Hi Dan,
 
Well, it was that time of year again where Ryan Daniels and I try to take our dad's out for our annual "Dad's Weekend" trip.  This would be the 3rd year in a row.  The last two years we fished at East Lake and Crescent Lake, respectively.  This year, the desitination we decided upon would be Paulina Lake.  As you well know, this lake is very famous for it's monster brown trout.  We knew it would be a difficult task, but we wanted to give our dad's the best chance possilbe to getting a large brown trout and we figured Paulina Lake was the best choice.  I've only fished Paulina a couple times as a kid and have only caught rainbows and kokanee (and that was on a fly rod from shore).  So this was going to be my first real attempt at trophy trout fishing Paulina Lake.
 
As I was literally 1/2 a mile from my parents house on Tuesday evening to pick up my dad, I received a call from him.  He said they were heading to the hospital as he had "an episode".  I pulled in front of my parent's house as they were leaving.  He told me that he had gotten up from the dinner table, walked about 10 feet, felt a little shortness of breath and the next thing he remembers is my mom over him while he's lying flat on his back.  My mom said he was out for 10 to 15 seconds.  I asked why didn't they call 9-1-1, and they said he was coherent and felt fine. We took him to the hospital, and long story short, they hooked him up and ran a bunch of tests to see if this was a heart-related episode.  They couldn't really find anything, but wanted him to wear a "holter monitor" for 24 hours.  My dad asked the doctor if there was any chance he could go fishing with me.  The doctor said "Absolutely not." 
 
I told my dad I didn't really feel like going if he wasn't going to be there.   It just wouldn't be "Dad's Weekend" without him.  He was adamant that I still go.  With safety always a concern, and me not wanting to fish by myself, I tried to think of people that would want and be able to go on such short notice (and during the middle of the week, nonetheless).  My dad mentioned my friend Ruben.  What a great idea as I knew he was home and definitely has the patience for this type of fishing.  So I called him, and sure enough, he said yes and he'd meet me up there that evening.  So I told my dad and he was excited.  I also told my dad "Well, now you've put the pressure on me.  I HAVE to catch a brown over 10 lbs for you.  That is my goal and I will not stop until I get it.!"  He appreciated it, but knew that would be an enormous feat to accomplish that.  What better place to try than the famous Paulina Lake, right?
 
I got up there Wedensday afternoon and it was nasty.  I checked in, got my gear into the "LARK" cabin (which was WONDERFUL), and decided to head out on the lake while I waited for Ruben.  I ran into and introduced myself to Bill Fugate.  I'd asked him how things had been going and if any big fish had been caught yet this year.  He said, "No, unfortunately.  But when the water temps get up, they'll start biting."  I told him about an 8.5 lber that Eric Cole had caught a couple weeks back and he said that's the biggest fish thus far this year.  I waved good-bye to him and off I went into the mighty Paulina waters.  The conditions were awful with a lot of wind, white-caps on the water, and a rain/sleet mix pelting me in my face.  It was not fun.  Around 7:30 pm and hardly any fish marked, I pulled up the dock just in time to see Ruben pull in.  I told him it was pointless right now with how cold, wet, and windy it was.  We hit the cabin, made some dinner, and then sat around the wood stove while we reviewed a map of the lake, devising our plan of attack for the next morning.

Thursday morning, the weather was brutal.  I told Ruben that it was pointless to go get beat up with lake conditions like this (and very unsafe).  So, we slept in (a luxury for a trophy trout fisherman) and made fat breakfast.  We decided to kill some time and ran up to East Lake to see what it looked like.  As we approached the SW Corner of the lake, we could see from the road that we might has well have been trying to fish the Artic Sea in January.  The lake was an ice-cube.  Well, that rules out any potential of trying to fish East Lake.  So we got back to the cabin.  It was killing both of us not to fish.  So we said screw it and headed out into the wind.
 
After trolling around and getting our butts kicked by the wind, Ruben and I decided to hit the Western Shoreline where it was somewhat protected.  We scoured the water all over the place in search for big browns, or any fish for that matter.  Finally, over some deeper water, we noticed some schools of kokanee.  Knowing that Ruben hadn't really fished for trophy trout that much, I figured we'd pass the time and jig for some kokes.  Well, this would be the second time that I'd ever intentionally fished for kokanee so I knew this was going to be interesting.  Well, my first jig up I hooked up with a nice kokanee.  Huh?  This was easy.  2 minutes later, Ruben had one in the boat (his first ever kokanee).  Then I had  a hit and missed it.  However, with the wind blowing so hard, even in the protected areas of the lake we were getting blown off the schools.  After about an hour, we ended up with 3 kokanee, lost 6, and were getting very cold.  We headed in, fried up some delicious kokanee in the frying pan and headed back out for the evening brown drill.  To no avail, we did not get a bump.  However, we started noticing where the browns were at.  RD and his dad drove up at the boat dock.  We were telling them about our day and what we found.  That night, over a couple of beers and a RAGING fire in the wood stove, we devised a plan on how we'd attack Paulina Lake in the morning.

Friday morning, we headed out right at legal.  We set our rods up and away we went, trolling the shorelines.   15 minutes into our first pass, Ruben yells "FISH ON!"  After a short lived fight, he landed a nice chunky, 18 inch brown.   A quick pic later, she was back into the drink to get bigger.   Skunk was off the boat.  Then I get a call from RD on the radio and his dad had hooked up with a feisty brown.  Sweet, the bite was on!  About 15 minutes later, we trolled over the same lane and Ruben caught another dink.  Not what we're looking for, but at least we were catching some fish.  It then slowed to a dead halt until about 8:30 in the morning.  This is when the craziest, most bizzare occurrence in my very short career of trophy brown trout fishing happened.!  This is a MUST READ!
 
 
We were trolling along when all of the sudden my reel goes "ZING, ZING, ZING, ZIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGG!"  I grabbed the rod immediately and set the hook.  "FISH ON!", I screamed.  There were some powerful headshakes on the end (or so I thought) and then my rod just went dead with heavy weight.  I immediately thought and said out loud "I bet you I just got hooked up on a kokanee fishermen's anchor rope."  I told Ruben that this had happened to me 3 times before at East Lake.  He turned the boat around and as I reeled in, I'd feel a throb on my line every now and again.  It felt exactly like a hook-up with an anchor line and me dragging a weight across the bottom.  LOVELY!
 
We pulled up to where my line was pointing straight down.  It was heavy.  I started hoisting up and Ruben noticed something in the water.  It looked like a mossy branch of some sort.  We were in deep water and it seemed odd a branch would be that deep on the bottom.  Then we noticed it was in fact an anchor rope.  But then we saw a white "thing" that appeared to be caught in the rope.  The closer I brought up the anchor line, we noticed it was a fish.  It was oriented in a fashion that it was trying to swim straight down but it's back was arched about 20 degrees from vertical so all we could see was it's belly and it's associated fins.  We could barely see the head, but we could see my lure in it's mouth.  "What the heck?"  Then we noticed, the back two treble hooks were embedded into it's mouth, while the front treble hook was STUCK IN THE FREAKING ANCHOR ROPE!   I hooked a fish, and in the process of the first 5 seconds of the fight, it ran into and caught itself on this anchor rope.  WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT HAPPENING? 
 
I called RD on the radio and told him.  He was on the other side of the lake so it was difficult to hear as we'd cut in and out.  He asked how big it was.  It was so difficult to tell at the angle the fish was at, but I told him it was probably around a 5 to 6 lb brown that looked like a hen.  So Ruben and I tried to get my lure retriever on the lure and maybe get the front treble hook to stick in the retriever where we'd subsequently hoist the fish up.  After 10 minutes of bonking the fish in the head with my lure retriever and not getting the front hook, we tried something different.  We grabbed my 18 lb mushroom/grapple anchor, thinking we might be able to get one of the anchor flanges hooked around the rope.  I kept "jigging" my anchor to catch the rope.  It wasn't happening.  However, one of the times, my anchor grabbed the fish.  It actually turned it sideways and gave us an excellent profile view of the fish.  My eyes widened and I exclaimed "HOLY $#IT! It's my second over 10 lbs, it's MY SECOND OVER 10 LBS!!!!"  I called RD and tried to tell him what I had and needed his lure retriever with the grapple hooks.  We kept breaking up, but he said "Sheesh, that fish sure grew" in a tone of disbelief.  I didn't have time to explain.  Ruben tried taking the other end of my anchor rope that had a hook on it used for hooking into the front eyelet of a boat.  For 15 minutes, he tried to snag a loop in the line, but could never quite get it there.  We got it within 10 feet of the surface.  Ruben tried with all his might to get the net as deep as possible as I held the line taught.  He was just a few feet from the amazing hen brown.  Finally, after 30 to 40 minutes of us trying to get this fish, my line finally gave.  "SNAP!"  I threw down my rod and just screamed.  With a myriad of emotions going through me, I was literally shaking.  I had just lost my second brown over 10 lbs.  I was sick to my stomach and could not believe what just happened.  I called RD on the radio to let him know we lost it, and when trying to explain it to him, I was so flustered I couldn't even talk.  Ruben and I went to shore and hung out for about 30 minutes to allow me to let this terrible occurrence sink in.
 
We got back into the boat, licking our wounds of losing a tremendous brown trout.  RD called me on the horn and said that he and his dad had hooked there downrigger ball on something in an eerily similar spot.  He said they marked it on their GPS and thought they saw an anchor line!  Since he knew about the fish I just lost, could it be the same exact anchor line?!?!?!?  We met him out on the water and started scanning the depths furiously with our polarized glasses to see if we could see the rope.  All the sudden, RD's dad yells, "THERE IT IS!"  We couldn't believe it!  I asked if they could see the fish on it.  They said they couldn't tell but could barely see the top of the anchor line.  They hovered over it and RD busted out his handy dandy lure retirever with the grapple hooks on it.  For 15 minutes, he was jigging for the anchor line when he finally hollered out "I GOT IT!  I GOT IT!"  He started pulling it up and I cried out "IS MY FISH STILL ON IT?!?!"  He fired back "NO, BUT I JUST GOT YOUR LURE BACK!"  He kept heaving, visibly working hard to pull up whatever was on the end of the rope.  He finally got it in.  RD had pulled in about 75 feet of anchor rope with a 30 lb pyramid drift boat anchor.  Oh yeah, and there were (3) fishing lures stuck to it, including mine.  He surveyed my lure and tossed it to me and said "Man, you weren't kidding that you had a hawg on there.  Look at your hooks."  My back (2) Owner treble hooks were absolutely warped and bent with two large teeth marks in the back of my lure.  That's when I said "I told you so."
 
So, we got back to trolling, feeling a little better that now RD and his dad did Paulina Lake a huge service by pulling that anchor out of the way.  About 3 hours later, my rod bent over hard with line getting zipped off the reel.  I set the hook solid and WHAM!  There was some heavy resistance on this fish.  I began fighting it and it was staying deep, felt heavy, and every few seconds I would get the indicative head-shakes of a bulldoggin' brown trout.  I finally got the fish close to the boat but it still didn't show itself.  I finally got a glimpse of it and went "WHOA!"  I told Ruben to "Get the net! Get the Net! Big Hookjaw! BIG HOOKJAW!"  10 seconds later, the beautiful buck brown was landed!  After our celebratory screams and hi-fives, Ruben called RD over to come see the beast.  We measured and weighed him.  He taped in at fantastic 29 inches, 9.5 lbs!  This was my second biggest brown to date!  After several pictures, we revived the big boy and let him go.  We have a video of the release, although, you'll notice he actually didn't get released in the video.  He was very tired and with the frigid 37 degree water temps, we had to revive him by slowly running the boat forward while pointing his face into the direction we were traveling.  After a minute or so of doing this drill, he swam off beautifully back to the deep to go and gain some weight. Ruben also shot a nice video clip of the final moments of the battle and the fish coming into the net. 
 
Nothing more occurred the rest of Friday.  Saturday was also pain-stakingly sllllllllooooooooowwwww!  It was around 11 am and I knew Ruben had to leave in a few hours.  I told him that we could keep trolling for browns or we could try our luck jigging for kokanee.  He said "Why not?"  RD and his dad headed back to the cabin and I told him I'd call him on the radio if we had any luck.  Well, for not being kokanee fishermen, did we ever have some luck!  I went to an area where we'd been marking some kokanee schools earlier that day and trolled several times for browns but to no avail.  I stopped the boat, told Ruben the appropriate depths to send our lures down to and began fishing.  Within seconds, Ruben had a fish on and in the boat!  Then I had one on!  Then he had another one on , and another, another.  I called RD immediately and told him to get his butt out on the lake as there was a hot kokanee bite going off!  In less than 45 minutes, Ruben and I had our limits.  RD and Kim weren't catching as many as quickly.  I told them they could use my lure since it seemed to be working well.  It worked for them instantly and they shortly thereafter had their limits of kokanee. What was hilariouis is kokanee fishermen flocked to our spot in hopes to get into the action we were having.  We were out-catching them about 5 to 1.   And this was only the 3rd time I'd ever purposefully gone out for kokanee (with the 2nd time only being days prior when we were screwing around).  It was a kick in the pants!!!
 
We got back to shore and saw Ruben off as he had to get back to watch his kids.  He had a blast and was grateful that I was able to share this experience with him.  Hopefully it's the beginning of many future trophy trout hunting trips for him.  After he left, I told RD I'd buy him a drink at the bar.  We ran into Paulina Lake legend, John Hofferd.  We knew he had caught 11 browns over ten and is heralded as one of the best brown trout fishermen on  the west coast.  I wanted to show him the great hookjaw that we had caught.  We knew it paled in comparison to what he's caught in the past.  He appreciated us introducing ourselves and the pictures.  So much in fact that he asked us to join him for drink at his cabin and he'd show us his fish mounts.  Without delay, we took him up on it. It was amazing.  9 of his brown trout over 10 were on full display.  Just amazing fish.  He also has an amazing collection of waterfowl mounts as well (which I appreciate very much as I'm an avid waterfowler myself).  We had a great time getting to know him and very much appreciated his generous hospitality.  John, if you're reading this, MANY THANKS and I hope to run into you again (hopefully sooner than later!).
 
That evening, we didn't have a bump.  When we got back to shore, RD ran into another trophy brown trout legend, Chuck Jones.  RD invited him back to the cabin and he took him up on it.  We sat and chatted for almost two hours with Chuck.  We'd run into him earlier this Spring at Crescent Lake where he camped with us for a couple of nights.  It was great getting to know him.  He has some of the most amazing stories (and not just fish) and I could listen to him for hours.  We finally had to call it a night as 4:30 AM was only a few hours away.  With a very short-lived slumber, we headed out the following morning.  I had a nice takedown within the first 30 minutes of trolling.  After that, nothing.
 
It was a tough trip at times.   But it was also one of the most rewarding.  I felt awful that my dad couldn't be there but felt good that his suggestion in taking Ruben played out very well.  I know Ruben had a blast and felt honored I could take one of my best friends and share these experiences with him.  I also wanted to give an extra special thanks to Todd and Karen Brown (the owners of Paulina Lake Lodge).  You have beautiful cabins in one of the most beautiful settings around.  All of us appreciated your warm hospitality.  I highly recommend to anyone that is interested in going fishing for browns or kokanee, or just wanting to get away to seriously consider Paulina Lake Lodge as their vacation destination.  Great place! 
 
A final thanks to my dad!  I'm so sorry you couldn't be there.  I told you I was going to catch a brown over 10 lbs.  I lost that one because of me not being patient enough.  But I helped redeem myself by getting the one that was just 8 oz short.  Next time dad, it's going to be you reeling in that 10 lber, not me!  I love you, Dad, and I can't wait to get you out on the water to get that next big one!
 
Until next time,
 
Brian Wildish (a.k.a.  B-Wild)