Lake Billy Chinook 3-18-05

My first official trip (under Trophy Trout Guide) is under my belt and the results were great. I have taken quite a few people out fishing the last 5 years both for pleasure and business (corporate trips for Scotty, Pro-Troll and Shimano) but it is a little different when the money is on the line. It will take a little getting used to but since I love both people and fishing, I'm confident about the transition.

I met Phil Hamlin, Dave Swan and his son Nathan at the Deschutes Ramp around 5:45 a.m. I had pre-fished the day before to mediocre results. I had worked real hard for 4 fish up to 8 lb. The bright spot was the performance of the new A/C Kokanee pattern plug that Allan Cole had sent me too try on the bulls. All the fish came off it.

We started the morning up around the island where I had spotted a lot of bulls and kokanee the evening before. Unfortunately, they didn't want anything after 4:00 p.m. the day before in spite of my running 5-6 different plugs on the downriggers that are usually quite successful. This morning started off as the previous day ended. Real slow! In fact we didn't catch a fish until around 9:30 or 10:00 when I changed tactics after watching a boat make a run shallower than we had been fishing. With a developing SW wind coming in and signs of kokanee working the top fairly shallow, we changed gears and put some J-13 Raps on and made the traditional run along the North shore on the Indian side. Right after rounding the point in the middle, the shore side rod went over hard. I immediately jumped on it and set the hook. It was agreed that Nathan would get the first fish. As I passed the rod off, I realized that this was a large fish by the way the drag was humming. I worked on clearing the other rod and turned the boat out from shore. By the time I had us in position to settle into the fight, I noticed that Nathan was at the mercy of the fish that had worked into the shallows. He couldn't seem to make any progress, so I asked if I could check out the drag and took the rod. I could then feel the surging fish and the telltale feeling of the line scrapping over rocks. POW! It was over in a couple of seconds as the frayed line gave way. We never saw the fish but my estimate was a fish definitely over the 10 lb. range....probably way over.

We stayed with this drill for several more passes and managed to hook and release 4-5 bulls by noon. Phil and Dave shared big fish honors with a tie at 8 lb. After a slow down we headed up to the Metolius Arm nearer the river to see what was going on up there. It was a bust so we returned to the island and hooked and landed a few more. We finished up the day working a stretch of shoreline in the Deschutes Arm and Dave landed a 4 lb. bull to cap off the day. All in all, we landed 7 of 9 bulls and had a great time.

I am heading up to pre-fish with friends on Mon. and then have guided trips on Tues. and Thurs. Look for more reports to follow later in the week.

Tight Lines, Rick