I was looking forward to the two day trip with former client and now friend, Vince Cattiottoli this past week. We had a ball last year and Vince did get a bull around 10 LB. to cap that trip. It had been pretty spotty at best the opening week so far and I was hoping we would get a hot bite somewhere in this trip. We did get lucky!

The first morning was slow with only two dink bulls all the way up into the afternoon. Around 4:30 we had gone back into the "thousand yard run", as I refer to it. That is, of course, the run along the Indian shoreline just across from Chinook Island that is the most productive bull trout area of the lake, in my estimation. There is just something about that area that holds the kokanee and the bulls for a large part of the spring. Most anglers that have ever fished the lake are aware of this and the daily boat traffic confirms it. Anyway, we were running a custom painted B-16 on one side and the new production A/C Original 7" on the other side when I saw the rod load up hard on the downrigger outside. I was running the lure just off the bottom when the big bull hit. I watched the rod in Vince's hands and knew this was a good fish. When we finally got the bull near the boat, the best part of the fight was on. It probably took about 10 minutes for us to get that bull in the net.

After a couple of close calls, I finally made a decisive stab for her with the net and she was ours. This was a really nice bull of about 31 in. and weighed a little over 17 Lb. in my 4 LB. net. A beautiful 13 Lb. bull! After some shots of each of us, we released her and high-fived with exhilaration after the long drought of the fishless afternoon, up until now. We were starting to graph fish so we tightened up the run and pounded the area pretty good. On the next pass, I saw the hit on my side and grabbed the rod from the holder to pop the release. Nobody home at first, but as I started reeling, I felt the grab and set the hook. I immediately passed the rod to Vince and he was fast into another nice bull. This hen turned out to be a healthy 9.5 LB. bull. We got right back at it and on the next pass, Vince hooked up on what we estimated to be a 6 LB. bull. Not bad for about 45 minutes of a hot bite. A school of some bigger bulls had pushed some kokanee right up into an area that had been pretty fruitless for most of the day for us. I have seen this happen a number of times with the bulls.

It was funny how fast that scenario developed and then ended. It was as if some one had reached up and flipped the switch. Around 5:30 he decided to head in after realizing it was over. We were to meet up with senior PGE biologist Don Ratliff and his wife Marty for dinner in Culver at the Round Butte Inn.

Next day, we were pumped after the evening ending action of the night before. It turned out to be a slow bite with one 4 LB. bull to show for the first half of the day. We were hoping that another late day bite would turn on but it didn't happen. That is fishing! It was great to see Vince again and that Thurs. evening flurry sure made the trip. Look for continued reports from LBC to follow as my guide season progresses.

Sreamin' Drags,
Rick