Eastern Oregon Trip Part I: Hosmer Lake Atlantic Salmon

With an upcoming family trip down to Sun River Oregon, I hatched a plan to extend out my stay by a few days to seek out a couple of elusive varieties of fish. The first of these, the Atlantic Salmon was well outside of its native range but was a much more feasible option than a costly trip to the east coast. I had fished Hosmer Lake which holds stocked population of landlocked Atlantic Salmon last year, but failed to land anything. This year I sought redemption for last year's skunking, but would have to pay my dues before accomplishing my goal of catching an Atlantic Salmon. 

With the first leg of the trip winding down, I pulled away from Sun River for the day and departed around 8:30 AM. On the way out of town, I popped by The Hook Fly Shop to get my license, some info on how the lake was fishing and pick up a few flies that were working. The shop staff was extremely helpful and it ended up being a good thing that I stopped by as they warned me about a fire near the headwaters of the Deschutes River that had the main road to the lake closed. This made my drive slightly longer as I had to go up and around Mount Bachelor, but I ended up arriving at the lake at around 10:30 AM.

When I got to the lake it was partly cloudy, breezy and in the low 40's F with a threat of rain. The only silver lining was that the weather had scared everyone else off, meaning that I had the lake all to myself. I set up my 8 foot Avon raft and hit the lake, with hopes that the weather would hold out for me. I worked my way down through a channel that separates the lake into two parts, casting streamers, dries and nymphs without so much as a hit. The biggest problem was the wind, which was so strong that at times it was pulling my anchor out of position and dragging me across the lake. About the time that I hit the far side of the lake, the weather turned on me and it started pouring down rain. The sideways rain stuck with me for the next couple of hours and me very grateful from my rain gear.

Hosmer Lake, as another set of rainy weather begins to move in.

I hung out at the far end of the lake for a little while, but I could seem to find any fish and didn't like being so far from the car considering the conditions, so I began working my way back. I fished my way through most of the channel, and for a change the wind started working in my favor. The wind allowed me to drifted me back through the channel as if I were on a slow moving stream and made casting slightly easier. I still couldn't get anything to hit until I tried an Aggravator Prince nymph, which brought me two long distance releases from some of the big Altantics and Brook Trout that holding in the channel. However, I still couldn't seem to land anything and after a few brief hook ups the fish had spooked and the bite died off.

Hosmer Lake with the top of Mount Bachelor hidden behind the clouds

I got out of the channel and back to the south end of the lake at around 3:30 PM, feeling defeated and about ready to throw in the towel. However, just before reaching the boat launch I saw a fish rise and decided to give it a few more minutes. This was a very good call as on the first cast I had a good grab, but missed it.  On the next cast, I finally got a solid hookup and after a short batter, I ended up with my first Atlantic Salmon.

My first Atlantic Salmon

The Atlantic Salmon in the lake are stocked landlocked Sebago strain and although not caught within their native native range, they were a new species of fish for me and it was a relief to finally catch one. After catching my first fish of the day, the fishing remained hot for several minutes and I managed to land one more Atlantic out of the 7 or 8 that grabbed my Aggravator nymph. However, the last fish which was much larger than the rest managed to snap off my last on of these Aggravator nymph and after raiding my fly box, I couldn't find anything else that they would hit. With the fish not being responding to my offerings and chilled from the rough weather, I headed back to the boat launch. When I got back to the launch it was 48 degrees out, and my car heater was a very welcomed luxury. Despite the slow fishing and rough weather, I still managed to catch a new species making it a very successful day on the water.

Another Sebago strain Atlantic Salmon