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Foundry Church, as we are now known here in Bend, selected a new pastor to replace our retiring pastor last fall. Jan and I were gone to California for the winter and didn’t get much of a chance to know Trevor and his family until our return in March.

It was my pleasure to take Trevor and his dad, Gary Waybright, out this past week for a shot at some lakers and browns at Crescent Lake. We had agreed to make it an afternoon and morning outing and rented a cabin for Thurs. night. 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.

Fishing an area I like out off the main point at the end of the “Summer Homes,” we only had one hook-up but it was a good one. After short battle it was over when the line broke. Always hard to say how big a fish is if you never see it but I can say that while trolling at a super slow 1.4 m.p.h. and since it popped it out of the rigger release and loaded the rod really well, it might have been a toad.....we will never know! All I can say is it was a laker for sure.

After an early dinner at Manley’s, we got back out to chase after the browns until dark. After catching a couple of smaller lakers around Simax, we made a move to check some other structure I like. I lined up on a run and put the first rod out and then as I dropped the second rod out and set it in the holder, it got hit on the way out. The only problem, and it turned out to be a major one, was as it hit the dropping lure with the reel in free spool it took off and over spun the spool. That is a nice way of saying we ended up with a major backlash with what was a BIG, hot, trout.......laker or brown.....can’t say but in the area and at that depth, it would lead me to believe maybe it was a brown. It didn’t really matter because as I handed the road off to Trevor, all I could say was reel if he gives you any opportunity. As it turned out, the bad boy took line until he hit the backlash and then his weight and no drag capability caused the hooks to pull. A very frustrating experience and a real heartbreaker to lose one like that....nothing we could do!

Luckily, after I did finally get the backlash out, we were fishing both rods again and about 15 minutes later, Gary is fast to a nice trout. When we got it up I could see the wide back and deep girth on this killer hookjaw. Though not very long, this fire plug weighed in at just over 12 LB. when I weighed him in the net......that is 8 LB. discounting my 4 LB. net. I modeled a photo pose for Gary and after a few photos of us both, I dropped him back in. That was the finish to our evening.

We got up early the next morning and made another run at the browns while the light was low.......nada! I changed gears and I decided to see if we could find some lakers. I found a bunch but they were not interested in much we offered until a short but fat 10 Lb. laker hit on the rigger for Gary. He blew up on the way up and I had to drop him back down on the rigger to allow for his air bladder to adjust. I left it down for awhile and this time when I brought him up the second time he was fine and an easy release. We called it quits at lunch time and had a meal together before Trevor and Gary took off for Bend. An hour later I had loaded the boat and was on my way home as well.

Sure wish I could have seen that trout that hit the lure on the way out......he was big! My only regret of the trip!

Tight Lines,
Rick