I need a good fishing hole near Portland!

[Rob G.]

Fellow Anglers,

I have to be in Portland for my mom's birthday over opening day weekend, and I always fish the opener! I was wondering if I could get some advice on where to fish for trout that weekend, I looked at Battle Ground, and I'm encouraged by that picture that shows up of the 20+ inch monster caught there a couple of years ago...but the lake looks kinda small (20 acres) and I don't want to walk across the lake on boats! So, I'll drive up to an hour for some good fishing that weekend if anbody can't point me to a good spot. Thanks fellas!

[gpc]

There is a couple of productive lakes on the WA side real close to portland that should produce for you. But if I were you I would forget the trout and go for walley and springers. Bonneville will be open until April 30th (for springers). Walleye is more of a boat fishery, but the kings can be taken from shore, or at least they can be taken from shore a lot easier than walleye can.

Battleground lake: 11,000 trout so far

Klineline: 13,200 trout so far

Lacamas: 9,000 trount in near future

Either way you have some heavily planted put and take trout lakes. The 3rd biggest springer run since 1970, and probally the best walleye fishing in the NW, right down river.

[kevinb]

You might want check out Vancouver lake. I've heard browns are in there,I havn't been there though. Maybe even try Merwin or Swift Reservoir.

[bpm2000]

Henry Hagg lake esp if you have a boat. Gets pretty pounded though...

[Rob G.]

Good looking out GPC....I'm not set up for salmon yet, I just have a lot of trout gear, some bass gear and I nice little 12 ft Livingston with an electric motor. I have old but decent EZ load trailor and I'm lookin to get into some good trout! I should gear up for some "springers" it sounds like a blast!

[gpc]

Good looking out GPC....I'm not set up for salmon yet, I just have a lot of trout gear, some bass gear and I nice little 12 ft Livingston with an electric motor. I have old but decent EZ load trailor and I'm lookin to get into some good trout! I should gear up for some "springers" it sounds like a blast!

Yeah no problem. I wouldnt let the light tackle exclude salmon fishing from your agenda though. All last year for my river salmon fishing I used a meduin action rod and 12lb test line at the most. Most of the time I would drop down to 8lb test. You dont need expesive line either I just used Cajun red, very cheap line. I try to use the lightest set up as possible, its not the strength of your line that matters its how much you have on your spool. You can get a handful of corkies for a few bucks, a pack of yarn for a $1.69, and some pecil lead and some 1/0 hooks all for under $10. Thats about it, no need to launch the boat and just use someone elses salmon net if you do hook up. Its sounds like this run is going to be something else, wherever you end up fishing, good luck my friend.

[Rob G.]

Soooo...I just went to clark county on this site to read all the reports...and I'm not too excited about fishin down there....I hope I don't offend anyone....but ya'll gotta post some more pics and more reports...unless that's part of your plan to keep some folks away LOL....it sounds like lacamas is the one, but it seems like there are a ton of browns in there, I prefer rainbows. Oh, and correct me if I'm wrong, but is there no boats allowed on Klineline?

[A9]

Soooo...I just went to clark county on this site to read all the reports...and I'm not too excited about fishin down there....I hope I don't offend anyone....but ya'll gotta post some more pics and more reports...unless that's part of your plan to keep some folks away LOL....it sounds like lacamas is the one, but it seems like there are a ton of browns in there, I prefer rainbows. Oh, and correct me if I'm wrong, but is there no boats allowed on Klineline?

Wait for Fishermen_Max to sign on and read this..He fishes these lakes I believe and is an active member on the forum...He seems to know that area well and could probably help you out with a lake and whether klineline allows boats or not...

cavdad45 would also be a good member here to get some information for...He resides in Oregon City and would know some spots around Oregon and the nearby Washington lakes I presume....

[colton]

Soooo...I just went to clark county on this site to read all the reports...and I'm not too excited about fishin down there....I hope I don't offend anyone....but ya'll gotta post some more pics and more reports...unless that's part of your plan to keep some folks away LOL....it sounds like lacamas is the one, but it seems like there are a ton of browns in there, I prefer rainbows. Oh, and correct me if I'm wrong, but is there no boats allowed on Klineline?

yeah thats right. no boats in klineline. but you really don't need one to catch one at klineline.

[fishman123]

You may want to try fishing Horseshoe Lake in Woodland 30 min north of Portland opening weekend. It should be loaded with trout by then. If you go to Klineline in Vancouver on opening weekend you will likely be standing elbow to elbow with other anglers. You can take a boat out at horshoe and there is a little more lake to explore.

[Rob G.]

good lokin out guys, I'm proud to be a member of this site.....i still remember the old site LOL

[tnj8222]

kidney lake in skamania county is a good drive from portland but is a awesome lake to fish early in the year.

[Fisherman_max]

Soooo...I just went to clark county on this site to read all the reports...and I'm not too excited about fishin down there....I hope I don't offend anyone....but ya'll gotta post some more pics and more reports...unless that's part of your plan to keep some folks away LOL....it sounds like lacamas is the one, but it seems like there are a ton of browns in there, I prefer rainbows. Oh, and correct me if I'm wrong, but is there no boats allowed on Klineline?

Wait for Fishermen_Max to sign on and read this..He fishes these lakes I believe and is an active member on the forum...He seems to know that area well and could probably help you out with a lake and whether klineline allows boats or not...

cavdad45 would also be a good member here to get some information for...He resides in Oregon City and would know some spots around Oregon and the nearby Washington lakes I presume....

i am here sam!

i think the best bet for rainbows would be battleground, dont worry about walking across the lake on boats it should not be that bad because it is a year round lake.

all the lakes around here are year round so they dont get super busy at all!


and no klineline is strictly a put and take fish of the bank lake. no floatation devices allowed. you will get lots of competition at klineline for about 2 weeks after each time they stock the fish.

lacamas has a great wild population of browns and has some holdover rainbows and will be stocked with a bunch of rainbows soon. it is hard to hook up with the stockers because you can never tell which launch they put the in at so you could be fishing at the complete opposite end of the lake and catch nothing while the people at the other launch are killing them.


if you have anymore questions go ahead and PM me.

again you can fish any of these lakes anytime you want they are all open, so i have to experienced the opening day rush to catch tons of little 12 inch stockers...... the closest thing we have is klineline....no fish lives past 2 weeks in there. wether they are caught conventionally, eaten by cormorants, or snagged by Ru$$!@n$:-$