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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. The weather had been warming just enough, so I went out on a limb and promised her good fishing, or at least one big fish.

We arrived at dawn and started ripping big minnow imitations looking for an elusive brown, but had no takers. The sun started coming up and the water was flat....dead calm! I advised her that we were switching to the slow troll on the downriggers. We tried many presentations from around 8:30 to noon and had, what I think, was one short strike. Ugh, I thought.....and I promised her a big fish or good fishing. What an idiot!

Around 12:30 I switched tactics one more time and as I did the wind finally put a decent chop on the water. Twenty minutes later, "Fish on!" A small Mac at 6.2 pounds on her rod! She was happy, but I was still thinking about my promise.....

Another couple of short strikes and then I had one bury my rod. We cleared the lines and I sat down as line started peeling off my reel. "We might be here a while", I said. But it didn't take as long as I expected and we finally got to see him.....15 pounds and 12 ounces. He fought for a solid 15 minutes....the big boys take much longer to tire out. So she was happy and me too. I was able to come through on my promise!

At Donner, the local rule is that you release all fish over 10 pounds. This way our kids and grandkids have the chance to catch a monster mac.

Shaun