Portland area mid-week fishing?

I realize it's cold, but I recently earned some comp time at work and need to use it fairly soon.  I'm hoping to use it on some fishing rather than the working around the house.  I'm also up for weekend forays as well.

Some ideas..

Steelhead (kayak or bank)
      -Sandy, Clack, Coastal Rivers?

Sturgeon (kayak)
      -I've heard they are being caught fairly shallow ~20 ft) on small bait right now so this seems ideal of                                                                                    kayaks. http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=181897

Trout (kayak)
      -Yes, I'd even be willing to chase stocked trout around some little pond.

Brian

Tough for me to break away during the day this week.  We should, however, plan a beer gathering (maybe next week... Tuesday night?)

Oops, just realized that I should have posted this under "Oregon Kayak Fishing".

Anyway, a beer gathering next week sounds good. 

Oops, just realized that I should have posted this under "Oregon Kayak Fishing".

Moved for you.   

-Allen

How about the Laurelwood Public House (51st and NE Sandy)?  Tuesday at 6?  Fantastic beer, pretty good food.  Any takers?

Laurelwood Public House sounds good to me, I'll see you then.

Brian

If it was any closer I'd be there. Sometime soon we gotta find some place in between WA/OR to fish and meet up for some fishin' & beer.

Z

I'm with you on that one Z. 

I've done some initial internet recon and came up with an idea...

I've heard they stock Mayfield Lake with tiger muskie.  Tiger muskies need something to forage on so they probably have decent trout/panfish fishing there as well.  Looking at Google Maps, it looks like the lake is about 2 hrs from both Seattle and Portland.
http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportList.aspx?id=141
http://www.tacomapower.com/parksandpower/parks_recreation/recreation/fishing.htm

Now, we just need to find a decent brew pub in the area.

Alternatively, a group NWKA camping/fishing trip would be pretty awesome... BYO Micro-brews and mad camp cooking skills.

Brian

If it was any closer I'd be there. Sometime soon we gotta find some place in between WA/OR to fish and meet up for some fishin' & beer.

Z

 That's a good idea. We need to have a  NWKA "Dino Swaray" some weekend on the Columbia River somewhere. I'd like to fish for for Sturgeon but being inexperienced on the Kayak fishing and not having anyone around here with experience to fish with, would like to go in a  group with some good experienced Yak fishers.

It's about a five hour drive for me. How far from You guys in Seattle to the Vancouver area ?

On another note, I'm thinkin about going to one of these lakes near Florence next week, one weekday, to C&R some trout and test my FF: Anyone wanna go?

The week of Jan. 14, Alder and Dune Lakes near Florence were stocked with 500 legal-sized trout each.

The week of Jan. 14, Cleawox Lake (2,000 trout) and Munsel Lake (1,000 trout) near Florence were stocked with legal-sized trout.

Hmm, Florence is about 3 1/2 hrs away from Portland.  That's actually about a half hour farther than Seattle for me.  A bit outside my comfortable day trip range I'm afraid.  Thanks for the offer though.

I definitely want to explore the central/south Oregon coast one of these days, maybe over a weekend trip with the family might be better.

Brian

I've heard they stock Mayfield Lake with tiger muskie.  Tiger muskies need something to forage on so they probably have decent trout/panfish fishing there as well.

There are some trout in Mayfield, but I'm pretty sure the state stocked the Tigers to thin out the northern pikeminnow (squawfish) population. Impoundments provide good pikeminnow habitat, where they can successfully prey on young salmonids.

I'm with you on that one Z. 

I've done some initial internet recon and came up with an idea...

I've heard they stock Mayfield Lake with tiger muskie.  Tiger muskies need something to forage on so they probably have decent trout/panfish fishing there as well.  Looking at Google Maps, it looks like the lake is about 2 hrs from both Seattle and Portland.
http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportList.aspx?id=141
http://www.tacomapower.com/parksandpower/parks_recreation/recreation/fishing.htm

Now, we just need to find a decent brew pub in the area.

Alternatively, a group NWKA camping/fishing trip would be pretty awesome... BYO Micro-brews and mad camp cooking skills.

Brian

Sounds great. Tiger musky... geez those are some monsters. Would be insane on a fly rod. The camping idea sounds about right. Any info on seasons?

Z

From the first link I posted...

It is generally best to fish this lake in the middle of the week, not only because of crowded boat ramps and heavy boat traffic on weekends, but also because Tacoma Power may release water over the spillway on weekends to put water in the river below for recreational fishermen. This draws off the warm surface layer and puts the muskies down. My experience with this lake has been that weekend fishing usually is a fruitless endeaver; and over the years, I've caught nearly all of my muskies from this lake at midweek.

The best time to fish Mayfield for tiger muskies is from mid-June into September, although the tiger muskies remain catchable until early October. Radio tracking studies indicate they suspend in deep water and are inactive in winter and early spring. WDFW stomach content studies showed they feed almost exclusively on northern pikeminnow (a/k/a) squawfish.

Sounds like weekends can be a bust and that we'd have to wait until summer.  Anyone know of a decent lure that mimics a pikeminnow?

Large gold or yellow Rapala.  Similarly, large streamer flies.  May need a section of steel leader as well.

In my experience (East Coast fishing years ago), muskie are not that picky.  If it looks like a wounded or fleeing fish, it's dinner.

There's a good article in Nov/Dec NW Flyfishing for Pike in Alaska. From what I've heard they're really similar to the Muskie. Fly of choice was the swimming baitfish.


Although a popper would be a lot funner...


Z