“MAKING A TROPHY TROUT WALL”                       

We were asked by a trophy trout fishing website if we wanted to do an interview on how Pop and I got started into trophy trout fishing, and what we’ve accomplished. We really appreciated the offer, but talking about ourselves makes us feel uncomfortable. It is just not in our nature. After some consideration (we thought), okay the years are getting on, maybe now is a good time for “looking back”, and perhaps we could write a story. For what it is worth…

Pop and I did not start trophy trout fishing until fourteen years ago, 1996. We got such a late start because, prior to that, we were into trophy hunting. Actually, fishing was just a fill-in between hunting seasons.

During the early years (as far back as I can remember), to get away from the big city, Mom and Pop used to take all of us kids on hunting and fishing trips. We have always enjoyed the outdoors. Fortunately for Pop and I it grew into much more. Starting in 1981, we became obsessed with hunting. Since California trophy prospects were minimal we consequently went on twenty eight out of state hunting trips in fourteen years.  Many backpacking into rough country, especially way back where the mountain peaks reach for the sky. We took a number of trophies including a 31 inch buck, two big 310 and 326 bulls, and a 83 point antelope that just missed going “book”. We learned that going the extra mile (paying your dues), will eventually turn into success. Our trophy hunting background, basic philosophies and principles, I believe, became the foundation for our trophy fishing success.

After Pop’s heart surgery we soon realized that hunting had become too physically demanding. Besides out of state tags were getting harder and harder to come by. We found ourselves at a major fork in the road. Even though we loved hunting, we decided it was in our best interest to make a change. For Pop and I, that was easy, the change was obviously going to be fishing.    

Always looking to improve our catch, one day we had a premonition to call Rich Rienwald. Who is not only on top of the brownbaggers list, but also was once a top rainbow guide on Pend Oreille. Obviously he knows how to catch the big ones. I can’t remember how we got his phone number and having never met, our first conversation started out kind of awkward. But to our delight (and surprise), he started to loosen up. After three phone calls he even explained, in great detail, some of his rainbow techniques and closely guarded secrets. However, he did make us promise not to tell anyone! His advice not only improved our knowledge and proficiency but also reinforced our confidence. All of which Pop and I believe helped to elevate our trophy fishing to a new level. Thanks Rich.

 On our last five trips north, we caught seven rainbows between 18.3 to 23.7lbs, four over 20lbs. To say the least, Pop was very happy with the upgrade, putting the biggest two, 22.2 and 23.7lbs, on the wall.

You work long and hard for these trophy fish and it is always such a surprise when you do catch one. Each fish is significant and very much appreciated. You never know if you’ll catch another one. How did we do it? We don’t know exactly, my guess, mostly luck (a fisherman’s best friend).

“The Browns”

Revert back to 1996, with the Klamath rainbows on the wall. We turned our obsession to a 10lb plus brown. I do have to admit, there is something special (and different) about big browns, mysterious, secretive, even intimidating. At that point, inexperienced, only a few small ones caught incidentally, our work was cut out for us. We had to formulate a game plan (like Tony Larussa getting the Cardinals ready for the World Series), and try to cover all the bases.

In the days before the internet craze, there was less information available and it was harder to find. Even then you didn’t need to research much to hear about the Brownbaggers Club and that these guys knew how to catch the big ones. I can remember Pop telling me, “If we can get to know them, they could point us in the right direction”. Yeah and how would we do that? We decided the best way was to go catch a big brown to get their attention… easy said, but not easy to do.

Ok, where to start? Back to our trophy hunting roots, certain areas (lakes) have a better chance of producing big browns. After weeks of research we decided on Wickiup Res. and Paulina Lake in Oregon. One and a half years later, with two previous trips to Wickiup and one to Paulina under our belts, we still had no big brown pictures to show. From these experiences, along with the stories you hear of knowledgeable trophy fisherman going years between big fish, we figured (as it should be), it would take a lot of hard work and persistence. We were in it for the long haul.

Fortunately, during a phone conversation with (then  Paulina Lake Resort owner and big brown fisherman) John Hofferd, we got a tip, nothing major, but it ended up being a key piece of the puzzle, that helped open our minds to a new level of intuitive thinking. I can remember for weeks prior to our next trip, Pop, mom and I would meet at a coffee shop (before work), a couple of times a week. We would get into heavy conversations, studying, analyzing, fine tuning our M/O. and get all excited, taking notes, drawing diagrams on napkins… formulating our game plan.

With this new game plan, the fall of 1997, we had a “trip we will never forget”. The weather at Paulina was clear and cold with ice forming on our guides in the mornings. On the second day, we decided to try a new area that we had been thinking about. On our third pass we hooked what at first felt like a nice 6-7lber, coming in fairly easily to about forty feet of the boat. Then we saw her, “Oh my god, it is huge!” No question, well over 10lbs. Instantly, we started getting very nervous, every time she would dive and take out line, we would hold our breath. Please don’t loose this fish. Finally, she was in reach of the net, with one scoop she was ours.  We lifted her into the boat and just stared. .. In awe and amazement. Shocked. After a couple of high fives, we started to get our senses back. My first impression was how fat and stocky she was (I’d never seen an older mature brown). Anxiously, we measured and put her on the scale, 32 inches long and 15lbs 5ozs, Wow! While taking photos, an unbelievable feeling came over us, of luck, gratitude and satisfaction all rolled into one. Then we headed for the resort to verify our catch. We were surprised, she only went 13lbs 14ozs on the old Berkley digital scale. Anyway we were in heaven (our first over 10), our trip was more than made, even if we didn’t catch another fish.

Who says lighting doesn’t strike twice? Three days later, again we hooked what felt like a 6-7lber, coming in easily. Then we saw her, “Oh my god, another huge brown!” We knew the routine, de ja vu, the same sequence, the nervousness, the holding of our breath before coming to the net. We couldn’t believe our eyes. This fish was even bigger than the first one! Longer, fatter, massive… a true monster. Stunned, we didn’t know what to say and just looked at each other, shaking our heads in disbelief. Nervously, we measured and weighed her, 34 inches long and 20lbs 8ozs, holy sh**! We took our photos and headed for the resort. Again considering the length, and the exceptional girth, surprisingly she only went 19lbs on that old scale. (Nothing we could do about that.) Anyway, she still was the largest brown taken in Oregon that year. We couldn’t believe our good luck, two rookies catch two exceptional browns on one trip. Check out the photos!

After the two browns, we took a three year detour, chasing the big macks at Flaming Gorge. Meanwhile, we kept hearing good reports from Wickiup Res. By mid-summer 2001, something told us we should go there. Pop said, “Let’s try to catch another 10lb brown and join the Brownbaggers Club”. Hence, we planned a trip for September, during the fall draw down, concentrating the browns into the main channel. As luck would have it, surprisingly we caught two big browns, (32 inch) 12.4lb and 10.4lb, our first big hookjaws! Now we had our prized Brownbagger patch.

A year later (fall 2002), on our very next brown trip, this time to Paulina, we lucked out on the last day, the last hour, with a beautiful (32 inch) 12.8lb hookjaw. We were on a roll!

But 2003 didn’t start out so good. Due to a weather related mishap, our old 16ft Starcraft boat was totaled. We loved that boat. Consequently, we were forced to buy another boat. With my twin brother George involved, who always has to do it in a big way (bigger is better). We ended up with a beautiful new 20ft Thunderjet, not to mention a new turbo diesel crew cab to tow it with!

Then on the next evening, we caught another 10.4lb hookjaw. While taking out at the ramp we met Jimmy Lewis, who by coincidence just caught his first 10 plus, almost identical in size and color to ours. Holding them together you couldn’t tell the difference. Congratulations Jimmy!

That coming November we had a major trip planned to Pend Oreille, for the rainbows. Normally, we do not like to plan back to back trips so close together, but all summer we kept talking and thinking about Paulina… something was telling us… from past experience we learned to go with our gut feelings and planned a trip for that October.

… That something… the lake was calm and quiet, not a ripple. I could see and feel the rod tip pulsating as the lure swam along, suddenly it just stopped and the rod began to load heavily, bending down with the speed of the boat. It must be a snag?... But no, maybe not. Did I just feel the tell-tale of a head shake? Yes, there it is again. I yelled excitedly over my shoulder to Pop, “It’s a big fish!”, as she began to make a run for her life. She arched out wide to the side. Suddenly she was rolling and thrashing on the surface. No, don’t throw the hooks! She made a few more short powerful runs, but like any over weight girl, she tired fairly quickly, then we gently guided her along and into the net. We lifted her onto the deck. We knew she was big… but not that big… sh** another monster brown! Trying to settle our nerves, we sat back for a minute and just stared at her, she looked like she was on steroids and must be over 20lbs. She tapped 34 inches long and weighed 22lbs 4ozs a dream come true.

Then in 2004 twice we came close, but struck out swinging, with no browns over 10lbs, our streak, of six consecutive trips with browns over 10lbs, had ended. But in 2005 we caught our last, a 10.5lber. Since then we’ve slowed on chasing the browns. Lately our main focus has been on the rainbows up north and moving onto some other interests as well.

“The Mackinaw”

Flash back to 1998, with the Klamath rainbows and the first two big browns from Paulina just added, the trophy wall was starting to look more substantial… Now what next?

It didn’t take Pop and I much thinking to decide that our next goal would be a big mackinaw. Hey, think what you like, but you must admit, trophy size macks are just plain big. Inexperienced, never even caught one by accident, to be realistic, we decided an 18-20lber would be our next challenge. We didn’t know what to expect, start from square one, learn the basics and progress forward. Fortunately for us after a little research, it became quite obvious, Flaming Gorge Res. was the place to catch the big ones. Besides, from reading past magazine articles about its famous trophy brown history, we have always dreamed of fishing there anyway.

The Gorge is a deep and massive impoundment, something like 90 miles long and can be very overwhelming. Seeking information, now that we knew Allan Cole from submitting the two browns into the Brownbaggers Club, it was a no brainer. Who better to call than the old legendary members, Allan and Jim Bringhurst, who helped write the history. Armed with our normal research and inside information, we became confident (and upgraded our goal to 30lbs plus) … over confident.

The first trip, early April 1998, started out a disaster. We fished long and hard for, no kidding, seven days and not even a strike, nothing. In early spring The Gorge can be windy, cold, and desolate which only added to our discouragement. Pep talk time. We had to dig deeper down into our inner most confidence, we did our homework, The Gorge is the right place. We just had to try harder and more important, not give up.

Facing doom, with only two days left, due to our inexperience and some misinformation, we finally began to realize we were fishing too shallow. The basics, you gotta get it in front of them, we dropped them down to the 110-120ft contour and bingo! Just like that our luck changed. The last two days we caught several macks, including two big ones going 26 and 28lbs. To top it off, just before leaving for home, we met Brent Mair, local trophy mack guru, who to our surprise gave us some much needed advice and information.

From what we learned fishing and several phone conversations with Brent, on our next three trips, over a two year period, we got dialed into the big ones. We ended up with four macks over 30lbs and the biggest, at 34lbs 13ozs, was caught off our favorite spot “The Boulder Field”. As the photos show “these are real slugs!” not to mention, their impressive size added a lot of bulk to the trophy wall.

                                                         “The Bull Trout”

First, I have to admit Pop and I have never actually targeted the bull trout, but if you fish Kootenay Lake enough you can’t help but catch some “Dollies”, as the Canadians call them. In the first six years of rainbow fishing we (incidentally) caught dozens of bull trout, a few big ones to 13lbs, but nothing to really get excited about.

That changed in late May 2007. My 82 year old father in law Rudy, after hearing the stories of the big Kootenay rainbows caught on previous trips, decided he’d like to join us. Since we all get along so well, we welcomed him with open arms. Besides then we could improve our chances by running a third “extra rod” down the middle of our spread.                             

It is no secret that I like to have the lines in the water by the crack of dawn. (In late May up north that means 4:00am.) Nevertheless, every morning it was a real struggle to get these 80 something “grumpy old men” out of the sack, dressed, fed and in the boat by 5:00am.  One morning (it couldn’t have been any later), by the time we left the dock, just got our lines out and approaching our favorite spot “the white house” we had a strike, on you guessed it, the “extra rod”. Looking back to see the rod bent into a deep arc, we knew we hooked something big and heavy, but it didn’t make the typical drag screaming run like a big rainbow. What did we hook, a log? Sh** no. When we finally got it to the boat we realized we had one heck of a big bull trout that measured 34 inches long and 17lbs 15ozs!

Hey, now that is one way to get both the “Pops” into a good mood. Later back at the marina, we learned it was one of the biggest bull trout reported so far that year. Way to go guys!        

                                                   “The Steelhead”

Considering Pop and I have not fished much for steelhead, surprisingly we have experienced some remarkable good luck. Over a twenty two year period, we caught two trophy size steelhead on just three fishing trips!

The first: Turn the clock way back to December 1987. Our cousin Jack called Pop and I with news that he just purchased a new Willie drift boat and asked if we’d like to join him for a week of salmon and steelhead fishing in northern California. Since the hunting season was over, and we had nothing planned, of course we would. Little did we know, it would be a “trip we will always remember”.

First stop, the South Fork of the Eel River. Our first day, we limited on salmon with the three biggest going 26, 28 and 32lbs. That was just for starters! Then we went looking for some steelhead. The Chetco River was too muddy, so we dropped down to the Smith River, which was running in a perfect “green water” condition. We put in at Jedediah Smith State Park, pulling #30 hotshot plugs, we hooked a fish of a lifetime in the “Brundeen tailout” which went ballistic, going airborne several times before taking us for a wild 75yd ride through the rapids. The show attracted quite an audience. Finally the big buck started to tire and we had him in the shallows. Then we almost lost him because Jack’s net was too small. We had to shove him up onto shore as the hooks straightened and fell out! What a miracle catch… He was beautiful, mint bright, and measured 36 inches long and 18.5 pounds.

Near the end of the week, we met my nephew Brent (who can really catch the steelhead), for a couple days of fishing on the Mad River. In all, we ended up with six salmon and six steelhead, totaling an amazing 220lbs! What a way to break in Jack’s new drift boat.

The second: Twenty two years latter, November 2009, after our dear mom passed away, Pop now 87, understandably, was not up to traveling and wanted to stay close to home. It took me two years to finally talk him into going on a trophy fishing trip again. Pop was tired of the brown fishing, the big rainbows up north were on a down cycle, and being that it was such a long drive, we were looking for something different.

While searching out all our options and checking my trophy fishing notebooks, we soon realized that for years we have been reading and thinking about the big “B-Run Steelhead” in the Lower John Day River. After weeks of research, we decided to plan a trip for mid-November.

Yes, we did our homework, but considering this was our first trip, and with little steelhead fishing experience, we really didn’t know what to expect. Upon arriving at the Le Page launch ramp, we met “Wendy” the official ODFW fish counter. Her report was a little discouraging. The fishing was slow with only a few steelhead being caught.

Ok, back to the basics. We knew there were some fish around, we just had to find them. One problem, the Lower John Day is eleven miles long. Surprisingly, by the second day, combined with our research and watching a particular boat, we found an area where some fish were holding and figured out a pattern that worked for us… Late evening on our fourth day, we waited until everyone went in and left the area, then we knew we’d have quiet water to run our lighted “blinkie lures”. In the dying light (almost as if on cue), we hooked a big fish that wouldn’t give up. We must have had him to the boat at least eight to nine times before Pop could see him good enough to scoop into the net. Lying on the deck, he looked huge and we immediately knew he was going up on our trophy trout wall. We couldn’t believe it! We did it again, 38 inches long and 19lbs 6ozs.

                                                             “The Salmon”

We really have enjoyed some great salmon fishing here in our local (ocean) waters, Monterey Bay and Half Moon Bay.  Pop and I have to thank our long time good friend and expert salmon fisherman, Gordon “Coach” Huntze. He not only introduced us to this fabulous fishery, but was our mentor as well.

Over the years, Pop and I have learned a lot and actually became pretty good salmon fisherman. We found that there is a ton of fishing information, a whole lot of water out there and sometimes your brain can get too cluttered with all the “spam” and “dock talk”. But always remember, location. Obviously, first you have to get your bait in front of them. Also, it is always good to develop or learn at least one proven technique that you can go to with confidence.

We were fortunate to fish during the “glory years” 1985 to 2005, when the salmon stocks were on a peak cycle. Looking back, we have many fine memories, starting with our first trip, June 23, 1985, with limits out of the “Golden Gate” in George’s 26ft Tollycraft and the time we caught a four fish limit that topped 100lbs in Don’s 16ft Whaler.

Back then we went salmon fishing to primarily fill the freezer and never really targeted the big ones. Although, over the years we did manage to catch four over 30lbs and proud to say one monster… On a day to remember, July 19, 1988, Half Moon Bay, the fishing was very good and we only needed one more fish to fill our limits. On our last drift, mooching live anchovies, Gord quickly hooked up but at first didn’t realize just how big it was until he saw it pass under the boat. It was huge, at 40lbs, easily our biggest salmon to date. Back at the marina, the DFG fish counter said, “Son that is the biggest salmon we’ve seen so far this year!”

However, we both have to agree, our most memorable time came in July 1995. Pop and I fishing out of our 16ft Starcraft, over a six day period, on three consecutive trips, caught and released sixty three salmon. That is easily over 1000lbs!... The Monterey Bay salmon reports were good, now was the time to go. On the first trip, July 7^th, with Rudy, 14 kings out of Santa Cruz. Then the very next day, July 8^th, with George, 19 kings. It just doesn’t get any better than this, or/so we thought. The third trip, four days later, with Tom and Tommy, July 12^th, this time out of Moss Landing, 30 kings by 8:30am. Talk about “red hot fishing!”

“The Trophy Trout Wall”

It is not in our character to boast, but that is our story. Those years went quickly, the old cliché, “Time flies when you’re having a good time”, rings true for Pop and I. Above Mom and Pop’s fireplace, few will see it, the Trophy Trout Wall, some highlights, our wall of fame, but more importantly it is a symbol of the memories, from our time together trophy fishing. For instance, just walking into the room can trigger a recollection of the many good times. Suddenly we find ourselves downriggering for macks off Antelope Flat, top lining for browns up the Deschutes channel or just sitting by the campfire smelling the wood smoke and coffee.

We definitely are not the most knowledgeable, for sure. There are many ways to catch these fish. If we had to give any suggestions what comes first to mind, “The desire to go the extra mile theory”. What makes you a hero instead of a zero. Trophy fishing is a game of patience. Don’t give up and you’ll find your own way to catch the big ones. Secondly, as Pop has always reminded me, “Don’t forget the basics”. Yes, there is a heck of a lot of new and useful information out there, but also remember, these fish didn’t graduate from Harvard. Try not to make it any harder than it already is.

Looking back, unquestionably, our strength lies in teamwork (our minds working together), and doing our homework (research and preparation). The dreaded Bay Area is 500 to 1000 miles from our favorite lakes, we only get to go fishing two, maybe three times a year. To maximize our small window of opportunity, we will spend many hours, studying, analyzing, mulling and remulling, formulating our game plan. We still meet at a coffee shop four to five mornings a week, and under the trophy wall at my parents, on Sundays. We will talk about many different things, but more times than most our conversation will turn to our favorite subject… trophy fishing.

In the beginning we dreamed of 10lb trout. To think we’ve caught some more than double that size, has gone beyond our wildest dreams. If we would want to do it all over again, of course we would. If we thought we could duplicate our success, I surmise the odds would be surely against us. You can prepare and dream all you want. It will swing the odds more in your favor… but there is no guarantee… you still gotta be lucky (a fisherman’s best friend). That’s trophy fishing.

“Good luck, and may you go beyond your wildest dreams…”