Scott Family Outing - Take Three

Once again it was time to head back to East Lake for our annual family camping/fishing adventure. My son Tyler, myself and his friend Zach left a day early as my wife was still working. We arrived in the afternoon, got the boat moored, the truck and camper situated and then headed down to the lake to try and scare up some Brown Trout. The new 2-rod license turned out to be a blessing and a curse. It was great when trying to figure out what pattern was hot for the day but was difficult to manage at times with 5 rods out and a pretty heavy wind blowing. We started out with 4 rods for 3 people and that seemed to work the best. The rule in my boat is that the rookie/new guy gets the first fish regardless of which rod goes down first. Tyler briefly protested as Zach has been with us the previous 2 years, but I made it clear that Zach is still a newbie since that’s the only other times he’s been out with us. He was even wearing his “lucky shirt” (printed on the front) so good things were sure to follow. He was well overdue as we have dubbed him “3 pound Zach”. I have tried for the past 2 years to get him a Brown over 5 lbs but all he can do is rack up a pile of 3 lb’ers, lots of them…….. Hence the name. We started trolling one of our usual runs and after a short time Tyler’s rod dips in the downrigger. Zach gets first crack at, sets the hook and we’re on the board but the fish had other intentions. After a few short runs and some pretty good headshakes we get a look and it’s a good one. Zach eased the colorful hookjaw into the net and neat as you please he’s just landed his new personal best at 22 inches and 5 ½ pounds. Check out the Release Video!

Tyler still protested a wee bit as that fish would also have been a PR for him as well, but that’s just the way it happens sometimes. He got a little ribbing over it from Zach and me plus the Trophy Trout Hunter gang but he was a good sport about it. There weren’t any more big fish but we managed to catch a few other smaller ones before the evening was over.

The next morning we were back at it right at legal light. It started off very slow with no strikes for the first couple of hours. Around 8 a.m. I hooked up with a real nice 4 lb’er. Here's the release video!

Things were still slow with a few smaller ones mixed in and then about 10:30 my downrigger pops loose. I set the hook and a good Brown starts peeling some line. I told the boys to clear the remaining rods so we don’t end up with any unwelcome surprises. After lots of good headshaking and a few short runs the hookjaw was in the net. He did a few rolls along the way and managed to wrap himself up pretty good. It was another good Brown at 22 inches and 5 ½ lbs . Got a good release video of this guy!

We didn’t fish that evening as my wife, daughter and her friend had arrived. We spent the rest of the day tending to camp chores and just relaxing.

Thursday morning was a tough one. We only managed to scratch up one dink by 9 a.m. so we called it and went back for some pancakes, bacon and eggs.

That evening a friend from work came up to join me for a few hours. It started out real slow again, but I changed tactics a little and was able to get him 5 fish before legal light had expired. None of them were over 2 lbs but he was happy to have caught them and learn a little about the methods we use.

Friday was as tough as Thursday. We were back out early and again, it was very slow. Through 9 a.m. we only boated 3 smaller fish for our efforts. BWild had arrived that afternoon and had four friends with him that had planned to spend the weekend fishing with him and RD. RD wasn’t scheduled to arrive until 10 pm or so which meant two of them would have to wait on shore and not fish. I offered two of them (Ryan Kiely and Logan Sheridan) seats in my boat and just had the boys sit this evening out. They eagerly accepted and we were off. Unfortunately the wind decided to whip up and make a mess out of the lake. With the boat bouncing all over and struggling to keep it straight, it was very hard to even see if the rods got a strike. We went the whole night without a bump (that we knew of) and with about 4 or 5 minutes of legal left we finally got a takedown. Logan gets his first Brown ever at 4 lbs!! What an awesome start !!

Saturday morning Zach and Tyler decided to sleep in so I went out solo and that turned out to be a bad decision for the boys. I started getting into fish immediately, only a couple dinks landed but a far cry better than the other mornings. About 7:30 I trolled over a spot that had some sizeable arcs in it and a place where we’ve all tied into some bigger fish. My downrigger released and I was into a decent fish. I still had my second rod out and no way to clear it so I needed to be careful. The fish made a couple short bursts and a bit of the tell-tale headshaking before I got it into the net. A nice 4 lb’er for my efforts. I reeled up the second rod so I could turn and make a second pass. I got one rod set in the downrigger and had only let out about 50 feet of line on the second when the first rods goes off again. 2 passes on the same slot within 10 minutes and I picked up another 4 lb’er. I got one other 3 lb’er before 9 a.m. and 6 fish total for the morning……………….. Annnnnnd the boys were still sleeping.