Slow...But Worth It!! Crescent Lake, OR

Normally I would fish for lakers this time of day but we've been trying to focus on our passion this year...a big brown! We started working Zimms point to Simax in all depths from 10'-70'. Marked just a couple fish by Zimms at 35' but nothing by Simax. Didn't get a bump so we decided to run to the last summer home and troll that side of the lake. We were experimenting a lot working the bottom and suspended in shallow to deep just trying to find where the fish were hanging out...we weren't marking anything but kept at it. Evening was approaching and we decided to troll towards boy scout with intent on finishing legal fishing there. It was about 7pm as we swung into boy scout bay when my ripped pointer 128 in American shad went off...yee haw fish on! Carrie slipped the net under a scrappy 4.5 lb buck! He was caught in about 12' water. Is there anything better than feeling the hit with the rod in your hand!?! Oh yah!

Well that was it for Saturday evening. We ran into Phil and Ted from Sacramento at the dock...they said the fishing was very slow and only managed a few smaller fish. That made us feel pretty good about our luck, considering the experience and success of TTHer of the year! It was really nice to meet you guys, hope to see you out there again soon!

Our friends Blad and Kelly showed up late Saturday night and joined us for fishing on Sunday. We worked all the usual spots for browns with no luck. We fished for lakers a few hours in the middle of the day but couldn't find any biters. Ended up with a big skunk for a full day's effort. We were finally starting to mark a few fish...they were in 40-60' of water but suspended in the 22'-30' range.

At this point I figured the fishing could only get better. I was hoping the cycle would change and we'd get into some fish Monday. The gang wanted to sleep in so I hit the lake solo style. I love fishing with my wife and friends, but sometimes being on the lake alone is a wonderful experience. There was nobody out there and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery and tranquility of Mother Crescent. Unfortunately, scenery was all I caught that morning...but it was amazing. I ran back to the lodge and picked up the gang for some mack fishing. I really wanted to catch a laker for our friends, so we hit the deep! We definitely bonked some fish on the head but they weren't interested...little buggers! We found them between rainbow point and boy scout in "mack alley". We said our goodbyes, they had a blast even though we didn't catch anything...thanks for a great time Blad and Kelly!

Carrie and I were determined to hook a quality brown, so we continued with the drill. We went back to Contorta point and worked from there to Rainbow point. It was late afternoon and we were marking LOTS of fish! It was the weirdest pattern of fish I've seen at Crescent this time of year. All fish were in the 40-70' range off Contorta point, but they were all suspended at 22'-30'. 22' was the dominant depth. I joked and called it the 22x40 rule...suspended at 22' in 40' water was the ticket. We decided to stay here and worked it hard. Running just two rods, one in rod holder and other ripped. About 5:30 pm I was adjusting the depth of the non-ripped rod a little...as soon as I let go of the reel after making the adjustment..........WHAM fish on!!!!! Carrie cleared the other rod as I took my time with what felt like a good fish! It fought all the way to the boat and finally emerged...a nice hookjaw! It did a couple nice runs as it approached the boat but Carrie was able to expertly net the beauty. He weighed in at 5.5 lbs and 25", we were super elated!!! He had a really cool jaw, killer fish!!! He was caught on a 100 size pointer in "crack black".

At this point we were feeling on top of the world. We really felt like we were in the zone, marking LOTS of fish and found a little bite...heck ya!!! We kept with the same drill and lures (black/white patterns). About 45 minutes later on the ripped rod....slammo!!!! This one hit like a freight train! I was thinking it was a brown based on it's behavior but hard to tell. After some violent headshakes and playing the fish for about 30 seconds, the fish started swimming towards the boat. At one point I thought the fish was gone, but then it woke up. This bad boy started to take drag and was holding DEEP! It went on three blazing runs...I've never experienced a fish this feisty and determined. The fish never boiled but I saw it flash under the surface...I yelled to Carrie it's a big brown honey!!! The flash in the crystal clear waters revealed a huge girth and THICK belly!!! Oh man, I wanted this one! I played it easy with loose drag and maintained tension when all of a sudden the line went limp...the line was cut and my dream fish and lure were gone...NOOOO!!!! We'll never know how big, but it was the thrill of a lifetime. Even though we were disappointed, we were excited to be getting into some action and to have hooked our personal best brown.

We continued in the same area for the rest of the evening with no more hits. The next morning we ran back there but all the fish were gone, didn't mark any! Haha, isn't that the way it goes?!? All together a fantastic trip with lots of learning experiences. Biggest lesson for us was trying unorthodox techniques you wouldn't normally associate with winter/spring cold water fishing. We worked hard, kept at it and were rewarded with some great memories.

Thanks to all my new TTH buddies for being so kind with techniques and lures...you guys are the best!!!

Cheers!
Dan "Crazy D" Lippis