greenpeter and fish with gary

[dragonfly]

I have met Gary several times at the Oregon sportsman's shows and purchased dodger set ups from him and never caught a fish with them so I saw him this year and asked why I was having problems with his product. so he took the time to go over how I was using them and told me how to correctly use his dodgers and lures, he recently came out with a reverse curve dodger and offered to up date mine. then he asked where I fished and gave me a white with purple ovals dodger and matching lure to try. so I finally got to greenpeter this year and every one knows pink is the go to color here and for curiosity I put the white setup on one of the wife's poles and sent it down 65' and started on the others when she yells fish on well this went on for 18 more times and I was getting tired of hearing 'fish on'. the white one was the only one from Gary so after trying old faithful's and a few I made I switched and tried white dodgers, sling blades with white spinner beads and they caught fish but nothing like Gary's. the fishing was hot and we ended up with 2 limits. they were deep 65' to 90' and averaged 11 1/2'' to 12 1/2'' and one female not quite 14'' so I will be calling Gary Monday and see if I can get more by Friday. we will be there Friday after noon to Sunday to try our luck again. this time I won't forget the camera. dfly

 

[DLM]

People often overlook white, I know I used to.

All my wedding ring style spinners are made with a plastic clevis that enable me to change blades. Last summer we were running glow orange beads with a bold blade and the bite died off. The wife switched out the gold blade for a #3 bright white willowleaf. Now, being the hotshot know it all fisherman that I am, I looked down my nose at this combination. Within 3 minutes I was looking down my nose at the net as I brought her fish into the boat. This combo was so hot I had to swallow my pride and put the same rig on my rod. This combo has worked well for us from pre-dawn to the middle of the day and is tried everytime we go out.


By the way, Gary is now a proud Oregon resident having moved to La Pine this summer. I visited with him at the GP derby and he said he will get very little time to fish this year with moving and all, but next year we should be bumping into him often. I suspect he will become a regular fixture at Wickiup. I am pretty sure he said he would be at the Odell derby next month also.

 

[skyhammer]

Gary and I tested his new backwards dodgers at East Lake last Sept. He has since tweaked the set up making it lighter and changing the swivels.
Gary was in Alaska earlier this month and will be going to Mexico to fish late Sept.
He will also be fishing with me for 10 days starting next Tuesday, and is tentatively scheduled to fish with me for another 10 days just after Labor Day. I prefer East and Paulina, but he will probably cajole me to fish Wickiup and Odell for a day or two.I am not a fan of either of those lakes, but maybe that will change.

 

[chukardave1]

You must not like catching large hard fighting kokes if you don't like Wickiup.whistlersmother

 

[mrmike]

Wickiup fish humble the best there are. I've been fishing and fighting these fish a long time. Like when every one staged in front of the boat ramp and jigged its the best lake in Oregon to humble a guy. Shallow,warm and big fish. averse weather conditions from what I'm paying attendion too chukardave1 KOKANEE numbers are the best.

 

[skyhammer]

I didn't say I didn't like Wickiup, I am just not a fan of the lake in general. It is OK early in the year, but it takes a lot more work than other lakes that I am a fan of.
Mr Mike is correct in his observations.
I like to relax when I fish and it is more difficult as the water drops.
A little less than 2 years ago, this is what I saw when I arrived.



It actually helps to see the lake when it is this low, I now know where the obstacles are, they are everywhere. I haven't been back since I took these pictures, but will probably fish it at least once next week.

 

[dragonfly]

skyhammer I am not trying to start any thing being I have never fished paulina or east, they seam like small lakes and I don't hear of any size or quantity on any of the forums and aren't they 5 fish limits like cresent and why would pick them over odel if the mileage were the same, less wind, better camp sites ? I am used to greenpeter and I know where to go to get fish and so far have never even come close to being skunked and with the possibility of a 25 fish limit makes it worth the drive. on those 5 fish lakes what do you do you guys do after 8:00 am for the rest of the day? laugh hyst any way I will like to try them some day and may need more information, thanx. dfly

 

[Kokaneegal]

Dragonfly - for some of us it isn't important to get large limits. We have plenty of fish for the year and just want to keep fishing for sport. East and Paulina are perfect for great fishing. Fish are running 13 to 16 inches. 10 fish a day is plenty for us. The wind is not as wild as Odell. To each his own I guess!!!!!

 

[mrmike]

Dragonfly your missing the pure beauty of the high lakes and every lakes fishes different/every lake! Green peter in my personnel option is know where the challenge of fishing Wickiup Odell, East or Paulina. Everyone is a challenge, your challenge yourself. what scents that work in green peter probably won't work at Odell Vs versa hooking 12 inch fish vs 18 plus its not about numbers its quality. Fished Odell on the 4th weekend probably only lost 4 fish all day wish I could say that fishing WicKiup/GOOD LUCK

 

[dragonfly]

when you drive 450 miles round trip and just have 2 days to fish. 10 fish and you are done, may not make the trip worth while unless there is something else and that was what I was asking information for. wickiup also has large kokanee and browns , odell has kokanee and I can also fish for macks and trout ( I always turn them back, I don't keep fish I don't eat ). and they are a lot closer. we don't get to fish as much as we would like and when we do we like to get as many as we can to smoke and can until next year. we do go for the sport and we don't always get our limits and that's fine. it is the challenge I am after, but after driving that far and possibly being done by 8:00 like greenpeter or odell (if they had 5 fish limits ) doesn't sound like a good choice for a week end trip for me, but maybe a week long one or when I retire some day. dfly

 

[Kokaneegal]

I hear ya, I'm driving from Yamhill!!!!

 

[skyhammer]

I just got back from fishing East and Paulina with FWG for 10 days. Only fished Paulina for 2 days, the rest of the time was on East. Paulina wasn't putting many fish and they were on the small size.
East was much better and the fish were easily 2-3 times larger, not necessarily in length but in girth.Average fish was 16" and the largest was 19".
FWG tied most of his new design and colored dodgers and took videos of their action. I troll slow, 1MPH and the dodgers showed great action, even at that speed.
Had the best luck with FWG White Lightening and I think a dodger called Dawna's Dream. The new colors make my old FWG dodger look dull, it is amazing how bright they are.
Gary used his spinners behind the dodgers and had good luck with a spinner bug that he used to sell, but I still have a bunch of them.
I mostly used my old standby watermelon, purple watermelon and pink Crystal Basin sling blades trailing an Apex.After 10 days, I think we were about even on total fish caught. Some days Gary beat me handily, other days I did better and one day I was skunked.
Gary had one of Dragon Fly's stick weights, I put in my box to use on the first day, but forgot about it,I will give it back to him when I go back in September.
One of reasons I like East is that I try for a grand slam, Kokanee, big Browns, Atlantics and Rainbows. This year there is an additional fish added to the grand slam, a Tiger trout, half Brown/ half Brookie.
On my way out of East on Thursday I saw Kokaneegal heading to the ramp.Was going to turn around and say hi, but I would have had to drive for mile before I could turn around and I was in a hurry to get to Paulina and break camp.
Even though I have to drive 800 miles round trip, it is still cheaper than fishing in California.
I don't care what the limits are on these lakes as I don't eat fish, all were given away.

 

[Doc_Rhen]

It is funny that you never hear about white on Green Peter, every time I have fished GP, white and or Purple have been my biggest producers there (same for Simtustus).

 

[Kokaneegal]

I just got back from fishing East and Paulina with FWG for 10 days. Only fished Paulina for 2 days, the rest of the time was on East. Paulina wasn't putting many fish and they were on the small size.
East was much better and the fish were easily 2-3 times larger, not necessarily in length but in girth.Average fish was 16" and the largest was 19".
FWG tied most of his new design and colored dodgers and took videos of their action. I troll slow, 1MPH and the dodgers showed great action, even at that speed.
Had the best luck with FWG White Lightening and I think a dodger called Dawna's Dream. The new colors make my old FWG dodger look dull, it is amazing how bright they are.
Gary used his spinners behind the dodgers and had good luck with a spinner bug that he used to sell, but I still have a bunch of them.
I mostly used my old standby watermelon, purple watermelon and pink Crystal Basin sling blades trailing an Apex.After 10 days, I think we were about even on total fish caught. Some days Gary beat me handily, other days I did better and one day I was skunked.
Gary had one of Dragon Fly's stick weights, I put in my box to use on the first day, but forgot about it,I will give it back to him when I go back in September.
One of reasons I like East is that I try for a grand slam, Kokanee, big Browns, Atlantics and Rainbows. This year there is an additional fish added to the grand slam, a Tiger trout, half Brown/ half Brookie.
On my way out of East on Thursday I saw Kokaneegal heading to the ramp.Was going to turn around and say hi, but I would have had to drive for mile before I could turn around and I was in a hurry to get to Paulina and break camp.
Even though I have to drive 800 miles round trip, it is still cheaper than fishing in California.
I don't care what the limits are on these lakes as I don't eat fish, all were given away.

Skyhammer - Sorry I missed you. We just got home today 8/18. We were there 10 days too. Fishing was good for us. Limited out most days. I'll put up a report soon.