Spring King
June 6th I went fishing with the famous Charlie Brown of FishingTheRogue.com We had a new passenger on this day Ryder. Ryder was a very cool dude who had done some salmon fishing before so it made it a lil easier to not have to explain how to do some of the stuff were doing. Ryder is related to one of Charlies buddies and was trading him a fishing trip in turn for some help on finding some Morels. Morels are very delicious and some times hard to find kinda like Spring Salmon! This day started off pretty well. We were in the first hole anchored up and using a mix of wrapped plugs and eggs on a diver. No more then an hour into fishing I felt one single bite and immediately afterwards set the hook like Kevin Van Dam. Afterwards the line went slack and for a few seconds I thought that I missed the hook set, but then while reeling in the salmon surfaced and let me know i had done good! About five minutes earlier a guide had pulled right up next to us and was fishing our same hole. When fighting the fish it decided it wanted to leave the hole and go down to the next, so we had to go after it. The guide told us that’s the best way to leave a hole, with a fish on! We got down to Chief Hole a good spot for bankies, and we were able to land and net the fish in a short amount of time, let the bank guys get back to fishin. Found out it was a keeper and made the rest of the day go by real nicely! Got some awesome dinners out of that one! On our way down the river Ryder spotted some Oyster Mushrooms growing on a tree near the river. Charlie is a mushroom lover and pulled the boat over right away and climbed up the tree to cut the shrooms! I ended up getting the only Salmon of the day, but we all got some mushrooms! Thanks for the sweet fishin trip Charlie! Visit him at his website or on facebook FishingTheRogue.com Good times to be had!
Thanks for reading and tight lines!
Camping at Medco Pond
Friday the 3rd day of June I headed up to Medco Pond to camp and fish. The next day, Saturday was free camping day at state parks in Oregon. So my plan Friday evening was to stop by Joseph H. Stewart State Park at Lost Creek Reservoir, and try to reserve a free spot for the next day. Apparently they weren’t taking reservations for the free camping day unless you were staying the night before. I asked what time to come back the next day and left for Medco Pond. Got to the old logging pond late in the evening and found a nice little spot not far from the pond to set up my tent and construct my pontoon boat. By the time I got my toon together it was dark, and the stars very bright. I wanted to have my boat put together the night before so I could be on the water really early. But I slept in. Being outdoors is a better environment to sleep I don’t know why lol. By the time I got on the water there were already some people fishing, from shore, and other small boats. Also an Osprey was fishing all morning, I could watch him from my tent hitting the water was very cool.
Ospreys gotta be my favorite bird, always putting on a show. At this Pond a big Bald Eagle lived nearby too, you would see him chase after the osprey sometimes after a meal I assume. I started out fishing the half of the pond that is covered in weeds. You don’t see anyone fishing this side usually because of the thickness of the weeds. But I know fish are in there. Early in the morning most of the time the Osprey dove into the water it was on the weeded side. And id imagine huge bass are sitting in there and loving it. I didn’t fish the weeds for long and had to get out into water that didn’t have near as much weeds. I got out there and put away my bass jigs and worms for most of the time. I brought my Ultra Lite spinning rod and tied on a couple flys. Almost all the fish came on the green wolly bugger, but a few hit the dry fly i was using too. I caught tons of trout, but they were all under 8″. Still put up a fight on my little 4ft UL rod. I started out trolling while rowing forwards, mostly because iv always rowed forward while in my pontoon. This makes it kind of difficult when you get a fish on while trolling, your facing forward and the fishing is behind you. So I quickly learned to troll while rowing backwards. This made it a lot easier when i got a fish on, usually they stayed on.
Fishing here was an absolute blast! The tip of my rod was always bouncing from fishing hitting the flys, a lot of the time they didn’t stick to the hook. But watching my rod tip go crazy was really fun, almost as fun as running plugs for steelhead in a drift boat. If i hadn’t got a little bite on my flys in more then a few minutes i knew i had some weeds on my line and it was time to reel in and check. It was constant fish action! Got a few little Crappies which are sweet looking and fight hard! Also caught a few tiny bass. One I thought was gonna be bigger because he took for the cover of the weeds after swiping my fly! People on the banks were mostly catching bluegills but i seen some catch an occasional trout. One bass boat was out and he didnt have anything good to report, said he couldn’t believe it was June because we were both wearing sweaters. Other boats out there were doing good catching the trout from what i seen. Its a great place out and away from the city and anything. No cell service. Free Camping. Not many people. Great place!!!!
I ended up staying here Saturday night. Didnt feel like packing everything and going to a campground that isnt close to the lake, how it is at Stewart State Park. Medco was very fun. Didnt have to deal with water skiers or other types of speed boats. The bird watching was great. The peacefulness of this place is what really made me want to stay here instead of the big recreational Lost Creek Lake. I give this place two thumbs up if your looking to have a good time! Tight Lines my friends!
I did it!
So after the last trip Charlie was giving me crap about back bouncing, and how i havent hooked a salmon yet doing it myself. Iv landed a big one he hooked into back bouncing not long ago, but doing something on your own is alot different. It takes a little bit to understand how to back bounce, i had it down for awhile now, i just think the fish werent biting mine for what ever reason lol. Well that all changed on May 31st. Charlie called me the day before and said he wanted to do some fishing, and i was more then ready! We didnt go as early as we usually do, which i didnt mind the more sleep. Got to the boat ramp around 730am and started to fish for the elusive spring chinook! On the drive to the river I knew it could be a cold wet day or it could be a nice sunny day out. It looked like it had rained on all night, and there were still some nasty clouds in the sky but part of the sky was trying to clear up. It ended up being a great day fishing and weather wise, we only got rained on for a tiny part of the day. Half way through our float we hadnt had a fish to the boat but it was looking good as we got to the Pump Hole. Charlie gave me some new eggs to put on and not long after I felt something a little fishy and set the hook. After setting the hook the reel made that crazy sound, guess i almost birds nest it. Luckily it didnt and i reeled in and engaged the drag on the level wind abu garcia reel. And the fight was on! During the fight I looked over toward Charlie and said ” Told you i could do it” haha. I fought this silver beast for a few minutes and Charlie was able to net it. After netting it we discovered it was a wild salmon and had to be released. Charlie got in the water and released it for me but right before we got a quick picture. Thanks to the Salmon for making my day! And thanks to Charlie Brown for having me come along fishing with him! Book a trip now for a chance at a fish like this one! FishingTheRogue.com
Slammin The Salmon
I got back from Rafting Guide School on Tuesday the 21st of May. The next day I planned to go salmon fishing with Phil. My alarm went off before 3am and I was super wore out and tired still, and it was raining hard. So I unfortunately had to cancel on Phil, I felt really bad because he didn’t want to go by himself. It’s really hard to fish for salmon in a boat by yourself. So the next day Thursday the 23rd we arranged to go again now that i was rested up, but this time we brought a special guest to sit up front with me, Charlie Brown! We all met at the Shady Cove boat ramp super earlier and headed up to the hatchery after we loaded up Phil’s boat with our gear. It was a slow morning, but being slow isnt uncommon when fishing for salmon. We were about half way through our float when Charlie decided to try different eggs that he had brought. Not long after he hooked into this awesome salmon back bouncing roe.
Charlie was using one of his older rods which is only six foot six inches. Buts its rated for 18lb line, it probably was meant to be bass rod. But on this day he landed this hawg of a hatchery chinook salmon on it. This fish wore Phil out on the oars, we fought it for a third of a mile going down stream. Was quite the spectacle. When Charlie was finally able to get it close enough to the boat, I netted the beast. Then we found out it was a hatchery fish, so it made it a even sweeter catch! After netting it, Phil brought the boat to shore so we could bleed and photo the fish. We got out and a bankie come over and wanted to see our catch and we got him to take a photo with the three of us and the fish!
Now that’s a big keeper!!! And it tasted wonderful! Thanks for the fillet buddy. From then on the day went soooo much smoother like it alway does once we get a fish to the boat! Later in the day we were anchored up in a spot talking. When Charlie said something like “It would be nice if we were able to get more then one Salmon a day” Each time we’ve got a salmon this year it has only been one a day, nothing to complain about but two is always better! Well id say not even an hour later we were back bouncing in the last hole of the day before the take out. And wouldnt you know Charlie Brown hooked into another Salmon! This time he handed it off to Phil and and they switched posistions, so Phil could fight one! It wasnt a big one but it was another keeper! And we finally got our two salmon day! Thanks to Phil of YGA on Youtube. And Charlie Brown of FishingTheRogue.com for having me come along for another great day of fishing!
Tight lines, and be safe!
Day 3
May 17th: The third day started out with me picking up Phil from his house well before sun rise. We were meeting Charlie at the take out to go Spring Chinook Salmon fishin for my third day in a row. When we arrived to the boat ramp i said something along the lines of ” oh damn, we got beat to the boat ramp” Luckily it was Brady and he’s our friend and he was waiting for clients so we were first anyways! We made it down to the first hole even before we could start fishing, legal fishing time is one hour before sun rise. So we waited a few minutes then put our lines in the water when it was legal time. Not long after Brady made his way to the hole with his late arriving clients. Then soon after we were greeted in the hole with a couple bank anglers. But all of that was fine becasue soon after the bankies got down there Charlie hooked into a real feisty Jack Salmon. Eggs were the goto bait once again. It was a nice keeper fish and Charlie got to reel one in for him self for a change!
That’s a Jack Salmon. Jacks are Salmon but are under 24inches. You can keep 5 Jacks a day, that’s the only difference with their bigger counterparts. The limit for full size Salmon is two, which is ALOT of meat. But on this day we only got the one jack. It was some what slow but the weather was super nice! On a side note. When we got done fishing I talked to Charlies rafting boss about the Rafting Guide School that was happening a couple days later. He confirmed that I was going and i had and absolute blast for five days. So thanks again Charlie!!!! Book a trip with Charlie to go fishing on the beautiful Rogue River, or book a rafting trip with the bussiness I did Guide School for, it is summer after all! FishingTheRogue.com and for some Rafting fun goto Rogue Klamath River Adventures. Thanks for reading and be safe out on the water!
