12/20/15

With the colder temperatures, we will be concentrating on the main lake a lot coming up, as we have the comfortable heated cabins of our lake boats. The main lake fishing has remained the same as last month. Read here

12/13/15

Last Monday I had a Grandfather and two Grandsons out and we caught a couple small lakers. We lost a bigger fish and had several takedowns, so I knew the big boys were almost ready to play. Read here

12/06/15

Drove down to crescent lake for a final fishing trip before the snow hits, ended up being one of the best days of fishing I've ever had in central Oregon. Read here

11/22/15

October was a great month for weather and the fishing was good too. We fished both the East Kootenays and the West Kootenays in order to keep busy. And both regions had their moments. Read here

11/15/15

With Crescent Lake Resort closing this winter, I knew I would be running out of time to get out on the lake before a big snow closes the public ramp. Read here

11/8/15

Eric and I got up at 3:00 a.m. to head up to PO for the second year in a row. With visions of big gerrards dancing in our heads, we made our way up to Biggs Junction on the Columbia for breakfast. Read here

11/1/15

We spent 4 days trolling but not really fishing as I quickly learned this was not your ordinary lake. Read here

10/25/15

I arrived at 5:00 and only had a couple of hours before dark. This time of year the spawning class of browns will make their way into the shallows to attempt to spawn. Read here

10/18/15

Ken and Braden were out in his 17 foot Lund and had a decent day when a little weather came in. He said water temps had dropped down to 55 and they had a little wind, rain and a mostly cloudy day. Read here

10/11/15

With Fall comes the spawning class of browns to the shallows of many lakes and the chance for a shot at a real trophy. If they are fully engaged in the spawning ritual, they won’t really be feeding much but often become very territorial and will often hit lures out of aggression. Read here

10/5/15

Oct. 1 marked the fall opening at Pyramid Lake near Reno, Nevada. For the last several years now, the fishery has been in a “Perfect Storm” producing some of the biggest Lahontan cutts in the last 80 years! Read here

9/28/15

On Fri. morning we got out at sunrise and worked some my favorite areas. The highlight of the morning was a beautiful, fat hookjaw that came off the riggers at 30 feet. Read here

9/21/15

The first brown was a dinker around 2 Lb. that hit around 3 p.m. at 40 feet and released just fine. Around 4 p.m. I got the better trout of the day Read here

9/6/15

At my age, summers seem to pass like a few weeks used too. This one is already over and though Fall isn’t officially here, you can definitely feel it in the air up here in Central Oregon. Read here

8/31/15

The fires surrounding Central Oregon have really affected our air quality these past few weeks. Depending on the wind direction, it could be clear one day and then you can’t see the mountains the next day! Read here

8/23/15

Over a few trips these past two weeks, I would say that the browns overall seem to be healthier than many I saw last year. I am a little shocked that the really big brown count has only been one official brown trout over 10 LBS. that was brought to the store at the Twin Lakes Resort. Read here

8/9/15

Fishing was definitely slowing down this week as the full moon arrived. We still managed to land 6-7 browns most mornings and 2-3 each evening but it was nothing like the week before. Read here

8/2/15

Over these past twenty years we have lived in Oregon, I have had the opportunity to spoil a couple of grandsons that many of you have come to know through the website over the years. Read here

7/19/15

East has been very good and consistent for nice browns the last few times I have been up there. Compared to last year, I would say the average size is up considerably from around 15-16 in. to over 20 inches. Read here

7/12/15

I headed up to East since the moon was right for some good morning action. The Solunar chart was right on this day as I put an old favorite lure down on the rigger. Read here

7/5/15

Shawn Parker and his fishing partner, Don Hartsook, had one more shot at Pyramid before the June 30th closure last week. Read here

6/28/15

The unfortunate part of fishing Central Oregon when you live 1,000 miles away is, you have to deal with the weather presented when you get there! Read here

6/21/15

I got up there a little before them to launch the boat and set up my gear. We met around 2:00 p.m. and went out to chase some lakers to start with. Read here

6/14/15

I have spent several weeks fishing up in Newberry Crater this spring and have enjoyed some of the best brown trout action ever at Paulina and East Lakes. Read here

6/1/15

I have been fishing pretty hard these past few weeks and enjoying the trailer and longer stays on some of my favorite lakes! I was up at Crescent a few weeks ago and got hit with some bad weather for most of the week. Read here

5/26/15

Many of you know the story of how I meet the Fishinggeeks right after Adam caught the 43.6 LB. World Record rainbow back in 2007. Read here

5/17/15

I went to Crescent Lake this past weekend with my friend Ryan. We fished four days in weather that varied from snow and heavy winds to sun and dead calm water. Read here

5/10/15

What a weekend! This was the weekend of the Wickiup opener as everyone knows. Myself, Eric Cole, and Matt Pearson headed down to Crescent the Wednesday before for a little brown and mackinaw fishing. Read here

5/2/15

Continuing on Oregon’s status, I had a chance to fish with my old buddy, Chuck Jones, up at Crescent Lake this past week. Read here

4/26/15

As many of you know, I have two fishing passions at this point in my life. The pursuit of the wild, giant gerrard rainbows that inhabit Kootenay Lake and Lake Pend Oreille and big brown trout over 10 LB. Read here

4/19/15

March saw some mixed weather patterns rolling in, so our days were hit and miss. We did spend a lot of time on the rivers chasing early spring Bull Trout and we had a blast. Read here

4/12/15

My buddy Nate from Parr Lumber asked me a few months ago if I want to enter a bull trout tournament hosted by Parr Lumber. Read here

3/29/15

My old friend had been wanting to learn the secret to catching big Macs and we finally were able to make it happen. Read here

3/22/15

After a long winter off, it was good to get together again with my good buddy, John Werwie, on our inaugural fishing trip of 2015. Read here

3/15/15

We spent a lot of time on the water in the past few weeks. This spring like weather also saw more activity from our fish. Read here

3/8/15

February is an excellent month for winter streamer fly fishing at these two locations and it’s always great for me as long as it doesn’t freeze! Read here

3/3/15

After the recent rain, I was a little skeptical about how good the action would be, but we got on the water anyway. Read here

2/15/15

Now with our water temperatures at their coldest, we should expect the fish to remain lethargic. Even the smaller Rainbows have tapered off. So, it’s that time of year when you have to be patient and put in your time. Read here

2/8/15

Conditions were less than perfect for "trophy trout weather" considering it was blue bird skies and flat water. The big hen hit my toplined Rapala, set back 280', right at high noon! Read here

2/2/15

My good friend mentioned to me that she had never been to Donner lake and it being one of my favorites, we made plans immediately. Read here

1/18/15

Right when I hung up to reel in, BANG my rod goes down. I knew it was a good fish and told Court it could be a 10 LB. trout but most likely a laker Read here

1/11/15

We spent a lot of time on the lake throughout December and the results were similar to November. It seems like the fish are now on their winter schedule of feeding only a few times a week. Read here

12/28/14

We have had some pretty good days on the lake lately. Most days with 8 –10 fish being caught. Sizes have ranged from 2 Lbs to 13 Lbs. Read here

12/14/14

Based on the results of this derby and the preceding Captain’s Table Halloween Derby, it appears that the efforts of all involved in restoring the fishery are paying off. Read here

12/7/14

Well, its’ begun! Today our water temperature finally dropped to the magic number and the fish have come alive! Read here

11/23/14

After last years Kootenay trip, I was leaning toward a trip back to Pend Oreille this fall. There was a decline in bigger gerrards up there that was evident and then confirmed during the fall derbies. Read here

11/16/14

As those of you know who follow the site, this is the time of year the surface water temps drop down to around 50 degrees and the big gerrard rainbows that inhabit Kootenay Lake and Lake Pend Oreille start showing on top. Read here

11/09/14

I wanted to check out a couple of planer boards and a new rod so I decided to venture up to one of my favorite lakes on Wed. Crescent holds both big browns and lakers and is a little over an hour away for me. Read here

10/12/14

Kootenay Lake is firing up. This father/son team had a great day last week. Lots of bull trout down deep. Some days up to fifteen fish or so. Read here

9/21/14

Fall is my favorite time of the year and for many reasons. Besides the beautiful Indian summer days with ideal daytime temps and cool nights, I look forward to chasing after brown trout and the big gerrard rainbows of Kootenay Lake and Lake Pend Oreille. Read here

8/31/14

Seems like summer can’t get here fast enough for those of us that live in Central Oregon. But at my age, it flies by faster than a speeding bullet! Read here

8/24/14

I have lived long enough to see many lakes go through up and down cycles over the last 45 years, most of my adulthood... Read here

8/17/14

I finally got back up to Wickiup this last week. I was up there Thursday afternoon right after the last thunderstorm of the week and stayed until Sat. morning. Read here

7/26/14

In my quest to get into the Brownbaggers Club, which started over 30 years ago, my first brown over 10 LB. was this 33 in. massive female caught from Wickiup right before dark on an Excalibur Minnow in the summer of 1999. Read here

7/19/14

Stream season for Northern California is one of my favorite times of the year. Ice cold water, good flows, cool temps, and hungry trout. Brown Trout in particular! Read here

7/12/14

I headed back to Crescent this past week with Steve Kroll. When Steve guided up there for many years he established himself as one of the best laker anglers around. We also have a lot in common going back to our surfing days in the 60-70’s and of course a love for big trout. Read here

6/30/14

Something very special happened this past week that was pretty cool! Let me back up to several years ago when I was just getting into fishing for lake trout a lot... Read here

6/14/14

The month of May was pretty good fishing. Lots of days with 10 – 15 fish to the boat. The bugs came out, as well as flying ants, which seem to get all the fish in a frenzy. Read here

6/8/14

I got the invitation from my buddy, Vince Cacciottoli, to join him at East Lake the end of May. He had rented a cabin and asked if I wanted to meet up with him. Read here

6/2/14

I had been anxiously waiting six months for this trip. . near ice-out at Paulina Lake. It would be a test of my new boat and gear for what was sure to be my Brownbagger-qualifying trip. Read here

5/24/14

The wind was blowing that evening as we got out around 5:00 p.m. We worked the area that had been producing some of the browns Dan had popped in recent days. Read here

5/17/14

Spring fishing is on !!! Been doing real well the last week. A couple day ago we landed three rainbows over ten pounds. Read here

5/11/14

I first met Dan at Paulina Lake in the fall of 2009. He had just caught a beautiful 13 LB. hookjaw brown early that evening and approached me to take some photos of him with it. Read here

5/3/14

I first got a call late that morning with Eric excitedly telling me he just popped a big laker near 30 LB. Though not his biggest laker (he had caught one just over 30 LB. at Flaming Gorge years ago) it wasn’t far off. It was caught on one of his dad’s A/C original’s in a 7 in. model.Read here

4/26/14

In my book, Spring is the best time of the whole season to land a trophy brown trout. With warming water temps triggering their metabolism’s, the big trout will start to go on more feeding binges. Read here

4/19/14

The fishing remained slow for the month of March, however we did hook into some big fish. Mostly Bull Trout, but there was the odd Rainbow caught that was of size. Read here

4/5/14

Had some pretty good Bull Trout fishing in February and March which is typical for this time of year. Lyman's have been my lure of choice. Read here

3/30/14

With the reintroduction of the Pilot Peak strain of lahontan cutthroat, Pyramid Lake is kicking out some monster cutts like never before in modern history these past couple of years. Read here

3/22/14

Well, it has been a slower season than what we expected. The “cabin fever” seems worse this year for some reason. Since the weather has been improving, I have wanted to get out as often as I could. Read here

3/15/14

Well, it has been a slower season than what we expected. The fishing has seemed to gradually get slower throughout the winter months. Although February and March are usually slower months, they are also the months when we seem to catch our biggest fish of the year. Read here

3/8/14

The 2013 Fall Derby produced two big gerrards weighing 23.5 LB. Under the photo: An old photo of me from fall 1993 at PO with my best gerrard at 21 LB. The gray hair was just starting to set it. lol. Read here

3/1/14

Our plan started out as every plan does, perfect! My good friend Eric Cole and I had planned on taking a relaxing fishing trip to Crescent Lake for some of their big Macks. Read here

2/15/14

I came to Alaska in the summer of 2003 with a college buddy from Wyoming. At first, I was blown away by the sheer scope and beauty of Alaska. I moved down to Seward to begin working on the halibut charter boats.Read here

2/1/14

We had some slower days with only a couple fish coming to the boat, however on a few of those slow days the couple fish we caught just happened to be the biggest fish of the week. So, we were rewarded for our patience.Read here

1/18/14

Been an interesting fall. Not the amount of big rainbows that we are used to. Some of the ones we have been getting have been quite long and thin. Kokanee numbers are down so I think this is the reason for thin rainbows. Read here

1/11/14

This time of year our choices are severely limited here in Central Oregon. For one, most of our lakes have an Oct. 31 closure on all fishing and for another, because winter usually limits access to the few that do remain open. capacity making it hard to get the boat in. Read here

1/4/14

Mount Contest Entry. This was a day in late September on Wickiup Reservoir in the unpredictable conditions of the Oregon Cascades. The water levels were really low at 22% capacity making it hard to get the boat in. Read here

12/28/13

The Solunar Table called for a good morning bite and as luck would have it, things went off like they called it. I hit this fat 8 LB.+ hen after only minutes on the water around 8:30 a.m. Read here

12/21/13

On our last trip of November, we finally saw a couple big fish come to the boat. A beautiful chrome 18 Lb. Rainbow followed by an amazing colorful 20 Lb. Rainbow. Read here

12/13/13

In recent years I have been much more interested in chasing the big gerrard rainbows of Kootenay Lake and Pend Oreille and pursuing the excellent trophy brown fishery right here in my own backyard. Read here

12/7/13

After a stellar year of downrigger fishing, we moved to top water a little early this year as the water cooled to 56 degrees in early Oct. Read here

11/15/13

If you have been following along, you know John Werwie and I have been hitting Kootenay Lake for several years now.Read here

11/8/13

Sean and I have been guiding for the past 5 years now, hunting the world’s largest rainbow trout, and the hidden monster browns of Diefenbaker.Read here

11/1/13

This year has been amazing! After so many years of a sharp decline in the Kokanee population, this year we have been blessed with a population explosion! They literally covered the top of the Lake from end to end!Read here

10/18/13

Catching good numbers of fish right now. Lots of smaller fish to sort through, but if you have some patience you'll be rewarded with a teener. Read here

10/9/13

I had decided to leave my boat at the dock at Paulina Lake Resort and make a trip back up later in the week to fish another day and then pull it home. As I pulled in yesterday morning, the temps were in the 20’s and snow was forecast later in the day. Read here

10/2/13

After we got set up we headed out for about an hour before dark. We did pop about a half dozen browns to 3 LB. before we got off. The next morning was full cloud cover with a little more wind than we like. Read here

9/25/13

The change is definitely in the air! Here in Central Oregon, the fall season has arrived with cooling temps, some rain and leaves starting to turn on some of the trees. Read here

9/18/13

The fall is one of my favorite times of the year and I am ready for it after this summer. I am usually ready for the cool down and especially this year as it seemed like we had one of the hotter summers I can remember. Read here

9/12/13

I got a call from my buddy, Eric Cole, the other day. He was wondering if I wanted to join him and Mike Accardo for a trip to Wickiup Read here

9/4/13

I had a chance to get back up to Wickiup before the Labor Day Weekend “madness” started. I took my buddy, Jerry Hellmers, and we hit it this past Wed. morning and fished until noon. Read here

8/28/13

At church on Sunday, I ran into a friend, Eric Norgaard, and he approached with that “cat that ate the canary” look in his eyes. Read here

8/22/13

We just got back from our annual Upper Klamath Lake trip. We fished it 5 days. It was outstanding. We got lucky and had a few storms push through which brought out some of the bigger fish. We had a few days with 25+ fish Read here

8/14/13

I had the chance to talk with several resort owners this week to get the latest fishing reports. Here are a few of them. Read here

8/8/13

This is a “good news/bad news” update on the Wickiup fire and as I see it, more to the good news side of things than the bad. I have feared that some day a fire would start around the vicinity of the reservoir. Read here

7/31/13

After we got back in town, I thought I would run up to Wickiup to see how the summer bite was developing. The water is dropping so fast that the ramp at Gull Point will be out of the water in another week. Read here

7/23/13

Summer brown action is heating up at several of our local lakes. I was out for a couple of days this week and managed to get some time in on Crane Prairie, Wickiup and East Lake for rainbows and browns. Read here

7/10/13

After many chores at home this summer, I finally made it up to Wickiup for a day chasing after some browns. The reservoir is going down rapidly this year due to the lack of snowpack and unusually drier than normal spring we had. Read here

7/2/13

The next morning I got Jerry up and out around 5:00 a.m. and we worked hard for a few more little browns. Finally that evening, Jerry stuck a nice 3.5 LB. buck Read here

6/18/13

I have been working around the house of late and after getting some landscaping projects down for the wife, I decided to take an afternoon to hit one of our Central Oregon lakes. Read here

6/11/13

Joe Warren sent me this current update on the status of the kokanee fishery over at Wallowa Lake. Many of you know that just a couple of years ago, the lake produced five Oregon State records and the World Record in the span of one year. Read here

6/4/13

One of my favorite lakes here in Central Oregon is East Lake. I guided there several years ago and was also very fortunate to be able catch a beautiful 10 LB. 3 oz. hookjaw brown back in June 2011 and then put my Grandson, Colin, onto a 10 Lb. 8 oz. hen later that same summer. Read here

5/28/13

In the early 60’s, my uncle, Dick Arnold, would haul me up to the surrounding high country around Bishop to fish for brookies, goldens, and rainbows in some of the little lakes that dotted the mountains above South and Sabrina Lakes. Read here

5/21/13

John and I had an epic two weeks together in May that I will never forget! Not just from the catching success rate, which was phenomenal, but some cool crazy stuff that happened along the way. Read here

5/14/13

This has been an incredible spring so far for me. I have popped a lot of quality browns and am grateful for every one of them! Read here

5/6/13

One month into Spring 2013 and already several Brownbagger members have caught some nice browns over 10 LB. That is the magical number members must surpass to add browns to the Brownbagger List. Read here

4/29/13

Just as fast as it can get good, it can slow up just as quickly. That is what I experienced this last trip. Read here

4/22/13

This is my favorite time of the year without a doubt! The browns get stirring after a slowed metabolism during the winter months. As the water temps get up into the 40’s and right up to around 50 they will continue to get more active. Read here

4/16/13

This is the time of year that browns with start to make a move into the shallows and are accessible right after ice-out on many lakes. Read here

4/8/13

Owen decided on a green and yellow Tomic plug for his line and put it about 60 feet down off the riggers. About 15 minutes later we had a fish on. Though we were inexperienced, we worked as an effective team Read here

4/1/13

With the water temps at 37 degrees, I didn’t really know what to expect but with the warming weather and recent reports of some good brown action, I was glad to get out on a nice warm day. Read here

3/26/13

Mount Contest Entry. I have only fished with one person that is as protective of a fishing hole as I am, and that is my friend and fishing partner Rafael Rossi. Read here

3/18/13

Mount Contest Entry. On January 12th, 2013, my friend, Jesse, and I were out fishing on Kootenay Lake. It was about 7:00 with a stiff breeze but we decided to stay out all day and I’m glad we did. Read here

3/11/13

The macks came off riggers at depths from 70-130 feet. He said they picked up the browns while flatlining. Looks like Crescent is starting to pop. Read here

3/5/13

Mount Contest Entry. On January 28th, 2013 in South Park, Colorado we had an awkward start to our morning. We got out on the ice at 8 a.m. and started drilling holes! Read here

2/19/13

Mount Contest Entry. I was fly fishing on a small spring creek in Central Pennsylvania this past May, 2012. My friend hooked a nice brown, about 18 inches, and I was watching him fight the brown in anticipation of helping him land it with my net. Read here

2/15/13

I was pulling my boat out of the water when Steve and his wife were arriving at the dock in his boat. We just started talking about fishing and one thing led to another. Read here

2/5/13

Mount Contest Entry. I grew up fishing the put and take lakes because it was easy to catch numbers of stocked fish and I think my father knew I would be hooked this way. The last few years I've focused most of my fishing time driving far west into the hills chasing larger trout. Read here

1/21/13

I was excited to be getting back to Lake Billy Chinook after three years away. When my wife retired a couple of years ago, we decided to buy a travel trailer and snowbird down in our old home town of Porterville during the winters. Read here

1/15/13

Mount Contest Entry. I have been fly fishing upstate New York in the fall annually since the year 2000. It may seem crazy to fly over 2000 miles to fish. That actually might be true, but for some the prize is worth the effort. Read here

1/5/13

Mount Contest Entry. I was alone, standing waist deep in the Clark Fork, fishing with a big stonefly nymph and a small mayfly nymph dropper. I had hooked several whitefish in just a few minutes... Read here

12/25/12

The last week to 10 days has been tough fishing. Low numbers and working hard to get our big one for the day. Not typical of this time of year. Read here

12/11/12

Mount Contest Entry. Jeremy Evers sent in his story on catching this killer 8 LB. 6 oz. hookjaw brown trout. It was caught at East Lake. Read here

12/3/12

After getting back from our Kootenay trip I was still hungry to fish. I hadn’t been to Crescent Lake in months and Fall can be a great time as the water temps start to drop and the overall fishing traffic falls off dramatically. Read here

11/26/12

Two days ago we had real steady action till 1:00 pm with the 18 being the biggest. At 1:00 pm the light switch turned off and we never got another bite. Read here

11/19/12

What can I say about Kootenay Lake that I haven’t already said? It is my favorite lake and if I were to choose the best fishing destination for trophy rainbow trout in the world, it would win, hands down! Read here

10/25/12

Pulled out three between 10 and 17 lbs a couple of days ago,on the 221 and 204. Most days getting fish over 10 lbs. Read here

10/15/12

I was chomping at the bit to get out to pursue some browns in the waning days of our fishing season here in Central Oregon that ends Oct. 31. Read here

9/26/12

The weather was supposed to remain under high pressure and I had gotten reports from fellow Brownbaggers, Dan Stewart, Ted Neal and Phil Brehjle, that they were still picking up some browns early and late. Read here

9/18/12

I met Dave Rossberg when he moved to Bend several years ago from Crane for his Diabetes treatments. He had gotten to the point of needing dialysis every other day and Bend had the facility to meet his needs. Read here

9/11/12

I found myself with an open afternoon and it was an easy choice on where to go fishing. Wickiup has been good the last couple of weeks as the browns are making their move up to stage prior to the spawn. Read here

9/3/12

My uncle, Dick Arnold, came up the next day to sample some of the best fishing the season can offer. We did well both days with some killer fish! Read here

8/27/12

This is the time of year that the browns can turn on in the famous lake. A lot depends on the water levels. The lake stayed really full this year due to the late spring snow and rain. Read here

8/20/12

Our dear friends, Chuck and Norma Bunch, came up for a week with us in July and we hit some of the local sights and made a trip into Western Idaho to see old friends we both knew. Read here

8/1/12

Chuck finally caught his best brown to date with a short, fat brown that was pushing right up to the 5 LB. mark on my Boga-Grip scale. Read here

7/23/12

It was not long until one of our rods started bouncing hard and pulled from the release, I grabbed the rod out of the holder and could tell it was a decent fish. Read here

7/16/12

My dear friend and old fishing buddy from Porterville, Gary Scott, would often say things were “double tough” when the fishing was super slow. That would kind of sum things up for East Lake this past week. Read here

6/25/12

Tues. morning I got out early and worked several areas I have caught fish from regularly over the years and scratched out a few browns to around 2.5 LB. Read here

5/29/12

The weather looked perfect with 40-60% of showers each day and overcast until after we left. You can't ask for any better conditions than that for this lake and the monster gerrards we would target. Read here

5/21/12

We thought it was a big laker the way it fought and sounded. About ten minutes into the fight, we could make out the silhouette of the big laker about 30 feet below us. Read here

5/14/12

Spring fishing on Kootenay Lake is on. Most days out getting rainbows over 10 lbs. All chromers coming in as the spawners are up at Gerrard now. Read here

5/7/12

After 4 months in California this winter without lifting a rod, I was more than ready to finally get out for some brown trout action. Read here

4/30/12

Spring fishing is starting. Starting to get rainbows on hair. Need to keep it slow to about 2 - 2.2mph. Should be full on here in a week or two. Read here

4/2/12

My friend, Jeff Morris, landed his 45th LCT over ten pounds on that day, and #45 was an exceptional one. It turned out that it was worth a new Polaris ATV as the reward for taking first place in the derby that weekend. Read here

3/26/12

Not too much new to report on Kootenay Lake. Still good Bull Trout fishing. Averaging 4 - 8 fish per day. Read here

3/19/12

February is gone already and the guys are still telling me that the fishing is still kind of hit and miss. Out of eight boats the other day one had their best fishing of the winter landing 8 fish Read here

3/12/12

Brandon Lane and I decided to head up to Lake Billy Chinook to fish the Metolius Arm opener and break in my new 18'6 Lund boat. We woke up to 5 inches of fresh powder so I knew the drive was not going to be fun. Read here

3/5/12

This year, the amount of time it takes to catch a quality fish, or any fish for that matter, has gone up significantly. Read here

2/12/12

Fellow Brownbagger, Matt Carollo, caught this monster hen brown this winter. The toad was 32.5 in. long and weighed in at 21.5 LB. Read here

12/16/11

The end of November already. Kaslo held their annual Rainbow derby on the Nov 11th long weekend and three more nice fish were brought in by the winners. Read here

12/9/11

Lots of great trips happening making for lots of smiling faces. The fishing is just awesome. Last trip out was saturday. We landed 7 rainbows between 11 and 18 lbs. Read here

12/2/11

Primetime Kootenay lake is on. Excellent fishing for Gerrard's. Water temp is in the low 50's which is prime. Most days out getting fish over 10 lbs or multiple fish over 10lbs. Read here

10/28/11

The middle of October and we have things happening. Water temp is in that 56 degree area where anything may work on any given day. Some guys are telling me that they are having great days on plugs and apexes, the next guy will tell me that everything was taken on hair.Read here

10/21/11

Kootenay Lake is fishing very well. The last 7 trips out we've landed at least one Gerrard Rainbow over 10 lbs. My top 3 producing flies have been the 228, 215 and the 205.Read here

10/13/11

Dan and I meet a couple of years ago when he ran his boat across Paulina Lake that October afternoon to get my help in taking some photos of him with his big male brown. He had just popped the gorgeous 13 LB. male a few minutes before. here

10/3/11

My buddy Phil Brelje caught his second brown trout over 10 LB. this year from Wickiup this past week. Back in the spring, he put a friend of his on a 15 LB. hen brown and then caught a 10 LB. male the same morning. Too bad he is so unlucky! Congrats again buddy! here

9/14/11

Though Wickiup didn't produce the incredible number of big browns it did last summer, there were still some quality browns caught. Read a report from the last couple of weeks here

8/31/11

My oldest grandson, Colin, has fished with me for most of his 17 years now. He has been coming up to Central Oregon every summer since he was 5. I have fond memories of his first trout that he actually hooked and reeled in by himself. Read more

8/18/11

I got a call from a buddy of mine, Tony Herrin, the other day. We realized we hadn't fished together in quite awhile and he had a drill he wanted to share with me. Since East Lake had been productive for better browns of late, we decided on giving that a shot for an early morning drill. Read more

8/10/11

Saturday morning was our best action of the trip. We found plenty of browns and Vince popped this beautiful 8 LB. hookjaw buck that really gave him his money's worth on the fight.Read more

7/21/11

I finally got the chance to take my buddy, Dave Rossberg, on a long overdue fishing trip. We have been planning this for some time now. Part of the delay was the logistics of getting him in and out of the boat. Read more

7/13/11

I was also going to test some new fishing products from www.cut2spec.com that owner, Paul Dubriske, had recently sent me. Paul was the original designer of the Downjigger many years ago and had, in 2007, revived his latest version of the G2 Jigger and his G2 Planerboard.Read more

7/6/11

I just returned June 21st from my third annual week long fishing trip to Wallowa Lake with my good friend. Wallowa Lake is such a special place so it is never hard to stay one week fishing. The thought of catching a large Kokanee easily keeps your interest peeked.Read more

6/29/11

When Alec arrived this June, I asked him what he wanted to accomplish as far as "fishing goals" go. He thought about it a bit and said "How about a 20 Lb. lake trout and a 10 LB. brown?"Read more

6/22/11

I thought I could catch 10 LB. browns at will back in the late 90's and the early 2000's when I put four on the Brownbagger list in a couple of years after 18 years of trying to get my first. Boy, was I wrong! It has been a humbling nine years since I landed my last brown of 12 LB. from Wickiup back in 2002.Read more

6/16/11

After a long winter off, I have been describing my behavior lately as a "fishing drunk." Seems like I haven't been home much in the last month and a half and fishing is the reason. Some of the trips were already scheduled but I have worked in a few more and the bottom line is...I have been "fishing my face off."Read more

5/25/11

We held the Bill King Memorial Rainbow derby on the May long weekend and had the best turnout since we started hosting the event, we had 93 participants take part in the derby. Read more

5/25/11

Some of my friends have asked me why I would get so excited about fishing for kokanee. It was never one of the highlights in my fishing experiences until I had heard about the enormous kokanee that Wallowa lake was starting to kick out about five years ago. Read more

5/18/11

Spring 2011 Fishing Report Collage

We knew we had timed our trip right due to all the shallow activity we were having.....a really good bite! The wind picked up around noon so we started to head in for lunch when my rod went over with line peeling off like crazy. This was obviously a much better fish than what we had been catching. Read more

5/11/11

Spring is here!!! Having some warm days finally and it feels great. The lake has been a bit behind because of the cool spring, but is turning on now. Usually it happens around mid or third week in April, but is a couple of weeks behind this year. Read more

5/4/11

There has been a ton of snow in the Sierras this year, and the Truckee River is raging into its terminal, Pyramid Lake. It has caused the fishing to be up and down, and the term I am labeling this spring's fishing with is "manic." Read more

4/27/11

We were working "skinny water" with abundant structure and it paid off with 4 browns to around 5 LB. I am sworn to secrecy on the actual lure but I can tell you that he was on to something. Read more

4/20/11

It was a day between storms with little wind and ample sun. It felt so good to be back home and fishing again. That is probably the longest stretch that I can remember when I have not fished. A little more than 4 months! Read more

4/6/11

My friend, Phil Brelje, put his buddy, Bob Braman, onto this monster hen brown that was pushing 16 LB. during a recent trip to Crescent Lake. Phil caught his second over 10 LB. during the same day. What a day! Read more

3/30/11

Now that the Nets have closed, fishing has been spotty and the action sporadic. There has been a very good bite early in the a.m., but these fish are mostly small slot sized fish. read more

3/23/11

Kootenay Lake continues to be exceptional. I've been telling everyone to expect things to slow down, but the fishing has continued to be very good. read more

3/16/11

Some of you may already know this, but RD and I had some of the best bull trout fishing of our lives at Lake Billy Chinook this last weekend. I was able to catch the largest bull trout of my life! read more

3/9/11

Fishing all through January has been generally good with the odd bad day especially around the full moon. Rainbows up to 24 lbs were being caught. There seems to be more guys getting out there than last year even though the weather seems to be worse. read more

2/27/11

Mike McNeilly recently sent me this Pyramid report with a photo of his best lahontan cutt yet. The big buck weighed 12 LB.+ and was released! read more

2/20/11

It seems that Mike Mott's new record rainbow broke the old one going back to Dec. 1971 that came out of Lake Mojave. His big beast weighed in at 16.5 LB. read more

2/13/11

Well the first annual Hook it Up Tackle's fishing derby in Nakusp was a huge success. Excellent turnout with 139 people entering, and approx 41 boats. read more

1/22/11

End of December and into January has been very good for trout. Most of the larger Gerrards are in the 15 - 18 lb range. I did see numbers of fish coming down as the water got colder, so I slowed my presentation down and threw out some Lyman plugs. read more

12/22/10

December continues to be excellent fishing. Still pulling hair on top at around 3 mph. Lyman plugs and flasher and hootchie on the downrigger is producing some nice Bullies. read more

12/6/10

I got a call from fellow Brownbagger and buddy, Jim Bringhurst, back in Oct. He asked me if I could join him for a trip to Lake Michigan in November. read more

11/27/10

Kootenay Lake is fishing hot. Great numbers of big fish coming in. Many days we're having multiple rainbows over ten pounds on the same day. A good example of this was on Nov.11 when Karl a new guy came out with two of his buddies. read more

11/20/10

Kaslo Derby Report. On the Friday I caught five, the largest about 12-pounds, two about eight-pounds and two shakers. I didn't take photos with the quite severe wind and rain. In fact, I didn't even net any fish, prefering to use plyers to release them next to the boat. read more

10/29/10

Catches of the week! read more

10/18/10

Fall is a special time to me... the end of summer and a shot at the big browns during their pre-spawn and spawning cycles. When you do tag one, they are usually breathtakingly beautiful in their best fall colors. read more

10/11/10

It seems like fall is coming early this year and this one may be the prelude to a bigger winter if the Almanac is right. read more

09/26/10

I had been up earlier in the week to fish with Dan Stewart and we both thoroughly enjoyed the time together. The fishing was tough and remained slow for most of Jan's and my stay. read more

09/12/10

It seems like fall is coming early this year and this one may be the prelude to a bigger winter if the Almanac is right. read more

09/05/10

After my report to the "Dinkmeister" the week earlier, John decided to make a trip up for some of the Wickuip brown action before the fall season ended and while you could still get a boat in. read more

08/29/10

A Trip to Remember! I met Chuck "ZZ Top" Jones back in the late 90's while I was pursuing trophy browns on our Central Oregon lakes. We hit it off right away with our mutual zeal for big browns and dedication to catching them. read more

08/12/10

I decided to meet up with the Dinkmeister and Mikey at Crescent for a couple of days. Colin and I had some decent luck on a couple of nice browns and a large laker the week before. read more

08/06/10

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. read more

07/31/10

I had the opportunity to have my good friend, Rick Coffin, and his grandson, AJ, out this past Thurs. evening at Wickiup. We had hoped to get AJ his first brown trout. read more

07/24/10

After a whirlwind trip to California to swap grandsons and deliver several fish to the taxidermists, it felt great to be back in Central Oregon! read more

07/10/10

We decided we would head back to Paulina and East for our final outing this year. It seems that the fishing is in a bit of transition from the spring to summer pattern. With the long wet spring, it has put everything about a month behind schedule... read more

07/02/10

Congratulations to my Grandson, Alec, on his biggest brown to date. We released this nice 8 LB. hookjaw right after this photo... read more

06/09/10

Fishing on Kootenay has still been great! Splitshot has been hot out there!... read more

05/29/10

The Bill King memorial Rainbow derby was held over the long weekend, with 60 participants vying for the bragging rights... read more

05/27/10

Hot off a trip back in April, John "Dinker" Werwie and I had made plans to hit Wickiup for part of a week in May. We met at the Gull Point campground on Wed. evening and got out for an evening run at the browns. With some great action early this season on some bigger browns, we were excited as usual... read more

05/21/10

It's interesting how it goes. Some days it's just fairly steady action, and other days you have a 1 to 2 hour window of opportunity when the bite turns on, and the big guys hammer your flies... read more

05/07/10

Kootenay Lake is fishing very well right now. There's been a couple of 20 pounders weighed in this spring already, and good numbers of 10 - 15's... read more

04/28/10

Sittin' here in my camper watching the snow fall and having some lunch. Fishing your old stomping grounds here at LT Bridgeport. This is my 4th day with 5 browns total... read more

04/29/10

I was driving home from a fishing trip of my own when I got a call from buddy, Eric Cole. He and one of his friends, Darrell Todd spent most of the opener at Wickiup in pursuit of big browns... read more

04/28/10

I was really pumped for our first fishing trip of 2010. What a sweet set-up we have dialed over the last several years. He brings his Lance camper and I meet him with my boat... read more

04/25/10

My buddies, Vance Haug and Scott Johnson, came west from Nebraska to fish Pyramid with me last week. I told them that a realistic goal for a big fish for them would be a 7Lber... read more

03/24/10

I couldn't believe that I was finally heading to LBC for the first time this year. More than three weeks after the Metolius Arm opening, I was just now getting out. Part of the problem is that larger bulls or even legal fish (24 in.) have been on the decline for the past couple of years... read more

03/23/10

Fishing has been nothing short of sensational for the last two weeks. The ice in our marinas has disappeared and that only means one thing...big fish... read more

03/03/10

This past Tuesday I called Jerry to go over the paint scheme of his mount. It was then I learned that a buddy of his and 35 year resident of Joseph, OR, Gene Theil, had just broken the record... read more

2/21/10

The water here on Lake Michigan is warming up and so is the fishing. Fished a couple of trips this week and we are averaging over 20 brown trout per trip. The water has been clear so stealth presentations have been key... read more

2/5/10

December was a tough month to do much fishing on the east slope of the Sierra's. Temperatures in the negatives,icy roads, and unplowed boat ramps made it difficult to get around... read more

1/29/10

What a month December was. Excellent numbers of rainbows to 15lbs. I think my favorite story was when my little buddy Tom came up for a visit, and we took the kids out fishing for a day... read more

12/1/09

What a great month November was. A very fishy month. Good numbers of Gerrard Rainbow Trout 11 - 14 lbs. The usual gear has been working well on top, although I took a couple of rainbows at 77 ft... read more

11/4/09

Last week I was out for three days. Day one we started hitting fish, but nothing of too much size. But we hung in there keeping busy with the small fish, waiting for that window of opportunity when the big guys light up. Sure enough at about 2:00pm we hook into a real nice fish, but after a short fight he comes off the line. We hope that wasn't our opportunity of the day, and sure enough a couple of hours later the planer board line pulls way back, snaps free, and the reel lights up. After a great battle, we finally boat a 14lb Gerrard Rainbow... read more

11/1/09

The 2009-2010 Pyramid season is off to a very exciting start. It appears that the Tui-Chub, the main baitfish in the lake had a very good spawn this year. The lake is loaded with very trout friendly sized bait, and the fish are putting on the pounds. Fish are running heavier per inch than they usually do, and they are fat and fighting well. At this time last season, one fish over ten pounds had been weighed in at Crosby's Lodge... read more

10/23/09

I had originally hoped to return to Kootenay lake up in BC this fall for a shot at the big gerrards, but it wasn't meant to be. With a sparse showing of the really big rainbows over 20 LB. these past few years, we decided to wait and see what develops this fall-spring (2009-2010) and possibly hit it next fall. I truly love that whole scene up there and have been dying to get back since our inaugural trip from Nov. 2007... read more

10/12/09

Fall is here and maybe winter is right on its heels. With 4-7 in of snow (depending on where you lived in town) falling on Oct. 4, a new record was established in Bend. The most snow for a day in Oct. EVER! I thought I better get back our there before it is all over this season. Most of our lakes will be closed at the end of this month. Dink and I will be hooking up this next weekend for probably our last trip of 2009... read more

10/2/09

I got a call from the Dinkmeister last week asking me if I would meet a buddy, Dave Peterson from Santa Rosa, while he was on a trip up here to Central Oregon. After a call from Dave, I decided to meet him at Wickiup and we spent a day and a half scouting for browns. It had been really productive the last few weeks. If you could locate the bait (kokanee) and knew what to do, you could score on the browns... read more

9/17/09

Wickiup remains good on the brown fishing. It is difficult to launch now that the main ramps are closed but beach launching is possible, but tenuous, as the water levels continue to drop. With dreamy weather of late, I couldn't resist and headed up by myself this past Thursday for an evening out... read more

9/10/09

This is my favorite time of the year to fish. The arrival of fall is always a welcome change for me. The crowds are gone, the air is getting to an ideal temperature, and the brown trout are preparing for their yearly spawning ritual. They are fattening up before it starts and getting into those exquisite displays of color that make them so distinct and unique.....the most beautiful trout of them all, in my book... read more

8/20/09

It had turned hot again and that is the kind of weather it takes to get my wife, Jan to got out fishing with me anymore. It is usually about 2-3 times a year that I can twist her arm and get her into the boat.....1) when the Grandsons are up and want her to go......2) and when it gets way over 80 degrees and she is comfortable. That is what we ran into last Thurs. when the weatherman called for 96 degrees and got it right.... read more

8/5/09

The highlight of my summers these past few years has been entertaining my two oldest Grandson's for a large part of the summer. They are 14 and 15 now and have enjoyed my spoiling them as we camp and fish for trophy trout each summer. They come in shifts with one of them here from mid-June through mid-July and then we swap them with the next one coming from mid-July to mid-Aug... read more

7/22/09

After a fairly long layoff with sprinkler systems and landscaping at the house, I managed to finally get out to fish with Alec, my middle grandson, in early July. We didn't stick anything to write home about but landed a few browns to 3 LB. at East Lake. The highlight of our fishing adventures took place at Klamath Lake in lower Oregon... read more

5/11/09

I had the opportunity to get down to Crescent for an extended trip this past week. My wife was fulfilling a scheduled visit with her Mom and sister in Indiana and I took advantage of the opening to meet the "Dinkmeister" at the lake Sun. eve. With a mixed weather forecast calling for everything that next week, we didn't know what to expect besides getting wet, wind blown and cold. Sure enough, the weatherman got it right this time... read more

4/29/09

One of the guys who shows up a lot in my reports is John Werwie. Since I am a nickname freak, I have assigned to him "Dink," short for Dinkweeder or one who "weeds the dinks." Though his accomplishments of catching (5) browns over 10 LB., including a monstrous 17 LB.+ hookjaw, would seem to conjure different visions than my nickname implies. I met John at Paulina Lake about 8-9 years ago . We were both members of the Brownbaggers Club and that was our open door. We hit it off immediately and started fishing together whenever we could. We have fished Pend Oreille and Kootenay for giant gerrards. Crescent Lake for big macks and numerous lakes in Central Oregon and several lakes in other western states for our biggest common denominator....big brown trout! ... read more

4/17/09

This time of the year in Central Oregon can often produce rain,snow, sun and wind all in the same day. With these weather changes comes the icing out of many of our lower for most of the winter from any opportunities to fish for these big browns, the true die-hard brown trout junkies are licking their chops and doing whatever it takes to get after their favorite query... read more