Often ice-out conditions can bring some of the biggest browns of the season to the top. This occurred at East and Paulina Lake the week following Memorial weekend right after East and Paulina finally opened up this year. As you can see from the photo of Todd Brown ice fishing in late spring, the ice was really thick after the big winter we had in 2008 here in Central Oregon. More often than not, ice-out conditions don't produce the big browns but every few years, they do go off. This was the case this year.
Wednesday after the weekend, John "Mr. Paulina" Hofferd, caught his 11th brown trout exceeding the magic 10 LB. mark. The beautiful 14 LB.+ hen was weighed at the resort. John is the previous owner of both Paulina and East Lake Resorts and has a summer cabin on the lake. His best brown is a monster 24 LB. hen from the lake a few years back. Congrats John on a killer brown! Not to be outdone, Steve Keene also caught a big hen that went 14 LB.+ the weekend after Memorial. An unknown angler bagged a monster 17 LB.+ hookjaw on Sat. of that same weekend. That makes (3) teener browns in (5) days! Not to be left out, East also produced a 12 LB. brown. This was the best opening for big browns in several years up in the crater.
Be sure and get your reservations in soon at Paulina or East for a cabin as this could be a banner year for big browns.......at least we have a great start to the season so far!
Often ice-out conditions can bring some of the biggest browns of the season to the top. This occurred at East and Paulina Lake the week following Memorial weekend right after East and Paulina finally opened up this year. As you can see from the photo of Todd Brown ice fishing in late spring, the ice was really thick after the big winter we had in 2008 here in Central Oregon. More often than not, ice-out conditions don't produce the big browns but every few years, they do go off. This was the case this year.
Wednesday after the weekend, John "Mr. Paulina" Hofferd, caught his 11th brown trout exceeding the magic 10 LB. mark. The beautiful 14 LB.+ hen was weighed at the resort. John is the previous owner of both Paulina and East Lake Resorts and has a summer cabin on the lake. His best brown is a monster 24 LB. hen from the lake a few years back. Congrats John on a killer brown! Not to be outdone, Steve Keene also caught a big hen that went 14 LB.+ the weekend after Memorial. An unknown angler bagged a monster 17 LB.+ hookjaw on Sat. of that same weekend. That makes (3) teener browns in (5) days! Not to be left out, East also produced a 12 LB. brown. This was the best opening for big browns in several years up in the crater.
