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For my final fishing trip of the summer with Colin, we decided on heading up to Crescent Lake. I hadn't been there since the spring and hadn't fished it as much as I have in the past few seasons. We didn't get away until late and finally got on the water right around 8:00 p.m. The smoke from the Rooster Rock Fire near Sister's produced an eerie orange haze in the eastern horizon as we trolled along. Until this one, we have been fortunate to dodge any big fires in Central Oregon for the past few years. With only an hour to fish, we did manage to pop (2) browns with a decent 3 Lb. male being the bigger of the two. At least we didn't get skunked the first evening!

The next morning we got out early and hit an area that probably produces most of the bigger browns on Crescent Lake. In fact, my second brown over 10 LB. came from this area one morning years ago off a point that often attracts some big browns. On the first pass a dink hit that we quickly released followed by a nice 4 LB. male. A little later as the sun was rising, we got slammed on what appeared to be a snag initially. Five minutes later, Colin has this nice hookjaw male to the boat. He was gorgeous in his spawning coloration and tipped the scales between 7.5 and 7.75 on the Boga-gripper!

With sun getting higher, we decide to make a move and work another area that has been very productive for me over the years. Colin had expressed a desire in maybe trying to get a big lake trout while we were here. He reminded me of catching one about 10 years ago when Terry Bennett and I had him and my other grandson, Alec, out for a morning on Odell. It was a little slow but we finally got into a decent mack and, as I remember, they both took turns in bringing up a nice laker around 16-17 Lb. They were both just little tykes back then.

Around 8:30, as we came off a break line around 50 feet that rolled out to about 90 feet, I could make out a group of large marks about 10 feet off the bottom as I zoomed in my old Lowrance X-15. The plug we had on, that runs about 12-15 feet deep at the distance I had it set back, was set at 40 feet deep on the downrigger. With the blow back on the cable, we should have been in the zone. We were working the plug at the optimum speed and the rod telegraphed the telltale throb as the lure was jumping from side to side. As the rod tip started to bounce from the hook up, I kicked the now sleeping grandson in the leg and told him to get with it and get on the rod. By the time he got to his feet, it popped out of the release. A vision that every fisherman, working a downrigger, loves to see! That usually means it has some weight!

I had my old Lamiglass composite rod rigged up and in the holder. It is a great downrigger rod.......really fun to play a heavy fish on. Anyway, Colin has, what I assume by now, is a laker and not a brown by the way it fights. When he got to 60 feet on the line counter, I could barely make it out in the gin clear waters of Crescent. It was flat as glass and my Polaroid's allowed me to penetrate the surface glare as it was directly under us. At about 50 feet, I could make out the forked tail that is always the giveaway of the big chars. I guessed that it was at least in the teens.....but that far down, it is hard to tell. Soon the larger air bubbles start to filter up as he adjusts his air bladder during the fight on the way to the surface. That is something you hope always happens as you bring lake trout up from the depths. If they can't adjust the bladder then they usually "blow up" with the expanded air in them and it prevents them from being able to dive back down on the release. A sight you don't want to see. Most anglers are not equipped or know how to correctly puncture the air bladder topside. We have found, over the years, if you play them for awhile at depths of 30-60 feet, they will adjust their bladders and the large bubbles they exhale are the tip off.

As it finally nears the top, I got the net ready and then realize that it was bigger than we thought.....it was at least 20 I thought. After a few photos and working with him a little on top, he jetted right back down. A sight we were glad to see. Allowing for the net, he weighed in at right near 21 LB......we'll call him 20+! That is Colin's personal best lake trout and made his trip......we "high fived" and decided that a big breakfast was in order as we called it a morning and headed back to camp.

That afternoon Colin got into a nice 6 LB. brown and the following morning, I got my best brown of the trip when I got into this nice hen that tipped the scales at 8 LB. even. We released everything we caught. It was a great ending to a memorable trip.

Look for more upcoming reports as the summer fun continues......

Tight lines,
Rick