Fall Time Browns - Paulina Lake

In October of 2003, Gordon Hahn was trolling along the shores of Paulina Lake with his father, Ed “Pops” Hahn. Gordon noticed a deliberate bend in his fishing pole as a leviathan from the depths had been fooled by his lure presentation. Level-headed and quick-witted, Gordon accomplished something very few people on the West Coast can claim. He landed a behemoth female german brown trout of 22 lbs, 4 oz.

Fast forward 10 years to present day. For whatever reason, I have noticed over the past few years that Paulina Lake doesn’t appear to have the luster or draw it once had. It’s been a few years since a 20+ lber has been pulled from it’s depths. Besides Gordon Hahn, several 20+ lbers have been seined from Paulina’s pristine, alpine waters. Guy Carl in 1993 caught the former Oregon State Record of 27+ lbs. Former owner of the Paulina Lake Resort, John Hofferd caught a 24 lb monster back in the day. Lure innovator and founder of AC Plugs, Allan Cole, landed a sow of brown tipping the scales to 26.06 lbs. Then there’s the trophy trout living-legend, Ron Lane, with the current Oregon State Record of 28 lbs, 5 oz. All of these fish have come from Paulina Lake. It’s been a few years since the 20 lb mark has been broken at Paulina, but the potential is still there. This is what drew RD and I to this heralded lake.

Make no mistake of it, Paulina Lake is difficult to catch fish. Whether it’s her clear waters, the fish being more wary, or simply the tremendous amount of forage that your lure is trying to compete with. It can be tough! With that said, it can be very rewarding. This was a large topic of conversation for RD and I on our way up there this Fall. We knew we could get a monster. I’ve personally witnessed a Goliath brown non-chalantly swim across the gravelly shallows back in 2011. Paulina is oozing with potential. It is not a question of “If?”. It is a question of “When?”.

Paulina was mirroring the image of the waning sun off to the West when we arrived on Friday evening. A quick set up of camp, RD and I blazed our trail off to our first decided trolling lane. The glass-like surface would be broken intermittently by either a rising trout or a fledgling, spawned-out kokanee. RD quickly yipped with a “Fish-on”. Then I myself got bit. It was a short-lived, one hour troll before “legal” hit, but we ended the evening with (2) small trout and a couple drive-bys. Not a bad start to our trip.

The next morning was clear and crisp. Not a breath of wind to speak of. Scouring the shallows of Paulina with our lures, the first 10 minutes produced (2) browns to the boat and one lost. Sweet!!! Over the next hour and a half, we had landed and released 11 browns and lost roughly half a dozen. What a hot bite! Nothing was larger than 20” with most ranging between 14 to 18” in length. I think RD summed it up best after our 6^th brown. Like a 5 year old in pure bliss at a water park, he turned to me, smiled and said “You know….this is really FUN!” FUN?!?! It was a BLAST!!!

The bite slowed and by mid-morning, we switched our tactics from trolling the shallows to casting. We were trying to spot large browns that would be protecting their redds, or nests. The fish in Paulina will false-spawn this time of year. False meaning is they go through the motions of the normal spawning process, but they are unsuccessful as there is minimal levels of the required oxygenation for their eggs during the fertilization process. However, the browns don’t know that so it’s a great time of year to potentially see a giant trout cruising the shallows around their nests.

We saw a myriad of browns in the 14 to 20” range swimming all around. We counted roughly (20) that were in the 5 to 7 lb class. One notable occurrence was when we spotted a male hookjaw chilling on the bottom in about 10’ of water. Size-wise, he looked the part of a handsome 6-7 lber in the 24 to 26 inch range. We casted and he showed some interest but lacked committal. RD excitedly beckoned “BRIAN…LOOK AT THAT ONE!” In came the confident female. She was 2 to 4 inches longer and 3 to 4 lbs heavier. RD casted out in front of her about 30’. ZOOOMMM!!! The hen BURSTS from her position and takes off like a torpedo towards his lure. RD eagerly whispers “OH DUDE!!!! SHE’S GOING FOR IT!” All the while, I’m watching his rod tip like a hawk, waiting for it to double over. Nothing. That will get the blood going, that’s for sure.

Around noon, we decided with the minimal success we were rewarded with from casting, we’d switch back to trolling. This time, we’d focus our efforts a hair deeper in the 20 to 30’ range. Was that ever the right call. In the first 5 minutes, RD yips “There’s one! Whoa, this is a heavier fish!” Quickly, I get my gear in and clear the area to allow for RD to have free reign on the boat to fight this fish. The fish came to the top rather quickly. It’s sun-lit tail shone brightly from 100 feet way as it broke the surface with a “splash”! “Yep, it’s a good one!” Shortly thereafter, I netted a gorgeous male brown in full “Halloween” colors. He weighed in at 5 and ½ lbs and was 23-1/2”. After he handsomely posed for a quick photo op, RD released the pumpkin brown back to his spawning grounds. Here’s a quick video clip of it.

Our trip resulted in a total of 29 browns caught from late Friday Evening until about 10 AM on Sunday morning. Our best lures were Lucky Craft pointers, Rapala stick baits, and Bombers in the 4” to 7-1/4” range. The patterns the browns seemed to favor were that of the kokanee and rainbow trout. However, a few did take a chub pattern.