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. They have been nice fish to boot......mostly 4-8 LB. and of course there is always a chance at a toad.

I met Dave at the campground and after greetings, we got my boat on the water. A front had just moved in, our first of the fall, and I was wondering how it affect the fishing. The temps had dropped over 25 degrees and light rain and winds had hit the area. When we got on the water, I amazed to see that the water temp had dropped from 62 to 52 in only a week!!

Dave got the first brown that was around 3.5-4 LB. and, as usual, they are getting more colorful as they get closer to the spawn. We weren't seeing as many schools of kokanee as all the larger fish were up river spawning and only the younger fry and one year old class of fish were still around. They were scarce now as well. We adjusted out tactics and worked some other areas. It did pay off. Dave has the lucky one and had (3) browns in the boat before I finally hooked up. It was worth the wait though as a nice 7 LB. buck brown, that was easy release as the hook popped off while he flopped in the net, went to my side of the scoreboard. We ended up with (2) more browns for a total of (6) and one big spawner kokanee that hit my plug. A good start!

Next morning we were greeted by a heavy fog ( very common) and slightly warmer temps due to the cloud cover. The wind had subsided and after some coffee and rolls, we were on the water. It was definitely a slower day and we only caught (4) browns for the day. Dave got his best of the outing with a lean hen that was around 27-28 in. and weighed in the mid 7 LB. range.

Dave will be staying for at least another week and we may hit Paulina or East to show him more of the Central Oregon beauty and variety that we are blessed with. Dinker will be up mid month and we will hit several lakes for a week to 10 days....stay tuned for more reports. After finishing up on the new house last fall, I am making up for it this fall....as someone once said, " it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it." I signed up!

Tight Lines,

Rick