Estacada Lake from the Canoe
Saturday morning, we weren’t even thinking about going fishing. Paula and I decided to go hiking up at Milo McIver Park and check out the horse trails. Paula hadn’t been up there before, and we were talking about the park Friday night, so we went hiking. Once we arrived at the park, while we were driving down to the trailhead, I noticed a new sign for Estacada Lake. Now, I had known about Estacada Lake, and knew there was a fishing dock on the town side, but I didn’t know of any access on the park side, so Paula and I detoured and scoped it out. There was a nice launch, plus a dock–and people were catching fish! So, we decided that we need to come back with the canoe on Sunday. (the above pic is from the canoe on Sunday)
I've got to take my fly rod out here...
After checking out the lake, we hiked the trails up and around through the upper half of the park. The trails were rocky in some spots, and there were also some steeper spots where Slider would start gumbling, but it would be a nice place to take him out on a trail ride. Then circled back around by the Clackamas River, and snapped a few pictures. I think I may have fished near this same spot when the river was much higher, but with the flows being lower, this may actually be a good spot to try out my fly rod at some other time.
Jeff's Trout at Estacada Lake
Now fast-forward to Sunday when we brought the canoe up to Estacada Lake, where I got some revenge for the fishing beat-down I got from Paula out on Lake Simtustus! I had the hot lure of the morning, with my red trolling lure putting the hurt on the decent planter Rainbow Trout while it was misty and overcast out.
Paula's Trout from Estacada Lake
Paula switched around to a few different lures, but eventually went to the bullpen and got her hot turquiose lure from Lake Simtustus, when the sun started breaking through out and mounted her comeback, making it respectable. A few people limited around us, mostly with small hooks and topped with nightcrawlers but our Rainbows were a little bigger, as our lures were a little bigger, so only the fish with the bigger mouths could get hooked up. We called it a day when the bite turned off at about 2pm, just as the sun came out in force, which worked out, since it was raining when we left, so we didn’t sunscreen up.
We were ready for some lunch since we’d been out fishing since 8am, so we zipped over to Estacada and had a late lunch at the Fearless Brewing Company, which was pretty good. If you didn’t guess it by the name, it’s a little brewery right in the middle of Estacada. I had a glass of their Clackamas Cream Ale, which hit the spot, so we had to get a jug of it to go. Certainly worth stopping there if you’re passing through.
Finally, we made it back home and got the fish filleted, popped into my “secret sauce” smoking brine, and yesterday (Monday) smoked them over some Apple and Pear chips from our trees, and they were tasty!
looks like you 2 are ‘hooked’ on fishing ahahaha umm ok sorry that was lame. i admit it.