Late March/Early April LBC 2012

Brian,

First off, I wanted to thank you and your group for opening our eyes to the intriguing sport of trophy trout hunting. I also want to thank you for the tips that you have been gracious enough to send out way as well. Without some of these insider tips, it would have taken us much longer to really get a feel for the fishing.

Our group has taken a “less than serious” run at trophies over the years but have discussed many times that we should really get into the game. Starting on our very first trip last March to LBC, we wanted to see if there were truly Bull trout in the lake. I mean, we saw the pictures of you and knew they were there, but could we get to them? 3 bulls last year. One five pounder, and two smaller bulls were landed in 2011 at LBC by our band of renegades. We considered this a success since we each landed a bull trout.

LBC 2012 started off a bit strange. We were set to have a group of four, camping from Friday night through Saturday night. As the weekend approached, the wind forecast was not looking good, but the amount of rain and temperatures seemed to be ok. One of our group members did not seem sold on the trip and we got a feeling that he would be bailing. Not a problem, one of our other members was a first timer at LBC and had been out of the state for 10 years, so Jason and I were excited to get on the lake and show him a new species of fish. We decided Thursday night that we were going regardless of what mother nature was going to throw at us. Chains for the truck and boat were loaded along with our typical camping gear, and enough poles to set up a tournament. We were on the road Friday morning by 7:15, made a few stops, stocked up on items we failed to pack and were setting up camp by 1 pm. We were excited to see that the torrential downpours were not happening at the lake, but instead a light rain was falling. We were extremely happy that the wind on the lake was barely blowing and almost unnoticeable. With camp set up, we put the boat in the water and were legitimately fishing 3 rods by 3 pm Friday afternoon. Each of us marveling over the weather.

By the end of the day, each of us had caught a bull trout and we were feeling pretty good. We also caught a kokanee by mere happen stance. The weather was a little rough as the sun began to set and our appetites were telling us to get off the water for the day.

Saturday was nearly balmy and the team was in good spirits. Hitting the water about 7 am, we decided to fish two different areas. One of them being new to us, we were excited to change the scene up and learn a new section of the lake. With our first pass by the island, I had a take down and the bulls were back at it. We made a few passes through an area that we had success the previous year and Luke had the lucky rod. The fish began peeling line and all of us were ready to see our first 10 lb bull. It took Luke some time to get him to the boat and even though he wasn’t a 10 pounder, we were happy to have another 6 pound bull on record.

At the end of the day, our total bull count for the trip was up to 9. We had set a personal goal for ourselves to land 10 bulls. One short. As we crawled out of our sleeping bags Sunday morning to a light dusting, it was obvious that the weather pattern changed overnight, but we were determined to land one more bull before breaking camp and calling it a day. When we arrived at the dock, the water was glass, the sun was shining and we were ready to fish. One pass near the narrows and “FISH ON”. Looked like a small bull, but as we landed it, a nice 18” brown trout.

Though we were excited to know that there are also brown trout in there, we were looking to hit our goal. Time was running out, the weather pattern had changed, and we moved to a deeper location, hoping that the fish were hunkered down at some deeper depth. Knowing that we had about an hour of fishing we knew that our odds were getting thin, yet we continued to push forward. I dropped down to 105 feet and we worked our known area. Line pops off the down rigger and I set the hook. Another nice 2 pound bull trout and our magical 10 that we were shooting for came to fruition. With just a few more minutes to fish, everyone dropped down to see how far we could push our luck. Nothing. We could see the snow front moving in, the wind was really starting to pick up, so the call was made to reel in and get off the water. As I popped my line from the down rigger, I began to slowly real in when my bait was hit, set the hook and bring in our 11th bull trout. Again, nothing to write home about, but for us, it was the icing on the cake.

Overall, the weekend was as much as we could hope for. Nearly quadrupling our catch of bulls, in our lifetimes, cemented us for our return to what will now be our annual bull trout trip to LBC. Total tally was 11 bulls, one brown trout, and one kokanee.

Again, thank you for your tips, tricks, and advice. Hope to see you on the water someday…

Josh