Wallowa lake

[sawdustsavage]

I will be at wallowa most of july if not all. If any of you see a pontoon boat going in circles and a white haired dude kicking the console please say hello.I figured since I had never caught a Kokanee I just as well start with a new record. That or find out I am a little over optomistic. either way I will have fun and giver all I got. Hope to see some of you up there. If anyone would like to come up a few days mid week all you will need is your license. Who knows maybe I will suprise myself and actually catch a koke. P.M. me if your intrested.

[smokin' Kokes]

you'll have fun, hope you catch the next new record.

i know now why the Nez Perce and their spiritual chief Joseph In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (Thunder coming up over the land from the water) felt the Wallowas were the Great Father's Heaven on Earth.

the wife is going back with me in early August to fish for the Great White Kokanee.

Cliff, Captain Ahab

[sawdustsavage]

you'll have fun, hope you catch the next new record.

i know now why the Nez Perce and their spiritual chief Joseph In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (Thunder coming up over the land from the water) felt the Wallowas were the Great Father's Heaven on Earth.

the wife is going back with me in early August to fish for the Great White Kokanee.

Cliff, Captain Ahab

Thanks, I will be happy just enjoying the time on the water. Of course a king sized dose of Omega-3 in one pill would be awsome.

[smokin' Kokes]

lots of debris now in the lake because of the Chinook winds and heavy warm rain with resulting fast snow meltoff.
don't have any idea how that's going to affect the fishing in the next month.
big floating debris field on the S end of the lake spreading out when i left Monday morning and lots of muddy silted water flowing into a crystal clear lake. Wallowa reminds me of the old days on Merrill fishing browns or Spirit Lake before the Big Blow, could see the bottom 50ft down on a bright sunny day.

the locals were complaining about all the heavy late snow and then the rain, rain rain.

all the rivers coming out of Wallowa on 82 were out of their banks and colored up driving out.

from talking with the locals, this Wallowa big koke phenomena only occurs once every 3 to 6 yrs. totally depends on fall rains and good koke spawning/smolt production. falls there can be very dry with little stream runoff. thank god they've protected the canyon from housing development and cattle/logging stream damage.
most of the E. Ore. streams/rivers are a waste of time to fish anymore.

the John Day river was brown soup when i rolled over the bridge on 84 westbound on Monday. lots of good Ore. wheatland topsoil in the Columbia now headed for the deep Pacific

look for the desert Big Horns with a number of full curl rams just east of John Day bridge. must have seen 50 or more within 200 ft of the highway feeding

[sthoge]

My brothers family and I are doing a Motorcycle ride to the Wallowa Campground in July, maybe we'll see you there. We plan on bringin some fishing gear, but had planned on fishing from the bank. I'm looking at some options cause I want to troll for some kokes, but it all depends on room. We will have one chase vehicle that will be pulling a toy hauler, in case any of us break down, and it sleeps 6 as well. Maybe we'll have to look you up for a boat ride when we're there. We'll be there the 24th, leaving on the 25th to come back. The ride is starting in Spokane.

[sawdustsavage]

My brothers family and I are doing a Motorcycle ride to the Wallowa Campground in July, maybe we'll see you there. We plan on bringin some fishing gear, but had planned on fishing from the bank. I'm looking at some options cause I want to troll for some kokes, but it all depends on room. We will have one chase vehicle that will be pulling a toy hauler, in case any of us break down, and it sleeps 6 as well. Maybe we'll have to look you up for a boat ride when we're there. We'll be there the 24th, leaving on the 25th to come back. The ride is starting in Spokane.

I would be glad to give you guys a ride. I'm not positive yet if I will be there those dates. I am in the middle of raising my house after flood 07. Never ever thought it would take this long. RED TAPE SUCKS. Keep in touch tho I hope to get most of the month there. You arn't getting a great guide tho. I am as green as a gourd. Never could figure out where that saying came from.Most are orange I think. Hope we get a chance to fish togather. I will try to give you as much heads up as possible.
John

[sthoge]

I would be glad to give you guys a ride. I'm not positive yet if I will be there those dates. I am in the middle of raising my house after flood 07. Never ever thought it would take this long. RED TAPE SUCKS. Keep in touch tho I hope to get most of the month there. You arn't getting a great guide tho. I am as green as a gourd. Never could figure out where that saying came from.Most are orange I think. Hope we get a chance to fish togather. I will try to give you as much heads up as possible.
John

Sounds great John,

Well, we wouldn't expect an expert guide service any more than we could provide. I was there for three days in the middle of last month with my wife and we only got one fish. Besides, fishing isn't about limiting out all the time for me, it's more about relaxation and being with good friends.

We look forward to meeting up with you if we can, could be a lot of fun.

Steve

[sawdustsavage]

Sorry I am so slow replying. My puter died I'm glad to see you fish like I do. Enjoying life is what it's all about.
I got some crappy news from my wonderfull city government. Seems like after waiting going on 3 yrs to get all the crap done to elevate my house after flood 07. They decided July was a goodtime to start. I will definately be there I'm just not sure of the dates. I will try to be there when you are if I can.
I see the bar got raised. I need 10 lbs. now. Not that I am in anyway figuring on anymore than a good time but YOU NEVER KNOW.

John

[gonefishing]

LOOK OUT BOYS, I AM HEADED YOUR WAY UP TO WALLOWA FOR A WEEK.

WITH A LITTLE LUCK, I'LL LEAVE WITH 1 OR 2 NICE ONES.

[sawdustsavage]

Leave 1 or 2 for me. Let me know whats hot and whats not when you get back please.
Rip some lips
John

[gonefishing]

Sawdustsavage: Never a problem, I always leave more than a couple behind. I am prepared with reels that have lots of line though. I will not get spooled by a big one, If I manage to find one of them. Aside from that, I love the eviroment up there. trees, clouds, rain , snow, all of it. Just like relaxing, in the water.

[smokin' Kokes]

the muleys are thick in the state campground this year. first grass and snow meltoff just occurring up higher.
they're like campers pets. some feed them, bad thing, especially breads or other garbage with sugar. kills their liver and kidneys.

were 2 nice soon to be 4 points in velvet near the checkin office napping in the sun every day.

elk and bear up on the hills less than 5 miles away. drive the logging roads to the E.

helps that it's 50 miles off the interstate, place is crazy in the summer time though.
jetskis, wakeboarders and booze.

[sawdustsavage]

I was hoping the water would be too cold. Maybe the gas price will deter them Next year I will get there earlier. Will just have to deal with it. I hear the jet skis shut it off cold. Is that true. If so I may have to fish early and late. Does the wind come up in the afternoon there like it does on some lakes? Whatever happens it will be fun. I am going to have a good time if it kills me

[Cannon]

I have been reviewing tackle for my upcoming book and have found some great new products. I just tried out these new mini hoochies from R&K. They are real small hoochies, maybe at the most an inch and a half long. Very delicate! I wish I had these this spring, they would have been dynamite! Anyway, I am very interested in how these work at Wallowa Lake especially with their population of Myasis shrimp. Since it will be awhile until I can get back over there, I would be interested in anyone's experience with this new hoochie. So any of you guys out there that have tried these or want to try them let me know how you do with them.

[gonefishing]

I am up a Wallowa Lake right now. I have a tackle box stuffed with lots of options. The only combination of tackle catching any sizable fish right now, for me, has been the RMT glow in the dark hoochies with the bright red / orange tip. I was using the larger pink and watermellon RMT dogers. This combination has been reposnsible for the 15" to 18 " fish. Catch depth has been 45 to 50 ft for the bigger fish.

I am catching smaller fish than I did in May.

It has been pretty slow for everyone with mostly 10 inch fish coming in, and not very many. I have not seen every boat, but have watched them on the lake for hours while I have been fishing.

The fish are spread out pretty good on the north end of the lake with nice sizeable schools of fish. They are not reponding real well. Hopeing that changes before Sat. I will be out at day break tomorrow (THURS) after taking today off.

Most fish range in depth from 25 ft to 60 ft. Water temp 54 in the morning up to 59 degrees by afternoon.

No pictures of the bigger fish. They hit the smoker in the afternoon when I got in.

Off to bed early to rise. Thursday is my game on day. Sun up to sun down, going for broke.

[sawdustsavage]

OH NO, Well the main thing is your having fun. The worst day fishing is still greater than the best day working. There is always tommorrow.

[gonefishing]

Caught limits today. Must have changed up my gear the last 2 days between 30 - 40 combinations before I found what would work. A few fish in the 14-15 " range, the rest were all in the smaller size of around 10 ".

Oh Well, Having fun.

1 boat had a couple of 4-5 lb fish this am. That was it. Almost reveryone caught the 10 inchers. Not many fish of any size and most boats not doing very good. I feel lucky.

Starting earlier Friday and going for broke.

the lake is full of floating logs and sticks and so on. Water Temp today up to 61. Thunder showers in the afternoon.

[smokin' Kokes]

there was a huge amount of logs, rotten wood, gravel, sand, dirt and vegetation swept into the lake from the headwaters in the big meltoff rain the first week of the month.
all that vegetation and biomass debris will have a major impact on the fishing and kokanee food source for months to come.

[KokaRod69]

Gonefishing, I hope your luck truns around and you get one of the big boys.
When I was there in early May, we had our best luck for the bigger fish on some custom made spinners using small chartruse cut glass beads and a chartruse blade with a green dot. This was trolled behind bollo blade atractors 2 ft. back tipped with a pink gulp maggot. We were getting the bigger fish at about 100 ft. down, just trolled around in 130 ft. of water until we found a scool on sonar then dropped the downrigger to about 10 ft above them.

Good Luck, Rod

[gonefishing]

Made it home Sunday.

Caught quite af few but slept in Friday to rest up for the trip back. Lots of junk in the water, so watch your speed up there when traveling from one end to the other of the lake if you do that. Caught nothing ove 16 inch. Always fun getting out there and putting the lines out though. I caught bigger fish in May.

Some big fish were caught on Friday june 25th, so I heard through the rumor network on the North end of the lake. We'll see if anything hit's the papers.

Blue or chartuse with pink beeds on the lurer did work. Using the super large dodgers or blades that provided lots of side to side motion made a big difference. Also blue and gold or silver and gold on the dogers or sling blades was creating the action.

Good luck to the next batch of trophy seekers. My Sonar said that they are there!

[sawdustsavage]

Hoping it will pick up by next month. Is it usually decent fishing in july? Like you said its allways fun to just fish. More fun to catch but its all good.

[TBtoad]

We are going to Wallowa in July. I havn't heard much about catching Macks at this lake. How do you target this fish. What would be a good set up in the way of lures and flasers?
Thanks
TBtoad

[gonefishing]

TBtoad,

This is not the best time of the year for Macks, but I caught a 30 lb'er last year about this time. LUCK

Use Quick Fish, or anything that will mimic fish that look like small Kokes will work. Fish the south west banks 1/2 of the lake. Not to close in though. Close to the bottom trolling for Macks. Keep your line back behind the boat at least 125ft to 150 ft. Macks are boat shy.

I hooked about 20 incher earlier in the year chasing Kokes and shook it off.

That one hit a green apex.

Fish mornings for Macks till 9 AM or 10 AM. Then switch to Kokanee!

You can troll for trout if you so choose. Heavy planting for them a few weeks ago.

A few small ideas. Hope this helps, but some one may have more info on Wallowa and Macks.

[sawdustsavage]

On the road today. Finally. I want to thank all of you for your help. I learned an awfull lot here in the past few months. Now all I have to do is apply it. Thank you John