One of the guys who shows up a lot in my reports is John Werwie. Since I am a nickname freak, I have assigned to him "Dink," short for Dinkweeder or one who "weeds the dinks." Though his accomplishments of catching (5) browns over 10 LB., including a monstrous 17 LB.+ hookjaw, would seem to conjure different visions than my nickname implies. I met John at Paulina Lake about 8-9 years ago . We were both members of the Brownbaggers Club and that was our open door. We hit it off immediately and started fishing together whenever we could. We have fished Pend Oreille and Kootenay for giant gerrards. Crescent Lake for big macks and numerous lakes in Central Oregon and several lakes in other western states for our biggest common denominator....big brown trout!

We had been awaiting word from someone near the lake for road conditions and accessibility due to snow. When the word came in that we could get in, we were off within a couple of days. I was going to get there first on Sat. and Dink would show up with the camper on Sun. afternoon. As I pulled in, I was surprised to see Allan Cole making a lap around the lake. He recognized me at the ramp and waved. After exchanging greetings at the launch, I was ready to get after some browns. I can't believe how lucky I was to stick a really nice one right off the bat. I had just come over a point that has almost always produced some nice browns for us in the past, when I got slammed on the drop back from my rip or jig as some like to call it. Here is a pointer for anybody who is interested in top line / flat line fishing for brown trout. If you will sweep the rod forward and drop it back while trolling, you will increase your bite ratio about 200-300%. The browns love it!

I could tell by the rod loading it was a nice fish and had some weight. The cooler water temps of 43 degrees had him a little lethargic but he still made a couple of good runs before coming boat side. It was 6:15 p.m. and I had only been on the water for an hour or so and bingo, I had a nice brown. I suspected it wouldn't go 10 LB. but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go and "burn" the "old man" with my nice buck. Allan took a couple of photos for me and after weighing it on both of our scales we agreed it was between 8.5 and 9 LB. Great way to start a trip!

Next morning Allan woke me after we slept in the back of our respective rigs in the launch parking lot. After a cup of coffee, we were after them again....the browns that is. I got lucky again and got into another nice brown that was also over 8 LB. After recovering in my live well, I got Allan to take a couple of shots for me before release. Dink pulled in about noon and we asked Allan over for lunch/dinner that afternoon before the evening drill. Nothing much happened of "big trout significance" that evening and Allan decided he was heading home. We said out goodbyes and Dink and I settled in for Sun. night.

We were heading into a warming trend and as the temps climbed, things seemed to slow for several days. We caught a few dinks but nothing over 3 LB. Finally a weather front approaching on Thurs. got things heated up a little. In the morning, I stuck a nice 5 LB. buck and then that evening I stuck another 8 LB. hen to cap the day. When we woke Fri. morning, we were greeted by 2-3 in. of new snow. My boat was not all that inviting as I had left the center window door open and we had snow all over everything. It was a senior moment thing since I just turned 60.

That morning my 6.5 LB. buck was my last decent brown of the trip. Dink got a nice 4.5 LB. hen for his biggest of the trip. Fri. evening after the front moved through was tough. We decided to see what Sat. morning brought before we made the call about when to pull out. With only a couple of short strikes and a few of the planted rainbows, we knew it was over. We broke camp and headed for home by mid morning.

I will be hitting several Central Oregon Lakes over the next few weeks so drop back for more reports.

Tight Lines,
Rick