Dan's 2006 Report Page

Current Reports......

More Fall Browns, November 3-5 2006

I left my house at 1:30 Friday morning for the long drive in the pouring rain. I stopped in Bend to pick up my young friend Jordan Whitton and we headed to Crescent Lake. Arriving right on time we got right to it, trolling the waters between the resort and Simax Beach - an excellent run for big browns and lakers this time of year. After a few passes of a few browns to 18 inches, we determined that the hot bite for big boys was not on. We knew that Jimmy Lewis and Bret had been at another lake for a couple of days, and we decided to go pay them a visit to see if the action was any better. Upon arriving, we saw Bret heading away from the lake, and soon after pulling up to the ramp Jimmy drove down with boat in tow, and a wet camp all packed up. The rain had beat them up and the fishing had been painfully slow. 5 browns in 2 days, but at least 2 of them were 7 pound bucks caught by Jimmy back to back Thursday morning. We wondered if it was a mistake to leave Crescent, but we were here now and were going to fish hard. I noticed some nice fish boiling off the dock, and made a few casts with a gold Kastmaster. 6 casts produced 6 browns and the next 6 produced 3 more. Nothing over 20 inches, but a fun way to kick off the fishing at a fresh lake. Jordan and I began to troll in shallow water and though nothing big was hitting our lures, we got plenty of action from smaller fish. By the end of the day we had lost count of the small browns we caught. The next day we decided to mix things up by doing some casting towards shore in very shallow water. We were excited to find some small groups of big browns cruising in under 5 ft of water, and some of the fish would chase our offerings with an occasional taker. These were spooky fish and tough to catch, but Jordan found that a hand tied black marabou jig was drawing the most attention. After several hours of screwing around with these finicky fish, Jordan finally got one to the boat. It was one of the smaller we had seen and it was near 4 lbs. A gorgeous golden brown, and the biggest of the trip so far. We did some more trolling that evening and got a bunch more dinks. Sunday morning we hit the shallows again. We were amazed at the numbers of BIG browns we were seeing compared to the day before. Hundreds of fish from 3-10 lbs in groups of 10 to 100+ ! It was fun to watch them, but they were even spookier than the day before and nothing would even look at our lures. It became clear that we were not going to catch these fish as the had nothing but spawning on their minds, and we were wasting time, so we broke camp and went back to Crescent to finish the trip. We stopped at the gas station at Crescent Junction and got a report that a fly fisherman had caught a 10 pound brown and some other nice ones from shore. I have had good luck casting from shore from some areas at Crescent in the fall so we opted to not launch the boat and work the shoreline. This turned out to be the right choice. We caught over 20 browns Sunday afternoon and most of them were over 20 inches with several in the 4-6 pound range. I think the stealth of being on the shore moving slowly and wearing camo colors rather than being over them on the water was key to our success.

Go to Dan's Photo Page for more photos of the colorful browns caught on this trip.

Fall Report October 21-23

After a really great year of successful trout fishing, I knew I was due for some tougher fishing sooner or later, and this was the trip where reality stepped in. Not bad fishing by any means, as it could have been much worse. The goal was a brown trout over 5 lbs, and we missed that mark by a long ways. My brother Dave and I set off @ 2 am Saturday and arrived at our first destination by 6:30. We got to work with much anticipation. We were picking up a fish here and there, but nothing over 16 inches and the graph was depressingly void of fish. By the end of the day we had landed 12 fish, and fortunately Dave ended the day with a handsome male of 19 inches. The next morning we decided that if no fish over 20 inches were caught by noon then we would go try another lake. By noon we had landed 10 browns averaging even smaller than the day before so we broke camp and landed at Wickiup where I had heard reports of some big browns biting in the last week. We fished the Deschutes channel near the boundary, and there were plenty of big browns around both on the graph as well as breaking the surface with regularity. After employing a variety of methods, it was clear that these fish were not responding well to our artificial offerings. We fished it through Monday afternoon and managed 10 browns with one little hookjaw that went 21 inches, maybe 3 lbs. The final tally for the trip was 30 browns between us caught on a wide variety of techniques short of bait. It was hard to pull away despite the slow fishing, knowing that any day, any hour, the bite could turn on. We would not be there for it this time, but I plan to try again before the fall is over. Hopefully the timing will be better for the big guys to come out and play.

East Lake September 9-11

I went camping with my wife, daughter, and some in-laws with their German exchange student this past weekend and took advantage of the chance to sneak in a little fishing time. Time on the water was limited to a couple hours in the morning and again in the evening for an hour or so due to alternate family activities.

I consider it a good weekend if a can manage a trout over 5 pounds, and after being spoiled by the success of my last couple of trips, I didn't expect to score one in the few hours I'd be putting in on this trip. Once on the water, I headed to a drop off that I thought might hold some bigger fish. My eyes must have been popping out of my head as the graph began to light up with big arcs. There was a good sized area where there were numbers of large browns holding in the thermocline from 35 to 40 ft. I began working these fish with Excalibur minnows fished at 35 ft without much response from the big ones. I managed a couple under 20 inches that night. I was pleased to find that the fish hung in this area all weekend and I knew that if I worked them long enough one would cave in to my artificial temptation.

Sunday evening my rod went down hard with the power of a bigger fish. After a short battle, the 5 1/2 pound female came to net. It was getting late and I knew my little girl would love to see this fish, so I put the fish in the live well and went to dock. Ellie was very excited to see the big fish and watch it swim away. This is what you call the good stuff!

The next morning I took Pappy and Simone out for a try and they each caught a couple including Pappy's biggest trout ever, a handsome 22 inch male that was 3 1/2 lbs.

At Long Last, A Brown Over 10 Pounds...

August 18-21, 2006

I couldn't be more pleased to announce that on August 18th, I caught the fish that I have been dreaming about for several years now. The giant hookjawed male brown tipped my scale at 11 1/4 pounds and was 29 1/2 inches long. Those who know me, know that I have a deep love for trophy trout fishing, and I thank God for blessing me with such a fine reward for all of my efforts. The monster hit my Lucky Craft Pointer 128 just before last light, and it was an adventure to fight and net him in the dark. The temptation was strong to keep the fish for the trophy that he was, but I was moved to release him and it felt great to do so. He swam away strong, and I have no regrets as he will be in my mind and photos forever. Thanks to all of my friends in the trophy trout world especially Jimmy Lewis and Rick Arnold, for the great networking and technique exchanging that has helped lead me to this accomplishment.

I scored the big boy at the end of day one of a 4 day trip with Jordan Whitton, and my dad joined us for the last 2 days. We even got a surprise appearance from Jimmy Lewis for a day and a night. The first day was hot as far as weather and fishing. 90+ degrees and no wind, but the browns were hungry. Spread throughout the day, Jordan and I popped many (30+) fish including 3@ 5 lb,1@6lb,1@7 1/2 lb, and the 11+. Not many fish were much under 20 inches, and by far the best day I have had for browns. The next day Jimmy joined us, and it was like someone turned a switch. We picked a few smaller browns, and I did lose a real monster fish after losing nearly 80 yds of line in a matter of no time. Sunday, Dad showed up and we endured many slow hours of fishing before finally Pop's got the reward when his line popped from the downrigger clip and an brilliant colored 6+ lb buck was fought to the net. The next morning we hit it early, and within 15 minutes of legal fishing time I hooked into a killer humpbacked hookjaw. Jordan got himself a couple nice 4 lbers and a really sweet 5 1/2 hook.

An epic trip all around with all fish released except which was hooked badly. He was delicious. I hope to cross paths with the monster that I released to fight again he is one amazing fish!

Summertime Browns, July 21-23

I had the privilege to sneak off for a shot at a trophy brown trout with the man himself, Jimmy Lewis. It was a last minute trip at an unlikely time of year for us, but we both had the itch. We hit the water dark and early Friday morning, and flatlined with little action for a while. I did get slammed by a large fish that sheared my 8 pound test, prompting me to switch up to 12. After the sun came up, we lowered our lures to the thermocline on the downriggers which was at 40 ft. It was not long before Jimmy's AC Minnow got hit and he was into a nice 4 1/2 lb male. Not a huge fish, but it felt good to have a quality fish to the boat early in the trip and it boosted our hopes. As the day went on we continued to catch fish to 3 1/2 lbs on and off from the downriggers. Jordan Whitton, a young trophy trout enthusiast of 16 from Bend, had come down to join us for the weekend. He was fishing solo, and he approached us mid afternoon with a 7 lb hookjaw he had just caught in his live well. The fish was caught on a beautifully custom painted Rebel that Jordan airbrushed himself. That's gotta feel good! By late afternoon, God had graciously given us a nice cloud cover, and it rained off and on through the evening. We were just about to switch from the riggers to flatlining at about 7:30 when Jimmy's rod bounced and he was on with a nice 5 1/2 lb hen. Little did we know that this fish marked the beginning of one of the best nights of brown fishing Jimmy or I had ever seen. It was my turn next with a pretty 3 1/2 lb hookjaw. Not long and Jimmy had a fish on, and as I was reeling in fast to net it when I got slammed by a good one. Jordan was trolling along with us a hundred feet away and I hollered that we had a double hookup and suddenly he was hooked up too. A Triple! Jordan and Jimmy got theirs in quickly and they were a couple pounds a piece. Mine was still fighting hard. When it came to the net, we were all amazed at the colors of this fish. The photos didn't capture the half of it, but this 23 inch male that was close to 5 lbs had the brightest green back of any brown I have ever seen, and there were no black spots, only vivid red ones on nice golden sides. Amen! We got our lines back out and Jimmy's rod bent hard under the weight of a killer 6 1/2 lb buck! At this point we were in brown trout bliss. If we caught nothing else the whole trip, we would still go home happy, but it was not over yet. We were coming up on dark and I had just missed a fish so I brought in my lure to check it out. We were almost to the end of the run, so I only let it back out 100 ft or so instead of the 100+yds I normally do. I gave the lure a few rips, and a big fish doubled my rod over hard and took off running! I fought the fish to the boat and was lucky to have an experienced net man like Jimmy to net this thrashing pig in such low light. My heart was beating out of my chest when I saw the shadow of the big male in the net and knew that this would rival my personal best brown of 8 1/2 lbs (also caught in Jimmy's boat). He measured 29 inches and weighed 8 1/4 lbs, a bit lighter but a bit longer then my #1. I thanked the fish and God as the monster swam back into the dark depths. An awesome end to an amazing night.

The next morning we were met by hungry browns on each of the first 5 passes including a 4 1/2 pounder for Jimmy. The bite slowed WAY down after that. Late afternoon I got slammed hard and pulled back against massive head shakes before the powerful fish started to peel. Just as I yelled "BIG FISH!" my line went limp as my 12 lb leader sliced and the fish swam away with my lucky (and discontinued) Excalibur Minnow. We fished through the evening and our hopes of reliving the action of the previous night were let down. Finally, after 9 o'clock, I hooked a fish that felt a little better, but it wasn't until it got to within 30 feet of the boat when it went ballistic, jumping 2 feet out of the water showing us it was surely over 5 lbs, and then making a number of short runs. Finally it came to the net and saw that it was as thick as a male brown could be, measuring 23 inches and weighing 5 1/2+ lbs. Nice spots and color, too.

Sunday morning was slow. We landed 5 browns in 7 hours and packed it up.

Most of the 40+ fish were caught on Excalibur Minnows in kokanee colors, and AC's in rainbow. They were all released, after quick photos. Jimmy and I wore big smiles all the way home as we discussed why we don't spend more time pursuing big browns in the summer time. I think a new leaf has been turned over....stay tuned.....

5 Days in Central Oregon, June 7-11

Left the house at 1:00 am to meet my brother Dave and our friend JT Nyquest at Crane Prairie for a shot at some big brookies and rainbows. We pushed right out to an area that has consistently put out a high ratio of big brook trout. There was not a cloud in the sky, which makes it harder work to score, but at least there was a decent chop on the water. The fish did not cooperate very well and by noon we had only boated 3 fish Only one was a brookie and it was small. Dave had landed a nice 20 inch rainbow that gave him a good run for his money on the ol' ultra light gear. Man, those things fight hard! the afternoon was slow and we were growing discouraged, but at about 5:00, I made the right cast. The Kastmaster hit the water, I gave it a jig, and BAM, I was slammed hard and a big rainbow came cart wheeling out of the water! This was my first nice fish on my new ultralight rod and I prayed that my 4 lb line would hold as the fish screamed off long runs. When it finally came to the net we were amazed at the girth, it was 23 3/4 inches long and had a 16 1/4 inch girth, a heavy 6 1/2 pounds! This was one of the nicest rainbows I have caught and I was very pleased. 5 minutes after the release, Dave got hit by another nice 20 inch, 3 1/2 pound rainbow, and it was not long before JT was into his best fish of the day a 4 pounder. This nice run of fish took our day from rough to quite good, but where are the big brookies? At last, Dave hooked one, not huge, but a healthy fish of about 3 pounds. This was a nice bit of icing on the cake.

The next morning, we decided to head off to a special place I know on the Deschutes. We float tubed and cast our small Kastmasters and Thomas spoons and were greeted by eager brookies and a nice rainbow. This place is a little slice of Heaven, and I'm sorry that I can't share it's location with the whole world. The fish were all deep bodied, and ran 16 to 20 inches. We caught and released 9 of them before the fishing slowed around 10. We went back to the boat at Crane with great satisfaction from the morning's results. After a couple of hours of nothing, we decided to move camp to East Lake to round things out with some brown trout.

It was not fast and furious, but the fish were biting and Dave and I caught a few 14-18 inchers trolling minnow plugs and throwing Kastmasters from the boat. JT stayed at camp to kick back a bit and make some casts from shore. He made the right call, as he caught a brown estimated to be 5 1/2 pound on a Kastmaster in 6 feet of water at 7:00. Nice hookjaw with good colors and I am looking forward to the pictures he took on his film camera. Congats on a personal best for JT. The next morning we were joined buy my dad Jerry and friend Justin, and Dad and I hit it early for prime time. We caught 8 fish by 8 o'clock but no size. We picked up Dave at camp and went back out to try some deeper water for the mid day run. We were marking a lot of nice fish on the graph at 15-25 feet down in various depths and locations, and we were running lures that should have been bonking them on the head, but no takers. Finally, at 11:00 my dads rod bobbed in the downrigger holder. It was his first fish on the down rigger, and he did everything right. He was hooked up with a nice brown and the adrenalin started pumping. He got the nice hen to the boat after a good battle, and it had the length, but not the girth. 26 inches, 4 1/2 pounds. The first quality brown to be had off of my down rigger, nice job Dad. We managed a few more small fish in the afternoon , and the bite picked up in the evening, but no more big fish. At the end of the day, we had caught about 25 browns. My best was a 3 pound hookjaw, a great looking fish. The next morning Dad and I hit it early again. It was slower, but there was a big fish feeling in the air. At about 7:00, my dad's rod went off hard and line was screaming from the spool, rod pinned in the holder. Just as he was getting the rod to hand, the line went limp. No fish, no lure. He got chewed!! It was a monster fish for sure, and the end of his line looked like it had been run through a grinder. Shortly after, Dad had to hit the road and Dave came out for the day shift. We pounded big marks on the graph for hours before determining that these fish were not biting. After checking in with the other guys at camp, we were all ready for another evening at Crane, hopefully like the last. Alas, the bite was not on. Dave caught a couple of small ones and that was it.

The next morning Dave and I couldn't resist the option of the "special place" on the Deschutes. This spot must have been fished hard the day before, as the fish were spooked and would not bite. After 3 hours we were about to give it up and as we were kicking to shore I made a cast into a shallow area we hadn't fished. I was shocked when a nice rainbow hit hard and exploded out of the water! This fish went bollistic, and took me to the bottom of my small spool 3 times before tiring to the net. Healthy and 21 inches, probabaly a bit under 4 pounds, and my best fish to date from a float tube. What a great fish on this small peice of water! Dave cast to the same zone after the release, and scored with a nice fighting 16 inch rainbow. No skunks today, phew.

This marked the end of the trip for Dave, and JT and Justin were all packed up when we got back to Crane. I was not done yet, so I pushed off in hopes of one more good fish, hopefully a brookie. The fish were rising more than any other time in the trip and I knew there was a good shot. After missing a couple of good strikes, I hooked up with a strong fish and I could tell by the battle that it was no rainbow. I thanked God for connecting me with a nice brookie as I fought the toad to the boat. Upon sliding her to the net I saw that it was not as big as I thought, but a quality fish for sure at 18 inches and a chunky 3 pounds. Shortly after, my clock ran out and the trip was over. Was that really 5 days? It went so fast....

I made a rough tally of numbers on the way home. Our group of 5 caught well over 100 trout, and only counting fish of 2 pounds or better, I figure about 70+ pounds. Great numbers for an awesome trip. All of the fish were released except for one brookie from Crane for my daughter Ellie. It was last nights dinner and delicious!

The waters of Central Oregon are a gift to us all. Let's all treat them with utmost respect.

Opening weekend 2006

I Fished 3 lakes over 4 days this past weekend, and as it was VERY tough fishing, the hard work paid off with some quality fish for my passenger and good friend, Andy Dahlberg. This was Andy's one year anniversary trip of fishing trophy trout with me, and just as in the two previous trips, I managed to get him into his two personal best trout ever.

We arrived at 4:00 Saturday morning to Crescent Lake, and found some of our gang already at the docks fixing to get to the other side of the lake by legal. We launched the boat and began trolling right off the bat as I usually do upon arriving at Crescent, as the rocky shoreline near the resort is ideal brown trout habitat. Trolling towards Simax, Andy's rod went off hard, and he was into a big fish right away, but after some massive head shakes it broke off as it was screaming line from his spool. Drag must have been a bit tight. Ten minutes later, I got my chance as my rod bent over and line began to peel away. I set the hook, and the fish responded with some headshakes which successfully threw the lure! Darn, 0 for 2. That was it for the prime time bite, but as the other boats left the water for breakfast, we continued to beat the shallows with our Excalibur Minnows, determined to get a big brown, despite the blazing sunshine and lack of wind. At 8 am, Andy's rod went off hard again, and the fish started taking line fast. Due to the conditions, we were running a ton of line, and it didn't take long before Andy declared that he could see the bottom of his spool. I had just gotten my line in, and whipped the boat around to chase the fish, but as I turned the boat he ran out of line! By the grace of God, the fish stayed on, and I slowly motored towards the fish to gain some line back. 5 minutes later we netted the hookjaw brown. After a quick dip in the live well, we weighed him in at 8 1/2 pounds and took some pics before releasing him back to grow up. That was the last bite of the day despite 13 more hours on the water.

The next day we hit it early again, but there was no bite to be found. By 10 o'clock it was beginning to feel futile, but suddenly Andy's rod went off again. No big runs this time but the fish was holding it's own and we knew it was BIG. After 10 minutes of give and take, we saw that it was a big laker, Andy's first, and it was definitely going to pass the 15 lb mark. Andy was 'reeling with excitement' as he drug the slab into the net. 19 lbs on the gripper scale!! He had just doubled yesterdays fish which had been the biggest of his life! Quite a weekend for Mr. Dahlberg. After that, there was no more action until we came into a random hot bite in mid afternoon off of Simax. We caught 6 browns in an hour with the biggest a 4.5 lb hookjaw, and several 2-3 pounders to boot. Gee, I even got to bring in a couple over 20 inches which were the first over that mark for me this year. Andy then had to take off, as well as RD who had been in Jimmy's boat, so Jimmy jumped in mine and we fished through the evening and the next days morning prime with nada. We decided to go to Crane Prairie to try for a rainbow or brookie.

Crane was looking good and it felt good to be among the first to be on it for the year, but despite the good vibes we couldn't find a strike. After 6 hours of trying we called it too early in the year as half the lake was still frozen and good water was limited. Off to Wickiup for evening prime.

Wickiup was full to the brim and huge! We trolled around Gull Point and I managed one small brown to break the skunk but that was it. Jimmy was pretty burnt, and decided to call it a trip, but I had to push onward solo. I hit Wickiup early the next morning and fished my face off. I felt like a robot after so many hours of ripping my rod and I was one hurting unit for sure. I was full of determination, and the huge browns that kept appearing on the graph kept me going strong. I managed to catch 3 browns with 2 going a bit over 3 lbs, when I had to leave at 4 o'clock. Yes I was a bit discouraged for not breaking the 5 lb mark AGAIN, but that's why they call it fishing, right? There are no sure things in this game....

Nice work Andy!

Special thanks to RD for the awesome plaque that he awarded to my boat of a stainless steel hookjaw he masterfully created!! I'll post a photo for all to enjoy.

Next trip in 5 weeks!

Crescent Lake March 10-12

After a 4 1/2 hour drive, My dad Jerry, brother Dave, and I arrived at Crescent Lake at noon Friday. It was snowing and there was close to 18 inches of snow on the beach. We were already chained up on all four from the pass, so we forged our way down the beach and launched the boat without any trouble. We were fishing by 1, and started to troll our way to Simax, planning to spend the day working the north end of the lake where I had done well in January. Unfortunately, the fish didn't seem to be around and at the end of the day We had caught only one 18 in brown.

The next morning, we walked down to the dock at 5:30 am, only to find that the bay had frozen an inch thick. When Dave stepped into the boat it didn't even budge. An hour later and a broken oar and we were in open water. We did a careful hull inspection to be sure that we hadn't cracked the fiberglass hull in the charging of the ice before beginning to fish. After trying one more run past Simax with nothing, we decided to run down to the south end of the lake. There was plenty of large thin ice patches to maneuver around, and Tandy Bay was half frozen solid. Throughout the day we managed to catch 5 browns, one dink for me and 2 each for dad and Dave that were 20-22 1/2 inches. The longest one was so thin it looked sick and only weighed 2 pounds. We did take a break in the afternoon and ran the downrigger for lakers, but couldn't find the fish.

Sunday morning there was not so much ice, and we got out of the dock and headed straight to the south end. When the sun came up the sky was blue and the water was flat, so we stealth trolled with the electric motor. By 10 am the sun was high and we had not had a bump, and we started to have thoughts of giving up on the browns and targeting lakers for the rest of the trip. As we were having this discussion, I had headed the boat towards deeper water, not really paying attention. Suddenly my dad's rod went off hard. I looked back just as a big brown came out of the water. It was way back and I knew it was over five pounds. The fish fought with power and stayed deep, but within 10 minutes it came up from the depths and straight into the net. We saw the fish and I knew it was probably going to break the magic 10 pound mark. We dropped the big hookjaw into the live well to gather our wits. He weighed 10 1/4 lbs on my Rapala Gripper scale and measured 30 1/2 inches strong. After a good photo session, dad released the bruiser, and he swam away strong. I found it funny that we had spent so much time scouring the water under 30 feet deep and we nailed this guy in over 70 feet of water with a shallow running Excalibur Minnow in the Emerald color. We decided to continue in our pursuit of browns and started working our way past the Scout camp when Dave's rod went off. It was another big fish and we were thinking it might be another monster brown, but it wound up being a 10 pound laker. Still an awesome fish! An hour later, it was dad's turn again. A nice fight yielded a beautiful 4 1/2 pound hookjaw brown.

We trolled for another couple hours with nothing more, and quit at 5 pm to get the boat out of the water in daylight. Getting the boat out of the water wound up being the biggest challenge of the weekend, see photos....

To top off the trip, I blew my driver side front tire coming over the pass.

I can't wait to do it all again!