This report
submitted by Dan Straitwood.Green Peter Reports
September 9, 1996
I fished Green Peter labor day weekend. I tried trolling, jigging with Formula 2, and all to little avail. I think we caught 3 fish for all our efforts. Really is an off year at Green Peter. As we were leaving the reservoir we stopped and peered over the dam and noticed that the outflow is a murky pea green color even this late in the year. I wonder if the water is just too murky this year for the fish to see the lures and bait. We are doing the same fishing that has worked so well for the past several years but with no results this year. Any ideas?
This report
submitted by Dan Straitwood.
August 21, 1996
Tried Green Peter with Brian Russell this morning. First on the agenda was to find a consistant marking of fish on the finder. After searching many of the spots that should have held fish we finally found a pretty good batch on the North side of the Island. We quickly lowered some jigs and caught one small one and lost several others. The fish disappeared and any further attempts to find them were futile. We did some trolling West of reference #4 and caught another and had some bites. Perfect weather, water and company made it a good day despite the poor fishing.
As the nights get shorter and cooler and the Kokanee season starts to draw to a close, my thoughts are turning once again to Flyfishing. So this will probably be my last Kokanee trip for this year and my last report. I hope to continue with better fishing and more reports from Green Peter next season.
This report submitted by Robert J. Nolan
August 20, 1996
Well, my trip to Green Peter wasn't a complete loss. We got to the lake about 7:15 am, and had our lines wet by 7:30. We tried several different lures with no success. At about 9:30 I tried a red wedding ring with a small piece of worm and one piece of white corn on the end of the hook. For the next two hours I had several hits and caught two Kokanee. We had to leave so I could take my family to the fair. Going to try Odell this weekend, but will be back to Green Peter to try again.
This report
submitted by Tom Wygle
August 11, 1996
I ended up going back to Green Peter this weekend with a friend from work and his son. I thought for sure that it would be easy pickings after my good luck the week previous. Ha! It was cold and windy when we arrived early Sunday (7:30), but the surface water was like bath water and when the wind was right it fogged our glasses. The place where I fish successfully last Sunday produced not one bite. We finally found a school at reference 4 across from a campground where the water deepens off a shallow point. We started to catch a few but only on one of three rods using basically the same setup? The rod that produced caught ALL the fish (5) and had all but one of the bites! We were all using wedding rings, the same flashers, corn sented with Anise/Craw, but the one that worked was a Kokanee Killer. The difference between the two is a bit of pink something near the eye of the hook on the Kokanee Killer. The Super Duper also failed to produce bites like last week. Its days like this that I wish I had a fish finder. The fish were all nice ones though and one was likely 12 inches and fat.
This report
submitted by Brian Russell
August 4, 1996
We arrived at Green Peter (my youngest daughter and my oldest daughters boyfriend) at 9:00 am. We fist headed around the corner and across from the whitcomb Creek boat ramp. I was trying a dogger while the other two rods had flashers with either a wedding ring or a silver superduper with a strip of uncolored holographic tape on one side. We were using 1/4 ounce of weight and letting the line out about 70 feet. I was using corn that had been frozen, so I was not sure if it would work. So stopped by the store on the way up to get a new can in case the frozen did not work. I also sented the corn with Anise/Craw. We caught a small one right away on the superduper. We then tryed under Fisherman's bridge with no luck. I finally realized that every time I have passed by the the shore opposite the Whitcomb Creek boat ramp, I had picked up a fish. I have never worked that area, so back we went to give it a try.
On the way back, four jet skis were frothing the water about where we heading. Thankfully they left. Because of that we let 140 feet of line out. In the next two passes, Jill caught two fish with the wedding ring, both about 10 inches. Jill two, boyfriend one, dad none. I was experimenting with different lures, none of which were working. We worked that area all day, and caught fish throughout the day. Sometimes we would pick up two fish, other times none. But, we were consistently getting bites. By afternoon we had 200 feet of line out. I row so we can get the line and lure down deep. Sometimes, I will almost sit still to let the line drop, then row hard to get everything flashing well. This seemed to work the best. We had trouble detecting bites with the larger set of flasher when fishing so deep. But with the set of flasher from the T.H.E. Tackle company, it was much easier. These flasher out fished another rod with the same lure and a Ford fender. The flashers are very simple, bent and slightly twisted mylar with holograph tape on both sides. The rod does not bounce when trolling so any movement of the rod is a fish. Also, the drag produced by this flasher is much much less than that of metal blades. Lots of bites all day. We caught 10 keepers, most between 10-11 inches. It seems the frozen corn worked well enough, although the color was not as bright as corn first out of the can.
This report
submitted by Brian Russell
July10, 1996
Landed at Green Peter around 7:00 am. with Bob Roberts ( the curator of The Anadromous Page. ) He lived up to his reputation in that the landlocked Sockeye Salmon is an anadromous fish and Robert was right at home. He showed me in no time at all who the master is by catching our first and only fish kept for the day. Nope we didn't practice catch and release. We tried a couple of the areas I KNOW have fish but had little luck in keeping any on the hook. We probably had a dozen and a half bites between us. The conversation was certainly better than the fishing. Around noon we headed for the dock. While we were taking the boat out I was talking to a couple of guys who were preparing to take out. They had caught their limits fishing 120 feet of lead core line with 3 ounces of lead. That seriously makes me wonder again how accurate my fish finder is because I haven't been marking very many at 60 feet yet. The fish they displayed were small and skinny, hardly worth the effort. Perhaps it will be better in another month. I thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful weather and company. If any of you fish Green Peter this year my advise is to bring somone like Bob Roberts with you. We didn't bring much home but we sure caught a lot of fish ;-)
This report submitted by Robert J. Nolan
July 1, 1996
First. If you are interested in seeing pictures of VERY large Kokanee and tips on how to catch them, check out the latest issue of Salmon, Trout, and Steelhead. There is a long and in-depth article on Kokanee fishing plus pictures of Kokanee that look like Jack Salmon!
Took my five year old to Green Peter Sunday for my second attempt fishing for Kokanee. After the repair of the radiator hose leak at I-5 and Hwy 34 we were on our way and arrive at the boat ramp at 1:30 or so. We started from the point leading up to Fisherman's bridge and let the wind push us up towards the bridge. Right away my daughter Jill caught a 10"er on a wedding ring with part of a night crawler tipped with corn. She was using ultra-light flashers from T.H.E. Tackle company. I like these flashers because they are light weight and don't bounce around like my "heavy" duty flashers. They are designed to bounce the light down. As before, I used a 1/4 ounce banana sinker for weight. The wind was strong so I let out about 100 feet of line. I have no idea how deep that actually is but it worked. I have no fish finder so I have to guess and try different depths. Again, I tried a glow in the dark Kokanee killer without luck. I finally realized that the blade does not spin at the speeds at which I am trolling. So off it went and next I tried a small silver Super Duper and a piece of corn. I also weighted my set of flasher with a piece of pencil lead. By this time I had moved to an area on the other side of the reservoir from reference 7. One the first pass, the wedding ring had a bite. One the second pass I landed one the same size as Jill's. In the same area I released two small fish, one of which was very fat, but only six inches or so. This all took place from 6 to 7 pm. The wedding ring did not work as well as the Super Duper later in the day. The bite seemed to go off at about 8 pm. We fished the reference 4 area on the way in with no luck. Later in the evening when the wind died down, I rowed with the small amount of wind and found that by varying my trolling speed, I pick up bites just when I sped up or just before I was ready to speed up(at the slow point). On the way home the alternator went out in my truck. So it was a very eventful day.
This report submitted by Brian Russel
June 27, 1996
A last spur of the moment decision landed me on Green Peter
around 7:30am. The ride up was much improved due to road repairs. The water
looked great. The water temperature was 65 degrees. I started out by the dam
(reference 1) and prodeeded to work my way down the reservoir all the way to
#7, I skipped the bridge area. I marked a significant number of fish at 
and managed to catch a nice 11"er. Several more trolls through the area
were fruitless. I tried the other areas with no luck and returned to #4 to try
other ideas. I pretty much through the book at them. I should have read Brian's
June 3'rd report before I left, remind me to bring some worms next time. I managed
to get a couple of strikes on a Buzz Bomb but missed them. I marked fish at
all depths but between 10 and 15 feet there were many many fish. They just didn't
want to bite. I cannot think of a time when I trolled through so many fish that
I could not get a bite. I left the lake around 1:30pm with one released Kokanee.
When I was pulling the boat out I talked to three other pairs of boaters, NONE
of which had caught a single fish.
July looks to be a really good month.
This report submitted by Robert J. Nolan
June 3, 1996
I tried for Kokanee this Sunday, 2 June. I took my daughters boyfriend fishing, the first time in 8 years. We finally got on the water about noon. It was calm until we arrived, then the wind really picked up. That was ok, because I turned our 12 foot boat broad side to the wind and let the wind power our trolling. It was just fast enough to slowly turn the flashers. We fished mostly the #4 area on the map. Our best luck was using a wedding ring with a small worm (red wiggler) and a piece of corn. I don't know how deep I was, but I had about 60 feet of line out using a 1/4 ounce banana wight and ultra light flashers. We landed only three small fish but had strikes all day. We fished until 7 pm. I think the hook on the wedding ring was too small and that accounted for the misses. I also lost several right at the boat. The biggest one I hooked was right next to the island just off of the #4 area of the map. I talked with another fisherman, who like us, had lots of strikes but only one fish to show for it.
We also tried a glow-in-the-dark Kokanee killer and a boogie bait rigg ( from T.H.E. takcle company in Eugene) with only one fish each. The fishing at fishermans bridge looked productive. We watched several fish taken and many strikes. We floated around that area with a worm and corn fished 6 feet deep with a bobber and I tried jigging using a big spoon with a piece of corn six inches below. Both were failers. Other boats anchored or tied close to the bridge were not catching fish either.
All in all, a nice fishing day, just not enought fish caught. Also, the water was still silty.
This report submitted by Brian Russell
May 22, 1996
I left Lebanon around 7:30am for Fisherman's Bridge. When I arrived there were three people fishing, one had one Kokanee. Within a half an hour there were seven of us. The rain kept getting stronger and stronger and the wind was cold. In lebanon it looked like it was going to be pretty nice. Up here it was miserable. I had a couple of bites in two hours fishing and I got to see one planter Rainbow caught and one Kokanee lost. I decided to leave. There were quite a few cars parked on the South end of the dam. I noticed because I also noticed that the logs that we usually anchor to to jig fish were gone! I heard a rumour that they would not be put back. If so that could really hurt the jig fisherman. There were three people fishing from shore on the South side of the dam. Two of them were limited out and just leaving when I arrived. Obviously I had been fishing wrong on the bridge. They were using a sliding bobber with 6 feet of leader and red eggs and or worm.
The bad news is that the fish I saw were very skinny and small. It looks like my speculation on the flood may be correct. My feeling was that since there is so much silt in the water it will keep the Sun from penetrating and the Plankton growth down. Thus the small skinny Kokanee this year since they feed primarily on Plankton. Hopefully IF the Sun does ever shine with regularity again they will put on weight fast. There appears to be good numbers of fish.
This report submitted by Robert J. Nolan
May 19, 1996
Talked to my son Robert Jr. over the phone today. He said he was fishing off of Fisherman's Bridge Sunday afternoon around noon. He said the Kokes were biting constantly but were being very finicky. They would not hit jigs but would hit corn and an egg on a single hook. he said he came home fishless (sound familiar :-) because he could not hook them. Other people were getting bites and catching fish, some of which were good size. He said limits were caught. The bite is on!
This report submitted by Robert J. Nolan
May 10, 1996
I spent an afternoon at Green Peter Saturday May 4, 1996. I bought a different boat so this was mainly a check out for the boat but did a little fishing. As we were driving up I almost turned around because the outflow from the reservoir into Foster was choclate brown. But actually the lake looked pretty good. There was some debris in the water but nothing that couldn't be worked around. There is a MASSIVE log jam up the Middle Santiam arm. We fished a little bit where Whitcomb Creek comes into the reservoir and my 4 year old caught the only fish, but it was a dandy - a fat 13" rainbow.
We'll make a trip back to Green Peter in early June for kokanee
so will keep you posted.
This report submitted by Dan Straitwood.
April 4, 1996
Arrived at Green Peter about 8:00 am. From the first I noticed there didn't appear to be as much garbage on the surface. Where before the inlets were covered with debris, now they were clear. I noticed there was still quite a bit of randomly floating debris, but not enough to thwart the launch of a boat. I arrived at fisherman's bridge about 8:15. No other fisherman were present. I quickly rigged up using a large jig with corn. Within 10 minutes I had a bite but missed it. A few minutes later another one. But those two bites turned out to be the only ones for 1 1/2 hours of effort. I saw a few fish rise during that time. The water by the bridge was still quite muddy. Not as bad as last time. I'm wondering if all the debris I saw last time is on the other side of the lake due to a shift in winds. Anyway, the lake is fishable. Be cautious with the boat and everything should be fine. I stopped by Thistle Creek boat landing. They're building a new John right where we used to park our trailers, in the dirt area close to the ramp. Again, watch the signs going up. Where they say "dip in road" BELIEVE IT. Slow down.
This report submitted by Robert Nolan.
