Annual Wildish Family Summer Trip

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Annual Wildish Family Summer Trip - East Lake

The 5th Annual Wildish Family Trip is in the books

East Lake, OR, Late July, 2015 - by Brian Wildish (aka Bwild)

This is now the 5^th annual trip that my wife, Anna, and I have made with our little family to our beloved East Lake Resort. This has become a treasured vacation for all of our family. It’s so picturesque and peaceful. I think the thing that I love about this place the most is in the day and age of the cell phone, there’s one little sliver of the lake where you can get reception. It’s nice to get away from technology and just be in God’s Country.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon around 4 pm. We I saw Kory Thaut with his family in tow at the boat ramp. This was the 3^rd year in a row that we’ve been up at the resort with the Thaut’s. They’re a great family and always fun to hang out with. I got my boat in the water and moored it while Anna was getting the kids to settle down into our cabin, the Canvasback. They then ventured down to the beach to meet me and play around a little bit!

My wife, Anna, holding our Baby Girl Alexis

Our sons Jackson and Zachary are playing in the background. Life is Good!

Both of my boys (Jackson – 5, Zachary – 2.5) had been asking to go fishing the entire drive over and did not stop. After a quick dinner, I loaded up my fishing gear and the boys and off we went to fish the evening bite. We caught (3) fish that evening, with the largest being a 5 lb, 24” hen! Both of the boys tag teamed on this one. They were pretty excited.

Jackson holding a 5lb, 24" Female Brown

Biggest one of the night!

The boys with a nice 4lber, right at last light!

The next morning came quickly and I was on the water at 4:45 AM. I didn’t get my first strike until 5:30 AM, but it was a good one, with a 6#, 24” hookjaw coming to the net.

Caught this 6lb, 24" Hookjaw in the early AM

I caught 4 more browns over the next hour, with a larger, 25.5”, 7# male hookjaw becoming fooled by my artificial offering. It’s hard to get self photos when you’re by yourself, but I did the best I could with the self-timer on my camera. The 7#’er got a bit washed out as the sun was just cresting over the Eastern hills of the lake!

Here's a 7#, 25.5" Hookjaw that I caught!

Sorry for it being so washed out, the sun was just cresting the hills!

My smallest brown that morning was 3#’s. All fish were extremely healthy and feisty. All were released to fight another day!

Later that morning, we took my newborn daughter, Alexis, out for her first boat ride. Let me tell you, compared to her older brother’s first trips, she did AMAZING!!! She even allowed us to fish (my boy’s first trips were not as accommodating). We caught (4) browns in about an hour’s time, all in the 3 to 4 lb class! The whole family had a great time!

Alexis's (center) first boat ride!

Zachary (left), Me (middle), Jackson (right) with a 4lb Brown!

That afternoon, we went to our favorite beach where we met up with the Thaut’s. We went swimming, bbq’d some burgers, played in the sand, and played a variation of water baseball. So much fun, and a great way to tire the kids out. I decided to stay in for the evening so I could rest up for the next morning.

I was up early again and got after the brown trout drill. About 10 minutes into my first run, my downrigger rod popped out of the release and began to scream off the reel! “YES!” 5 minutes into the fight and this fish staying deep, I knew this was a better fish. I got the first glance of the fish in my head lamp and thought to myself “Hey, a nice 5 to 6 lber!” As the fish came closer in, I noticed how deep he was. When I netted him and hoisted him over the gunwale, I knew he was well over 6 lbs! I taped him out with my flexible measuring tape and he was barely over 26” long, but had a 15.5” girth! An absolute slab! I then weighed him in my rubber net with my boga grip scale! My net weighs a couple ounces less than 4 lbs and the scale was bouncing between 12.5 and 13#’s! “HOLY CRAP! He’s about 8.5#’s.”

I'm all smiles with this SLAB of a brown!

26.5", 8.5#'s, and 15.5" GIRTH!!! I'm happy!

Adrenaline kicked in and I was shaking. It’s so awesome that after 10 years of being in this sport how these fish can get to you some times. I took a couple of self photos and released the tremendous fish back to where he came.

After my nerves calmed down from that tremendous fish, I proceeded to catch (6) more fish, with one being a 22”, 5# hookjaw!

I could't get over how fat the browns were!

I wasn't even going to weigh him until I saw how stocky he was! Another 5+lber!!

I could not get over how thick the brown’s I’d been catching. So healthy and they all fought great! As I released him, I thought to myself “Hey, I wonder if the kokes are biting so the kids might get a shot at some jigging.” I switched up to my koke rods and in about 30 minutes, I’d hooked 7 kokes but only landed 1. That was enough for me to go back and get the boys into some fish.

I made breakfast and told the boys to get their fishing clothes on so we could go catch some lunch. They hurried up and we were on our way. We jigged for about an hour, landing 6 kokes and losing probably 20 or so! It was a riot! We went back to pick up my wife and daughter and back to the beach we went for some kokanee bbq!

Jackson holding one of a few kokes we jigged

Both Jackson and Zachary had a blast, food for the BBQ!!!

That evening, my oldest son Jackson asked if he could get up with me at 4:15 AM to go early morning fishing for “the big ones!” I made sure that he really wanted to do that and he said “YES!” My wife told me “If he gets cold and doesn’t want to be out there any more, you turn around and come back!” Absolutely, the last thing I want is to give my child an unpleasant experience.

My alarm went off the next morning and I woke up my son. He was sleepy, but he was ready to go hit the lake with Dad! We were in my boat and fishing before 5 AM. Pretty impressive for a 5 year old.

It's 4:45 AM, and my 5 year old is ready to go!

Got the heater on..."Let's go Dad"! A true TTH'er in the making!

We proceeded to catch 6 browns (nothing over 3 lbs) over the next hour and a half when he said “Dad, I’m cold. Can we go to the cabin and get breakfast?” “Sure thing buddy” and I turned us back to the resort. We went out on a joy-ride with the whole family later that morning and we picked up (4) more browns (again, nothing over 3 lbs). Everyone was having a blast!

It was now Thursday AM, and guess what? Jackson was all about going out with Dad in the early AM AGAIN!! I was pumped! I said a prayer to “The Big Man Upstairs” if I could get one more good fish for my son. Prayers were answered a short time later with Jackson reeling in a 6#, 26” hookjaw.

Early bird get's the worm..or...er...Brown!!

Jackson with a 26", 6# Hookjaw! Way to go, buddy!

We caught (3) more fish in the 3 to 4 lb range over the next 45 minutes when Jackson said “Dad, I’m cold, can we go in?” We’d only been fishing maybe 1 hour and I said “Are you sure buddy?” He responded “Yeah. I’m cold and hungry!” So we finished, but he we grinning ear to ear! That’s what it’s all about!

The rest of the day we took it easy as a family. We went on another family boat ride where we landed another (4) browns. It was getting pretty windy so we decided to head in and stay around the resort instead of doing a “Beach Day”. That night, both Jackson and Zachary wanted to go out as it would be the last time we’d go fish for “the Big Ones”. We had a great time listening to music, the boys dancing on the boat, eating snacks, pretending there were sharks and tornados on the lake. Hey, with a 5 and a 2.5 year old, you never know what you’re going to talk about. We fished for 2 hours and didn’t get a bump! But they didn’t care! They were having a BLAST and laughing hysterically as I’d let them drive the boat, try different lures, and just taking in East Lake for what it was! Now that is what it’s all about!

I LOVE this photo! The boys were having a BALL!

I don't care how many fish we caught! This is what it's ALL about!!!

We had a great breakfast Friday AM at East Lake’s restaurant. I met up with Mike Scott (he had been camping with his family). I lent him some of my koke jigs so his kids and family could get into some kokanee fun (I think they caught 15 and lost over 40). I also learned he’d caught an awesome 24”, 8# hookjaw with a 16.5” girth! Way to go Mike!

HOLY PIGLET!!! Mike Scott with a THICK Brown!

Only 24" Long, but 8 lbs and a 16.5" Girth!!! Congrats Mike!

I also learned from my friend Kory (more of a kokanee fisherman), that they’d caught 24 kokes and lost probably 50 in about 2 hours of fishing the afternoon before! What an awesome fishery East Lake is!

As for what worked for us. 4” Lymans in rainbow pattern, 7” AC Originals in kokanee patterns, 6” Bettencort Bait Assassin in kokanee patterns, 6.5” Trophysticks in Kokanee Pattern, and then 4.5” Bomber 15A’s in kokanee and rainbow pattern. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get the browns to hit a chub pattern (gold). Typically, it’s a pretty good pattern. Most fish were 35 to 38’ deep (set up in the thermocline). Basically, if you found a school of kokes (most were 32 to 35’ deep), I’d put my lures 3’ underneath them. That seemed to be the ticket. We caught fish all over the lake. We caught them at the White Slide, the Hot Springs, the Cliffs, the Red Fissure, the Eastern Shore. I was focusing mostly on a water depth of 40 to 60’ (however I caught a few in open water over 100’ deep!) Wherever the kokes were, it was a guarantee there were browns. The final stats for fish were – (33) browns with 6 being 5#’s or greater, 1 rainbow, and 7 kokanee. This was in 13.5 hours of fishing (with the last 2 hours not even getting a bump).

Overall, we had a great time as a family. These are memories that I will always cherish. It’s these experiences that I hope and pray my children will someday share with their kids. I just can’t wait until next year!

Good Luck in all your fishing adventures (and take your kids with you!)

Brian (aka Bwild)

Off to the happy fishing grounds!