Garrison and I had to check it out first chance.  Monday morning launched 8am to very windy conditions.  I knew it going out but was determined just to go explore and have fun.  12th street boat launch is a super easy launching location and even has a nice little fishing pier and dock.  As I began my paddle out into the wind fish were jumping in front of me.  Sweet!.  The weed growth is pretty thick but it did not take long to find the deeper spots between patty's.  I dropped a #2 gold Blue Fox spinner and began my troll.   Not more than a minute and fish on!  Nice little 12 in planter trout.  I quickly released it and began my way exploring the lake.  I did not get far and another fish on.  And another and another.  All in the 10-14 inch range with one going a little over 16 that came home with me and onto the BBQ.   After 2 hours of fighting the wind I headed back in to find 2 deer crossing the lake about 30 feet off the end of the boat ramp.  Very cool sight.    Next report I'll try to have pictures. 

6/17 fished 9am-12

Skipped over the previous hot spot to try some different area's of the lake.  Hit a spot I heard was good for bass and picked up a few rainbows.  Trolled around the main deeper part of the lake and picked up a few more on the troll. 3 on the same gold spinner and 1 on trap rigged Big Hammer swimbait.  Wind began to pick up around 11 and decided to make my way back in.  Hit the previous hot spot for two quick thick rainbows and then a big strike!  Not the usually grab and tuck of the trout but a snatch and grab of a decent sized bass.  A nice little fight began with a couple nice jumps out of the water but I was able to get the nice plump female bass right up to the boat.  She was LOADED with eggs and ready to explode.  I quickly released her back to hopefully spawn and grow larger for next time.  A few more casts yielded a few more rainbows and a decent sized cutthroat that came undone right at the boat.  

So I need to take some pictures but hesitant to bring the families only camera out on the water with me.  Any recommendations?

Those are some great reports Thunder!  Could use more fish porn but we'll take what we can get. 

That looks like a great lake!  Does it get much traffic?

-Spot-

    Waterproof camera.  Pentax, olympus are the first two to come to mind.  I have a Pentax Optio W30.

6/17 fished 9am-12

Skipped over the previous hot spot to try some different area's of the lake.  Hit a spot I heard was good for bass and picked up a few rainbows.  Trolled around the main deeper part of the lake and picked up a few more on the troll. 3 on the same gold spinner and 1 on trap rigged Big Hammer swimbait.  Wind began to pick up around 11 and decided to make my way back in.  Hit the previous hot spot for two quick thick rainbows and then a big strike!  Not the usually grab and tuck of the trout but a snatch and grab of a decent sized bass.  A nice little fight began with a couple nice jumps out of the water but I was able to get the nice plump female bass right up to the boat.  She was LOADED with eggs and ready to explode.  I quickly released her back to hopefully spawn and grow larger for next time.  A few more casts yielded a few more rainbows and a decent sized cutthroat that came undone right at the boat.  

So I need to take some pictures but hesitant to bring the families only camera out on the water with me.  Any recommendations?

Nice reports White. I am gonna have to come down there and give it a try one day soon.
Send me a pm the next time your gonna go after this weekend. Sunday is looking good for Sunset if you want to come up and get salty.
 
As far as a Camera, either get a cheapo used one that you wont care if it gets ruined or you can get decent waterproof cameras for under 200 bucks , the Pentax Optio W series are pretty good from what i've heard

Nope not much traffic at all.  On 4 trips out now I've only seen 2 boats out there.

Yes I need to get salty!  Has anyone here fished Port Orford?  Looks like easy launch but where to fish? From the backside of Garrison you could actually drag your ya over the sand and fish the ocean as well.  The one day I looked to do ocean conditions were huge.

I'll probably just try to find a cheapo used camera since we've got another baby on the way.  Gotta fish as much as I can in the next month!

So I went out fathers day morning. The lake was mirror like and I was the only one out again.  I left 12th street boat launch and went to the location where I picked up the big bass last time.  Fish were jumping and the osprey's were circling and zero wind made the surf sound really loud.  Awesome sight.  But the bites and fish were slow to come by.  At first I stayed with the gold spinner but went up a size hoping to limit the smaller trout.  That did not seem to limit the size but did limit the number of strikes so I switched back to #2 and they picked back up.   In the first 2 hours I C&R 6 nice sized rainbows and kept 4 others for lunch. I also hooked "the big one that got away".   Lost her right at the boat trying to net. After a few big last chance runs I thought it was worn out but it exploded and shook loose.  At least I can confirm there are trophy sized trout in the lake. My guess is 20in+ range. I trolled the deeper parts of the main body of the lake for no luck and picked up a few more smaller trout out towards paradise point rd.  The wind turned on around 1030 and I drifted back picking up and releasing another half dozen or so smaller planter rainbows. 

Recently picked up the Polaroid t833 Waterproof 8MP 3x Optical/4x Digital Zoom Camera for $100 at Buy.com
Currently out of stock there but available for $126.88 at another site (check Google)
Tested it underwater in the pool and with some other pix and very pleased. (Does VGA video as well).