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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.

I have only lost one really big brown in the Fall and that was back in Oct. 2004. He was a big boy in the 13-14 LB. class.....I know for sure because I had him beat, or so I thought, and only about 30 feet from the boat. After playing him for what seemed like 20 minutes (probably 10) he rolled violently right on the surface and the line, that was wrapped around his head several times, popped. I think it was wedged in the back vortex of one of the trebles of my lure. After a few seconds, he righted himself and then slowly swam back down with the lure visible in the corner of his mouth and gill cover.

It was a big buck hookjaw and I don’t think I will ever get that experience completely out of my mind! That was eleven years ago and it seems like yesterday!

This past week I headed back up to Paulina to chase the browns. On Tues. I was by myself and ran a couple of rods for most of the day. I know I caught at least 20 browns but most were dinks. I got one around 3 Lb. and the best of the bunch was this nice buck that weighed 13 LB. in my 4 Lb. net. After a few photos, he was an easy release and took right off after I revived him. I also had two good grabs but they didn’t stay hooked.....just a couple of big “drive byes.”

On Thurs. I had promised my buddy, Tom Staley, a morning out to fish for browns before he had to get back to work later that afternoon. Tom had helped me to install a new motor and toggle switch on one of my Walkers a few weeks before and I said I would like to get him out on the water when it worked for him.

We were getting hits right away and I had caught a couple of dinks. I had a short strike on what I would have guessed was a little guy, and as I was reeling in to check the lure, I got hammered. I told Tom I was on and not that far from the boat. He got out of the way and I played another good brown right to the back of the boat. I could finally make him out and he was probably in the 8-9 Lb. range as I peered down into the calm flat surface in the morning light. As Tom was getting the net, he shook his head and the lure was out.....oh well, you win some, you lose some! I think we caught about 6-7 browns that morning but nothing of any size.

We had to get off around noon as Tom had his afternoon bus route at school. I hope to get back up later in Oct. after a trip to California.

At the end of the month, I will be heading up to Pend Oreille for a shot at a big gerrard......stay tuned!

Tight Lines,
Rick