Billy Chinook Reports
July 16, 1996
After all the bad luck I have been having this year my wife and I
decided to try our favorite lake Monday the 15th. I had a feeling this would be special
when we spotted a deer and a bear in the road on the way up. That was the first bear I
have seen in Oregon since I moved here in 1972. We arrived in the early afternoon and
quickly decided to give it a try. The jetskiers were everywhere. We did not mark fish in
the usual places. By the island
we marked some fish at 55 feet. So we trolled one downrigger at 55 and another at 35 feet.
Somehow we managed to catch 5 fish and lose a few before we melted and decided to go for a
lengthy swim. The surface water temperature was 74 degrees. After a pleasant swim and a
troll around a point that looked promising we decided to try the jigging spot up the arm 
. There were some fish jumping, but
the awesome amount of fish we had seen a few years before did not appear to be there.
After a half hours jigging and one lost fish it was 8:30 in the evening and we decided to
head back. While pulling out we were checked by a fish checker who said that this was not
a good year. He felt that since these fish go in cycles that next year should be the good
one. He said that next week or the week after would be the time to jig the fish at the
jigging spot. I asked him about the small size of the fish. His feeling was that the small
ones would be next years big one's.
We had markd quite a few fish at 
on the way in last night so we tried here first in the morning. Even
though we marked quite a few fish we only managed to catch one small one. So we headed for
the island. We had been trying quite a few different flavors of corn and lures to put it
on when my wife said lets try for those fish at 70 feet. I had just put on a red beaded
spinner with a silver coated blade tipped with corn flavored with Anise and Shrimp. I had
just lowered it to 70 when we caught a nice fat 12 1/2 incher. Things looked promising. My
wife said, "you know that fish bit when we made the turn". So I asked her to
make the turn again in the same spot. For the rest of the morning we caught fish trolling
in a circle on the left front of the island. 
Every time we came to 130 feet of water we made a left turn and every time
we caught a fish. When we didn't have a bite we lowered it to 90 feet and continued the
excellent fishing. I think the jetskiers had moved the fish down an additional 20 feet.
The only bad news is that 50% of the fish were small (9" or so) and 25% were medium
sized (11" or so) and only 25% were good sized (12" or bigger).
When we quit fishing for the day we were still getting fish at 90 feet in
the same spot. But it was time to pack up and get moving before the temperatue got too
hot. We had a wonderful time at our favorite lake again
This report
submitted by Robert Nolan
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Received April 19, 1996
I was at Billie Chinook 2 weeks ago & jigged with buzz bombs &
Tazmanian devils for 3 or 4 kokes & a 15" or so Dolly. I also trolled &
casted a rapalla for dollies with no luck. I heard that someone was catching 12" to
14" kokes there but I don't believe it as they have always been closer to 11" in
the past. Please let me know if you hear different.
This report submitted by Dan McNeil, visit his fishing page Fishing the Northwest
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Received April 7, 1996
Well, I finally went fishing on Lake Billy Chinook. We really went to
fish for the Dollies, but the Kokes were jumping all over the place. (I guess they do that
when they are being chased by the Dollies?) We did not catch any, but one jumped into our
boat. It was about 12.5 inches long. I could not believe that it jumped in! The weather
was great...75 to 80 degrees. I will continue to fish for the Kokes until I am
successfull.
This report submitted by Dave Brouillard
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March 4, 1996
According to the "Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations" pamphlet
the Metolius arm of the lake opened March 1st. Anyone with information about the fishing
are welcome to reply.
This report
submitted by Robert Nolan
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. There were some fish jumping, but
the awesome amount of fish we had seen a few years before did not appear to be there.
After a half hours jigging and one lost fish it was 8:30 in the evening and we decided to
head back. While pulling out we were checked by a fish checker who said that this was not
a good year. He felt that since these fish go in cycles that next year should be the good
one. He said that next week or the week after would be the time to jig the fish at the
jigging spot. I asked him about the small size of the fish. His feeling was that the small
ones would be next years big one's.