Drano Lake advice?

Wade Rivers

Wade Rivers

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Never been there but plan to fish next week. I have a pram so that should help.

Anyone have any advice on lines, presentation, retrieve and fly patterns? Will have an intermediate on a 7 wt and a 9 wt.

Thankee much
 
I've never fished it either, but you know it's called the Toilet Bowl right? At least during the springer chinook season. If there are fish (I assume silvers now) in there be very careful in a pram. You'll most likely have to get off in a corner somewhere to avoid the Toilet Bowl of trollers.

Just one of the many videos-
 
Oh sweet Jesus….be safe out there!

That used to be a fun fishery, but it’s gotten wild. There was a dude that built a “balance stone” I copied with decent success years ago on the old site. Hope you have a bow and stern anchor.
 
I fished it a couple of times a few years ago....yeah, crazy scene would be putting it lightly. I did fool a couple of monster smallies (who fooled me) fishing little sparse shrimp patterns....saw a guy get towed around in a float tube by an actual salmon which was pretty cool.
 
Wade Rivers said:
Never been there but plan to fish next week. I have a pram so that should help.

Anyone have any advice on lines, presentation, retrieve and fly patterns? Will have an intermediate on a 7 wt and a 9 wt.

Thankee much
Click to expand...

It's closed for steelhead this year. Waaay late in the season anyway. Late in the season for chinook also but that's really a boat/gear game

That said, I used to fish it with some regularity. Hypothetically if it was open and July, August or early September, you'd want a clear intermediate line, and small buggy flies tied on strong hooks in whatever color the fish want that day/minute. Slow pausing retrieve. The tough to dial part at Drano is fishing at the right depth. Some kind of timer is great unless you like counting.
 
Ten, twelve years ago I scouted Drano while attending the annual huckleberry festival in Bingen in early Sept. I saw 4 or 5 prams in what you could call a hog line anchored fore and aft on a sand bar. Guys were casting flies into a channel between them and the bank and hooking steelhead.. So the next week I put my pontoon boat in and got in the end of the line. I only had a 5lb anchor but there was no wind. I boldly asked what they were using. Mickey Finns. I only had a few black bosses so cast that out with a stillwater line. Using a very slow retrieve I hooked 5 fish in the next hour. They were hot and ran all over the place resulting in some really fun fish fights but never got one to the net. I was swearing at barbless hooks. Then the wind came up and blew me off my anchor and I drifted too close to the pram on my right who got a little pissy with me so after an apology got out of there. Next weekend I'm back. Same fly but tied on Tiemco 7999 hooks and a 10lb anchor.
Got blown off my anchor after an hour but not until hooking two more fish. Great fights, same results. Next weekend in a typical act of persistence I showed up with 15 lbs anchor and the same fly with barbs left on. The wing was blowing so hard I didn't even put in. I had my 5 wt in the truck and found a little lake up north and had a great wind free day of trout fishing. Lots of lessons learned here and with the proper boat.... pram... and the proper fore and after anchors one could have a great day here. But time it with the huckleberry festival, it's great !
 
I had an interesting three days at Drano. Caught some fish and learned a lot so it was a fun adventure.

The fish are still coming in, and some are dark nookies, but there were some pretty nice coho around. It wasn't too crowded for the pram fishery but you have to be aware of the shore bound gear guys. I met Denny "The Rod Father" who has been fishing there for 40 years. Many pleasant intereactions with other people and only one dickish encounter with a boat.

The low and slow with small flies seemed to make a difference. With the same fly, same line and same spot I caught coho, chinook and steelhead. There were some foul hooked fish too but most were biters.

FYI Drano is closed every Wednesday for tribal netting. Oh yeah, the wind blows like crazy!
 
Wade Rivers said:
I had an interesting three days at Drano. Caught some fish and learned a lot so it was a fun adventure.

The fish are still coming in, and some are dark nookies, but there were some pretty nice coho around. It wasn't too crowded for the pram fishery but you have to be aware of the shore bound gear guys. I met Denny "The Rod Father" who has been fishing there for 40 years. Many pleasant intereactions with other people and only one dickish encounter with a boat.

The low and slow with small flies seemed to make a difference. With the same fly, same line and same spot I caught coho, chinook and steelhead. There were some foul hooked fish too but most were biters.

FYI Drano is closed every Wednesday for tribal netting. Oh yeah, the wind blows like crazy!
Click to expand...

Glad you had success. Never fished it that late in the year.
 
Wade Rivers said:
I had an interesting three days at Drano. Caught some fish and learned a lot so it was a fun adventure.

The fish are still coming in, and some are dark nookies, but there were some pretty nice coho around. It wasn't too crowded for the pram fishery but you have to be aware of the shore bound gear guys. I met Denny "The Rod Father" who has been fishing there for 40 years. Many pleasant intereactions with other people and only one dickish encounter with a boat.

The low and slow with small flies seemed to make a difference. With the same fly, same line and same spot I caught coho, chinook and steelhead. There were some foul hooked fish too but most were biters.

FYI Drano is closed every Wednesday for tribal netting. Oh yeah, the wind blows like crazy!
Click to expand...
This is the perfect example of you won't know until you try it. Nice work!
 
Glad you had a good experience. Tried it from a kayak about 10-12 years ago and it wasn't pleasant. Lots of guys in small outboards didn't know what to make of us.

Especially unpleasant when some asshat tried to stuff his large I/O drive boat of about 30 feet under the overpass and plugged up the conga line. IIRC, we only saw about 6 fish among 20 plus boats that day.
 
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