Devils Lake

[RRSmith]

Yesterday I got blown out of plan A which was tidewater fishing for salmon so plan B was to splash the scow and stay local at Devils Lake on the Oregon Coast. I am not concerned about hotspotting as in November, you may very well be the only boat on the lake (and I was). Coastal cutthroat are always here but my previous encounters have been sporadic and random. This time I found them spread out in a shallow flat near a tributary and in surprisingly good numbers. I managed to net five (standard 12"- 14") and lost at least that many more with plenty of those weird, plucky cutthroat grabs. It's hard to know if these are lacustrine or anadromous but with the rain, D River (outlet into the ocean) is flowing pretty well at the moment. The DL coho are due in any day now.

 

[Evan B]

Yesterday I got blown out of plan A which was tidewater fishing for salmon so plan B was to splash the scow and stay local at Devils Lake on the Oregon Coast. I am not concerned about hotspotting as in November, you may very well be the only boat on the lake (and I was). Coastal cutthroat are always here but my previous encounters have been sporadic and random. This time I found them spread out in a shallow flat near a tributary and in surprisingly good numbers. I managed to net five (standard 12"- 14") and lost at least that many more with plenty of those weird, plucky cutthroat grabs. It's hard to know if these are lacustrine or anadromous but with the rain, D River (outlet into the ocean) is flowing pretty well at the moment. The DL coho are due in any day now.

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Always been curious how that DL coho fishery is. You do pretty well?
(Don't worry, your coho are safe as I have plenty down the street from me to keep me busy)

 

[Tim L]

First I've seen mention. I jumped in 15+ years ago and enjoyed as a one-timer. "All you can eat" on cutties, no giants of course. Just unique enough but never had a reason to go back. Nice looking place and the solitude is always worth it...I don't get enough water to myself. Great pics

 

[RRSmith]

Always been curious how that DL coho fishery is. You do pretty well?
(Don't worry, your coho are safe as I have plenty down the street from me to keep me busy)

I haven't seen any while I have been out fishing (which is infrequent). I once saw a group porpoising out in front of the dock below the house which I thought was pretty cool. My boat mechanic grew up here and he says there's a small but dedicated group of old timers that target them. Apparently they troll spinners way way back. You have to release all wild fish on D Lake so they chase them just for fun. I think @SurfnFish has had some experience with D Lake coho.

 

[SurfnFish]

Glad you're enjoying the lake, Bob, we sure did. And don't think I ever saw another flyfisherman on the lake during our years there that wasn't in my boat.
Tagged the occasional silver over on the SE flats when they were in, could see them cruising in the shallows, spooky as hell. That Ally's Shrimp pattern I showed you on the end of a long leader and floating line was my go to, as well as a thinly tied Pink/White Clouser tied on a size 6.
As to trout, besides the surface fun with Adams during summer evenings and the always reliable slow strip on intermediate line, drifting between the two mid lake points when the wind just starts to come up, using a sinking line and husky wooly bugger just off the bottom, can occasionally hook some surprisingly good size trout.
Always thought I knew what rain was until living in 90 inches plus annually including a year that reached 109" as measured on the deck, at which point the mold had mold on it.
Which is why those river fisheries are so darn good...clean water and plenty of it

 

[RRSmith]

I went back to the spot on Sunday and the area was full of coho waking and rolling. I was a little under-gunned with 4 and 5 weight cutthroat gear and was too lazy to motor back to the house to get my salmon stuff so I flailed at them with floating line and a size 10 Ally's shrimp (per Lance aka @SurfnFish's advice). I managed to hook one in 4' of water and it came unbuttoned after briefly going apeshit. Meanwhile, two guys in a bass boat hooked one tossing spinner baits in the lily pads.

I went back yesterday with my tidewater springer shallow water stealth rod (8 weight with clear floating tarpon line) and a box of coho flies. The salmon were gone - probably heading up the trib to spawn. Soooo I switched gears and fished for cutties. It was a perfect cutthroat day, overcast, drizzly, light wind and the fishing was awesome. Eight to the hand and at least that many lost. All chromers, most were dinks (9"-10") with only a couple of solid adults. I'm thinking the cutts are starting to move into the trib to spawn as well.

 

[SurfnFish]

I went back yesterday with my tidewater springer shallow water stealth rod (8 weight with clear floating tarpon line) and a box of coho flies. The salmon were gone - probably heading up the trib to spawn.

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pretty much the norm...if I got lucky enough to spot them, they were usually gone in a day or two. Two to the boat was my personal best during a rare session when the flats were full of active fish, fresh from King tide cycles turning the D River, The Worlds Shortest River, into a mere 40 yard sprint.
The fall we moved into the house we had heavy rains for about two weeks, around mid Nov I was driving on East Devils Lake road in about a foot of water by the marsh area where it tends to flood, and see two good sized silvers wiggling across the road from the lake and disappear into the flooded marsh.
Appears you've got the SRC dialed better than I ever did...next you'll be trying to entice one of those 30# grass carp

 

[Peach]

Are all of the cutties in that lake wild and considered SRC or are they wild residents that stay in the lake most of the time? Also, the only stocked fish that are placed in it are the rainbows or are the cutties stocked too?

Peach

 

[RRSmith]

Are all of the cutties in that lake wild and considered SRC or are they wild residents that stay in the lake most of the time? Also, the only stocked fish that are placed in it are the rainbows or are the cutties stocked too?

Peach

All of the cutthroat in the lake are wild - the only stocked fish are adipose clipped rainbows. As far as whether or not these fish spend time in the lake or the ocean, I suspect it's both. I maybe fish Devils Lake a handful of times a year - typically in the spring and early summer and I have encountered cutthroat during that time. The lake is very shallow (maximum in around 20') and gets pretty warm in the summer (low 70's). In my limited experience, holdover rainbows are rarer than cutthroat so I think the cutts either enter the ocean, or nose back into the tributaries as a strategy to deal with warm lake temps.