Additionally, the first fish of the year honor is given to
On January 1, Portland resident Pete Keong (PK) Or caught a 14 1/2-inch smallmouth bass in Henry Hagg Lake, southwest of Forest Grove.
Yes, exactly.
The honor goes to one of eight anglers in three boats who got together for a pancake breakfast before heading to Hagg Lake, where the water is typically more reasonable and winter fish wait their turn on the hook. It’s possible that some of the less than 25% of Oregon anglers with licenses and tags were worried about where and how to try for the year’s first steelhead/spring chinook in water brown enough to plow.
The Oregon Bass and Panfish Club, of which PK is one of 161 members, is a passionate and devoted group of anglers who are interested in other fish. They diligently care for their warm-water charges and, in all honesty, likely represent more of Oregon’s average fisherman than any salmon or steelhead organization could ever hope to represent.
People who merely wish to go fishing for anything do not have any cracks in their character.
The club has sponsored a New Year’s Day first-fish tournament on Hagg Lake every year for the last ten years.
Members of the Bass and Panfish Club have always caught at least one fish on January 1st, unlike other spring chinook fisherman who used to look forward to seeing the first fish hanging from a scale and were often let down by the end of January.
One of their best had the turn this year.
He captured the lone fish out of eight competitors aboard three participating vessels.
Or, a 71-year-old retired Intel engineer from Malaysia, is the club treasurer and one of its top fishers. He and his wife, Ella, reside in Portland. During 71 fishing excursions in 2024, primarily on Hagg Lake, he caught an incredible 1,256 fish.
He received a master-angler title for five distinct species that were exceptionally long.
He answered, “It’s my home lake.”
A field of spider blocks on the bottom, which the club has assisted in placing there over the years as permanent habitat, is where the bass caught a drop-shot fished smoke-black purple Berkley plastic bait in 35 feet of water.
Instead of using the lure or bait, which is on a leader fastened to the line above the weight, drop shot fishing employs the weight at the end of the line. Using little jerks to bounce the weight off the bottom makes the plastic bait dance alluringly as well. Like other fish, bass often mouth the plastic bait gently at first, even in spring and summer, and don’t strike strongly in frigid winter water.
It requires a little more expertise to identify and even more patience before pushing the hook deep, but it’s similar to the hesitant bite of a spring chinook salmon.
He added that I only needed to wait for it to receive the hook before I drew my rod up. Or a bass bit really softly.
His wife, who is also a skilled angler, measured his catch carefully, took a picture of it, and then put it back in the lake.
PK Or and his lifelong fishing companion, Ella, in their “sampan,” a small boat in Asian.Carol Doumitt
The bass is returned, but trout and other species from the lake have been taken and retained.
Although he doesn’t fish for salmon or steelhead, he claimed to have caught a hatchery steelhead that was stocked in Vernonia Lake, which he and Ella then consumed at home.
Rain or sun, mainly rain, something has always been caught over the ten years of the first-fish expedition, according to Carol Doumitt, the club’s bulletin editor who also keeps an eye on ways and means.
It was only one fish in a few years, like this one. Members of the club captured a yellow perch, bass, and trout in 2024.
“We’re fortunate to have at least one,” Doumitt remarked. You must be a brave person.
Additional drop shots:The Boat Show is currently taking place in the Portland Expo Center, while the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show is approaching mid-February. It has a lot of fresh faces and choices. Early next month, we’ll examine it in greater detail. In the meantime, this weekend marks the conclusion of the Portland Boat Show at the Expo Center. The Oregon statute that requires us to disclose the results of our large game and turkey hunts is brought to the attention of hunters. The next time they renew their licenses, those who don’t pay a $25 penalty.Through Thursday, Washington has authorized additional excavations for razor-clamson beaches in the southwest.. It was not a good Christmas in Clackamas County, where 13 people were arrested and 14 infrared thermal imaging equipment, one gun, and four deer were seized by Oregon State Police, capping a months-long investigation. Unfortunately, recent social media advertisements for infrared scopes that display thermal photos of elk and deer are also noteworthy.
–Bill Monroe for OregonLive/The Oregonian
