If there is one best time of year for trout fishing, it's fall when the insect life is fading away and trout that have been fattening all summer are starting to feel the pinch of empty bellies. Trout that are going to make it through the winter have to switch from eating insects to eating minnows. This is the time of the year to put baitfish imitations to use. Trout are full of energy and will go a long way to hit a shiny bit of metal.
On those days when we launch the boat in the early morning. When the water is glass, we know the fish are elevated. It can be fun to put a small spoon in play.
PLANNING THE TRIP
Before you back up to the boat trailer, take a look at a map and click up www.myodfw.com to get an idea of some Oregon waters that will definitely get fresh stocks of fish in the early fall. This is the time of year when hatchery trout stocking ramps up again. Water levels are beginning to fall, and ambient temperatures are good for trout. Most fish & wildlife agencies post their stocking schedules on public websites. Weather changes, the price of fuel, and emergencies can change the timing of fish releases, but it's a good idea to comb the stocking schedules.
Top bets in the Willamette region (an easy drive for anglers from Portland, Salem, or Eugene) include North Fork Reservoir (on the Clackamas River), Foster Reservoir, Trillium Lake, Dexter Reservoir, Hills Creek Reservoir, and Dorena Reservoir. Most lakes get the "legals", which average 8 to 12 inches, but a person can put more poundage in a trout limit by targeting the "trophy size" trout that are older, better fed, and better fighters. If a lake gets 5,000 legals in the season, it might also get 250 trophies and a few brood stock trout that can tip the scales at five pounds or more. Premier fisheries that get a lot of angling attention, like any larger reservoir with campgrounds and mountain views within a two-hour drive of a metropolitan area, are likely to get a couple of stockings of brood fish or trophies every season.
It's all there in the stocking schedule. Except it's not.
BEHIND THE SCENES
A lot of what happens behind the scenes does not show up in the hatchery schedule. Sometimes there is an abundance of brood stock or surplus steelhead in the system that need to go somewhere. Another thing to watch for is when a lake is drained for maintenance or to kill trash fish. When the lake fills up again, the fisheries department scrambles to fill it with trout. Then there are the lakes that are never on the stocking schedule, but they magically have hatchery trout every season, and plenty of them. What's up with that?
Some reservoirs are not on the published stocking schedule because they are managed by agencies or municipalities, or utility companies with their own hatcheries. These can be some of the best destinations. Think about it. A power company built the dam, and part of the negotiation with the tribe or the community that permitted the dam was to provide a fishery. So every year, they are contractually obligated to populate the lake with some 30,000 trout. They're going to do it, but chances are they aren't taking the time to put it on a list somewhere. That's a lot of silvery slabs vying for a chance at a slow-trolled trout spoon.
SPOONAGE
There are a lot of spoons on the market, and they all have their place, but when we are talking about catching a limit of hatchery "legals" and "trophies", the best choice is one and a half to two inches long, like the Mepps Syclops, Triple Teaser, Thomas, Jerry Leo, Z-Ray, and Acme Little Cleo.
In most cases, a spoon should be trolled slowly so that it wobbles side to side. The slower the better. I like the speed at less than 1 mile per hour, up to 1.5 miles per hour, and if I can, I try to keep it at zero-point-nine. This can be accomplished some days on a wind drift, but a bow-mount trolling motor is pretty consistent. There are exceptions. In some lakes, the fish are used to chasing baitfish. This is the case on Upper Klamath and Agency Lakes, where sometimes you can't reel fast enough.
The spoon itself could be an Acme Kastmaster, Little Cleo, or Thomas Buoyant, maybe in the 1/6-ounce class. Every lake fishes a little differently, so it helps to have local knowledge. Frog patterns can be important, as are brown trout, chub, rainbow, and perch colors, depending on the local bait. Sometimes we put a flasher in front of the spoon with a 15-inch leader. Another trick we like is to add a touch of Pro-Cure's trophy trout scent to the spoon. And it never hurts to tip the hook with a bit of worm, corn, or a salmon egg. Trout that are going to carry over through the cold months have to start eating baitfish. Put baitfish imitations like trolling spoons to work. Trout are supercharged in the cold water and will chase up and down in the water column to hit a shiny bit of metal.
