Mid-Winter Fishing on the LBC

During the “Dog Days” of winter (for a trophy trout fisherman), it can be tough to find fishable lakes. Several lakes in our beloved state of Oregon are either closed for the season or they are iced over. However, there are still a few fantastic fishing opportunities to wet one’s palette prior to “ice-off” and the “trout opener” in late April. Lake Billy Chinook (LBC) is such that opportunity.

I awoke at 2:30 AM from an annoying alarm clock on Saturday morning. RD was on his way to pick me up as we had planned to meet Josh Wedding at the Cove Palisades boat ramp at 5:45 AM. With me slugging a Rockstar, the low rumble of RD’s diesel pulled up to my driveway. We gave each other a welcoming hug with great anticipation of our first trophy trout outing of 2013.

We arrived on time to a dimly lit and empty Cove Palisades Parking Lot. Josh arrived shortly thereafter and we got right to launching the boat. It was a chilly 18 degrees outside and it took a while for both of Josh’s motors on his 20’ Free Drifter to warm up. We noticed that the lake had been drawn down about 2 to 3 feet. That may not seem like a lot, but if you consider the surface area of Lake Billy Chinook and over 20 miles of River Arms that make up the lake proper, that is a considerable amount of water volume! 15 long minutes later, both motors had warmed up and were functioning perfectly. I shoved us off the dock and we jetted to our first spot.

Josh is a really good guy. Both RD and I met Josh at Perry South about 3 or 4 years ago just by happenstance. We had just caught several bulls up to 13 lbs and he had caught several up to 11 lbs. As we both know how fisherman can be, we asked if Josh had photos. He did and sure enough, he was absolutely telling the truth. Josh asked to see ours, and sure enough, we were telling the truth. We instantly gained respect for one another and a friendship was born. RD fished with him on a trip last year where they caught several bulls over 6 lbs, including a stocky 10.5 lber.

The water was glass, providing a beautiful canvas to mirror an amazing Central Oregon sunrise that only God could create. We hurriedly and excitedly sent down our offerings to the depths as Josh’s Lowrance was lit up with fish from 55’ to 150’ deep. It was promising to see. Within 10 minutes, the first rod went off. We knew from the get go it didn’t matter who’s rod went off, we’d just rotate to try and give everyone a chance at a trophy. I grabbed the rod and was welcomed with feisty headshakes from the other end of the line. Josh and RD asked “Is it a good one?” I responded with a “Well, it’s not a monster, but probably somewhere in the 5 lb range.” 3 minutes later, we landed my first fish of 2013, a handsome 22” bull trout. We didn’t bother weighing the fish, but we guessed he was around 5 lbs. Back to the lake he went.

With the skunk now off the boat, RD was the next person in line. About 20 minutes later, the next rod got hit. RD pounced on the rod like a cheetah and set the hook. BOOM!!! “WHOA!! This is BIG fish!” RD exclaimed. Both Josh and I reviewed how much his rod was loaded and it was obvious, he was right. This was a substantial fish. The bend in the rod was triple the amount of my previous fish! Like a seasoned-boxer with Sugar Ray Leonard-like reflexes, RD masterfully “bob and weaved” his way to every move this elusive bull would make. After 10 minutes of sparring with this fish, it was apparent that the bull had succumbed to RD’s punches and slid into the net gracefully. We all whooped and hi-fived, knowing immediately this trout was going to break the 10 lb threshold. After some quick measurements, this male bull trout weighed 11-1/2 lbs and 26-3/4”. I stated to RD “Not too bad to open the 2013 trout season. Your first trout was 11-1/2 lbs.” He acknowledged with a laugh of amazement, knowing that is pretty special accomplishment. We photographed the handsome fish and RD released him back to the depths where he could continue to harass schools of kokanee.

A couple hours passed where we caught a couple bulls in the 3 to 5 lb range. We decided to head towards the boundary line near the dam on the Deschutes arm. We found that the schools of kokanee and bulls were not what we were expecting to see. They were much more sparse, going several minutes between even getting a single arc to come across the graph. Finally, my rod was bent over hard. “FISH ON!” I leaned back to ensure a proper hook-set which was quickly returned with a heavy deliberate pull and a 50 foot run! “He’s runnin’!” I shouted to Josh and RD. The fish would then stop and dig it’s heels in, not allowing for me to gain any line back onto my reel. Both RD and Josh were asking what my initial thoughts were on this. I kept say “I don’t know, but it’s holding it’s ground, taking runs, heavy headshakes, it could be a big one!” After about 5 minutes or so, I was getting nervous. This fish was fighting similarly to a 10.5 lber I’d caught a couple years ago. How big would he be? He finally showed himself. All of us saw him. Nothing had to be said as the boat’s mood of nervous anxiety turned to minor disappointment. It was a good bull, but he wasn’t going to break the 10 lb mark. We netted and weighed him in right at 8 lbs. I apologized to the guys that I really thought he felt bigger, and even both Josh and RD were surprised after watching the fight that he was only 8 lbs. What am I even saying, ONLY 8 lbs…that’s a great trout in anyone’s book!!

It was turning out to be a gorgeous day without a breath of wind. Josh suggested we switch up our tactics and go search for some bulls to jig. RD and I were both up for it and to try something new. Both RD and I have experimented with jigging for browns and lakers with some success. However, we have never really given it a “college try”. Josh said he’s had some days on the LBC where jigging can be fantastic if the conditions were right.

We started off on a rock flat in the Crooked arm ranging from 60 to 90’ deep. You could see the large arcs lining the bottom structure. Our hopes were to bonk these resting bull trout on the skull numerous times to where either A) they were going to get themselves an easy meal or B) tick them off enough to entice an aggression strike. Down the jigs went. Within a couple minutes, I got bumped….then off. Then Josh got bumped….then off. This happened for about half an hour. With the particular jigs we were using, they did not come with a factory-installed treble hook stinger. Both Josh and I were thinking it, and then RD said “Hey, you guys should put a stinger on.” So we did.

We motored over to a different area to check out if we could drum up a bite or two. With our jigs dropping to the depths in the greenish-blue water, you could sense that it was only a matter of time where one of our drive-by hits was going to stick. Little did I know, that very thing happened much sooner than I had anticipated. <Free spool>….<click>…..<crank crank crank>….<jig... jig…ji…WHAM!!!>

“WHOA!!! I GOT ONE! I GOT ONE!” RD and Josh both looked over and anxiously asked “REALLY ?!?!? Is it on good?” With incredibly powerful pulls, I responded “OH YEAH! He just NAILED that thing!” Then Josh and RD watched as the bull took me around the boat once. They were giggling like anticipating kids scampering downstairs on Christmas morning. RD wisely grabbed his camera and switched it to video mode. He shot an incredible movie halfway through my battle with this stalwart of a bull. As you can tell, this bull had my steelhead rod curved to the extreme! What a great video, RD!

We measured and weighed the girthy bull. He was 11 lbs and was 27-1/2 inches long with a thick, 17 inch girth!

We all hi-fived and were extremely happy that not only did we have 2 bulls over 10 for the day, but they were caught utilizing different tactics. Trolling and Jigging. After the bull trout handsomely posed for the camera, I had RD release him as I shot an underwater release video. It wasn’t as good as I wanted it to turn out, but the bull swam off strong to gain some length and weight!

We wanted to go fill our bellies with a nice meal so we headed to the Round Butte Inn in Culver. We had a great time chatting with several of the patrons about our fishing trip. It was karaoke night, and RD, myself, and Josh all took our turns by singing a few bars to the local crowd. We were actually very well received and got a few drinks bought for us in appreciation of our singing abilities (at least I’ll take it that way).

The next morning, we hit it early. We caught 8 bulls that morning, with the largest being a 7.5 and 8 lber caught by me.

However, the most memorable bull was the one that was not to be. I had to be back in the valley by 1 pm, and we had all the rods in and stowed except one. We were trolling back to the ramp and as I had just put away one of my rods, I turned around and noticed the last rod behind Josh his rod was getting nailed by a hungry bull trout. “JOSH…JOSH…FISH….FISH!!!” Josh hurriedly pivoted and grabbed the salmon rod and set the hook. KABOOM!!!! That rod was flat-out BURIED!!! He yelled “OH GOD!! This is a TOAD!!” That had to be one of the heaviest loaded rods I’ve ever seen on a bull trout. Alas, it was on for about 10 seconds and then you saw the rod tip slowly release back to being straight. The gut-sinking realization of the fish being lost soaked our faces like a bucket of cold-water. DANGIT!!

That was it for the trip. In one day and 3 hours, we amassed 16 bull trout. The weights followed as 11.5, 11, 9, (2) 8’s, 7.5, 7, (3) 6’s, and the rest in the 3 to 5 lb range. It was a fantastic trip with great friends that I’ll surely never forget. Special thanks to Josh Wedding. I am sure this will be a trip that we’ll schedule in the books for future seasons to come.

Here is a cool video compilation I put together that summarizes some of the hilights of the trip. You may want to turn up the speakers if you like rock!

Best Fishing to you all,

Bwild