“…..AND THE WEATHER THIS MORNING SHOULD BE CLEAR WITH WINDS INCREASING FROM THE EAST….”   <fumble…fumble….fumble……SLAM!!!>

‘What time is it?’ I thought to myself.  I groggily opened my eyes halfway to review what the electronic red numbers displayed on my digital radio alarm clock.  1:42 AM. <SIGH>  I yawned a couple times as tears of my tiredness shed down each side of my face and I begrudgingly woke up.  I had all my clothes laid out from the evening before and a few RockStars ready for me to slug to begin my drive to the Cascades.  This was only going to be a day trip so there was not much packing to do compared to my typical trophy trout expeditions.

A friend of mine, Kory Thaut, was to meet me at my place at 2:00 AM so we could get to our watery destination prior to the legal start of the fishing hours.  Kory and I became friends at church through a Dad’s group.  We quickly became friends due to mutual interests.  Church, our families, baseball, the Oregon State Beavers, and of course…FISHING!  Kory is a very accomplished fisherman with many different species of trophy size under his belt including rainbow trout, walleye, sturgeon, and salmon.  But Kory had never caught a brown trout before.  It was my goal to make sure he became a brown trout virgin no more!

We arrived at our high lakes destination with the sun just barely providing an orange luminescence on the trees and mountains to the East. The boat was quickly loaded and off we went.  I wanted to start fishing in about 20 to 25’ of water with our lures near the bottom.  In the first half hour, I didn’t see a fish on the graph.  Not a big deal as I’ve been hit several times with the fishfinder being blank.  However, when I made a turn to head back on a trolling lane, I ventured over deeper water to a depth of about 50’.  There were fish LOADED on the graph, but they were all mostly 30’ deep all the way to the bottom.  Typical brown trout techniques for the spring would tell me to fish in shallower water.  But, the graph doesn’t lie.  It was showing us where the fish were.  I told Kory “Drop the downrigger ball to 25’ so you’re lure is at 35’.”

Kory had been around downriggers before so instead of having to teach a “newb”, it was second nature for him.  It was very refreshing and a bit of a stress relief for me.  Within 5 minutes of lowering our offering, Kory had a dink to the boat!  His first german brown trout.  The skunk was off the boat.  But I really wanted to get Kory a brown over 5 lbs.  With only a day of fishing planned, I knew this would be difficult, especially since I’d only ever fished this particular body of water once (and that was from shore due to no boat access).

Right before 6 AM, Kory’s rod gets a strong takedown off the downrigger!  I yelled “FISH KORY!  FISH!”  He quickly popped the release and set the hook.  He responded with a “yip” and the battle was on.  He said “Oh this is a much bigger fish than the last one.”  I watched him tussle with the brown on the other end of his line for a few minutes.  It made a splash a couple hundred feet away and it was obvious it was a decent brown.  However, the splash turned in to being ringing the proverbial “dinner bell” for a hungry bald eagle!  With high pitched screeches and acrobatic swoops, Kory’s first decent brown was in jeopardy of becoming this majestic bird’s breakfast.  The closer the fish got to the boat, the eagle realized the cause was lost.  PHEWW!!!  After a few more moments, I netted the fish!

Kory and I hi-fived.  He asked me what I thought it weighed.  Just giving it the “eyeball” test, I told him it was close to the 5 lb range.  He measured at 22”.  Kory was pumped that he had just caught his first quality brown trout!  After a few quick photos, back to the water he went.

We continued fishing for a few more hours, catching several more fish in the 1 to 3 lb range.   It was a blast.  I was glad we were getting into some great action for Kory.  However, I wanted something bigger for him.  This prayer was answered very quickly.  We had just passed over two very large and thick kokanee schools.  They were so thick that my transducer couldn’t pick up the bottom.  Noticing the amount of browns that were around them, I just knew we would get slammed.  Shortly thereafter, my rod had a large take-down.  It stuck and I yelled “FISH ON!!”  Then after a few tugs it was off.  A depressing “…fish off..” was murmured by yours truly.  Then I look at Kory’s rod and it starts doing the bob and weave!  Kory yells “FISH ON!” 

The wind was picking up quite a bit and Kory was masterfully fighting this fish as I tried to keep us from blowing into shore.  I got us out in a little deeper water to buy him some time.  I grabbed the net and took a look at the fish.  It appeared to be about the same length as his 5 lber, but it looked head to toe MUCH thicker.  I quickly netted the fish, and could tell it had a little more weight to it. 

It was now 9:30 in the morning and we were sitting at 8 fish now with (2) over 5 lbs.  This had by far exceeded my expectations, especially on a relatively new lake.   I told Kory that with the wind picking up and only knowing it was going to get worse and build upon itself, let’s shoot for 10 fish or until we get blown off the lake.  We caught a dink within 15 minutes.  Now we’re at 9.  C’mon BROWN’s.  Let’s get a good one for number 10.  

15 minutes later, with the waves and swells really starting to rock my 15’ Sea Nymph around, I see Kory’s rod get Hammered!  “FISH!!! FISH!!! GET IT!”  I see Kory set it while trying to balance himself with the rocking waves.  Even with the tossing back and forth motion of the water splashing against the boat, it was apparent from the bow in the rod this was a good fish.  I got all our gear in as quick as we could.  I noticed the fish was making a run in the opposite direction from how our boat was drifting.  On top of that, I was drifting towards fellow TTH’er, Bret Martin and also getting pushed into shore.  I told Kory to stay calm, keep pressure on the fish, and I’ll kick it in to gear and try to keep us facing into the wind while he fights it.  I then said as soon as it gets within 5 to 10 feet of the boat, lean back on it gently and I’ll scoop it up quickly with the net with one hand.  I wish I could say I stated it as eloquently as I wrote it, but Kory knew the drill being a seasoned fisherman.

We had the plan and started it into action.  Kory braced himself on the side of the boat fighting it’s every headshake while I crept closer and closer as water would crash over the bow of the boat.  I then saw the fish and before I could even say anything, Kory cried out “OH MAN!!! IT’S BIG!! IT’S BIG!”  He was right.  This would be the big fish of the day if we could land it.  He yelled “Get the net!!”  I did, and like we’d talked about, with me keeping the boat in gear, he leaned back, I scooped.  I brought the fish into the boat quickly and then motored at a 45 degree angle to the waves to A) get away from shore, B) get out of Bret’s way and C) get some space to give us some time to adjust. 

Kory and I were fired up.  We placed the hen into my livewell carefully.  We gave each other a celebratory hug and I knew we had a good brown in our possession.  As it was so rough, I decided in order to get some good measurements and pictures, to head for calmer water.  We braved the bashing waves and relentless wind until we got to the East side of the lake where we were a little more protected.  The hen taped out to 25.5 inches and she was just a snuff over 8lbs!!!  WOOHOO!!!!  We snapped some great photos and Kory released the beautiful female back to her realm.  

With the wind getting stronger and stronger, watching small branches and debris whizz by us about 20 feet in the air, even though it was only 10:30 AM, we knew we had to get off the lake and quick before we got into trouble.  Several boats had taken out and as the launch was on the West Side of the lake, it was getting pounded by waves.  We saw (2) guys have to strip down to their boxers to try and get their boat to appropriately set on their trailer.  Even after that effort, they still couldn’t get it right.  Jimmy Lewis and his friend, Jared, helped Kory and I out as we inched the boat along the shore.   Bret Martin took a breather as well and we helped him fashion his boat up to the dock. 

We were done and out of there by 11:30.  Only 5-1/2 hours of fishing and we caught 10 browns with (3) being over 5 lbs and the largest tipping 8 lbs!  Kory caught all the fish except 1, which I’m thrilled that he did.  I told him do NOT expect these kind of results every time you go out.  Any trophy trout hunter will tell you the same.  He knew that, and was very appreciative and grateful for the success.  Our best lure was a kokanee patterned Bomber Long A on the downrigger between depths of 30 to 40 feet.   It was the type of thing where it kept working so, like the old adage goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”  That held true.

Congratulations to Kory for getting his first official brown trout trip under his belt!  I was so glad to share this awesome experience with him and hopefully I’ve planted the trophy trout hunting seed in yet another person!

Take care,

Brian (Bwild) (