I had the opportunity to get down to Crescent for an extended trip this past week. My wife was fulfilling a scheduled visit with her Mom and sister in Indiana and I took advantage of the opening to meet the "Dinkmeister" at the lake Sun. eve. With a mixed weather forecast calling for everything that next week, we didn't know what to expect besides getting wet, wind blown and cold. Sure enough, the weatherman got it right this time!

Monday morning was overcast with a slight chop and the water and about all you could ask for to work some shallow water tight and rip some plugs. I had caught a couple of small ones and then right over one of my favorite points, I had a good grab and instantly the brown was in the air. I love it when you hook the occasional brown that thinks he is an acrobat. This 4.5 LB. hookjaw just kept jumping and I would guess he got into the air at least 6-7 times right after he hit. Cool stuff! After his photo moment, I released him.

A little later that morning, I did hook into the nicest brown of our trip. With higher water this year, much of the structure that has been out of the water for several years, is back into play. We were running over a submerged boulder field when he hit. When he first grabbed the plug, he took off and the sweetest sound I ever hear played out for 10-15 seconds. I like to set my clicker for just these moments. I thought he would go much bigger than he weighed but this 6.5 LB. hooker just thought he was 10 LB! What a great fight!

The approaching front brought some nasty winds and possibly the falling barometer didn't seem to help the fishing much. We struggled to get a few dinks and then the wind became a factor and boat and speed control were severely hampered. Some wind chop is a good thing.....high winds usually aren't. That was followed by snows coming in for a night and a day. Luckily, the warmer ground didn't collect much snow but it did stay steady for most of the day. That turned over to a steady rain with wind and the bottom line was that 3 of the 5 days were super tough conditions. My theory is that as a front is first approaching, sometimes the fishing will turn on. When the cold front is in and the weather stays unsettled for many days, it can get tough...at least that is what I have observed many times over the years. As in all things, there are exceptions to every rule.

Finally, on Thurs. morning, we awoke to improving weather and at least we had some boat control again with dying winds. After a fairly fruitless early morning, we decided to work on a piece of structure that I hadn't fished near in several years. The higher water had put it into play so we messed around there for a couple of hours defining what it had to offer. While coming over a break at 30-40 feet John had a good hit and we knew instantly, by the way it was fighting, it was a mack. I had caught a couple of "puppies" as I like to call the 5-10 LB. fish earlier in our stay, but this laker had some weight to it. It wasn't a bruiser but a nice fish and weighed in at over 16 LB. That was our top fish for the day.

On Fri. morning we had flat calm and full sun. Though a much welcomed change from what we had all week, the other extreme isn't what you want when looking for flatline brown trout action. I was leaving at noon and with the sun high and our shallow water opportunities over, we decided to work the same area as the day before with downriggers. Although I have little interest in fishing for the macks anymore, we set up with some big plugs to see if we could scare up a decent mack. As I got too tight a rock wall, I had to bring the ball up and as I did, I got hit. I was pulling a B-17 custom painted Bomber that is about 8-9 in.long and was surprised to see the 4 LB. brown that had chased it down. Just goes to show that bigger is better sometimes.

After I got home, I got a call from Dink the next day that he had stuck a mack over 20 LB. to finish up his stay. We will get together again sometime this summer for more brown trout action. Look for more reports on brown trout and an upcoming trip for a big lahontan cutt in early June in Washington.

Tight Lines,

Rick