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I used to live in Lake Tahoe and I did a bit of mackinaw fishing when I lived there. I had a couple friends
who were avid mack fishermen and I learned a bit from them. One was a jigger and one was a troller.
I also went out with a famous guide by the name of Mickey Daniels who has guided on Tahoe for close to 40 years now.
He told me that, weather permitting, December was always his best month. In 1995 I moved to Central
Oregon. I was busy with job, business, and life stuff and didn't get out more than a dozen times a year, if that.
In 2003 my business evolved into a 4 day a week gig and I upgraded my boat and decided to get back into fishing regularly.
I bought another custom built boat in 2006 and have been fishing just about every week since then. I have
always loved mack fishing because at any moment a 20lb or even 30 lb fish can become a reality.
This report actually starts in 2008 on December 5th. I took 2 friends to Crescent and we had
a day to remember. We caught 15 macks between 9 and 19 lbs. Here's Brian holding the 19er.
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| A 19 lb Mackinaw for Brian out of Joe's boat |
In 2009 I decided to make the 20 lb mark a goal and also to fish every week until weather or conditions kept me out.
The first trip was Nov 8th. We got 4 fish with 15 being the biggest. Here's a picture of the 15lber
for me.
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| A nice 15 lber to start off Joe this late season! |
The next trip was Nov 14 with only (2) 12 lbers for the day. Here's a picture of me with one
of them.
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| It's a nice problem to have when one of your smallest fish of the late season is a 12lber! |
Nov. 21st we started to really produce. We got a 10, a 15, and I got this 20!
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| Joe attain's his 2009 goal with this great 20 lb Mackinaw. But he couldn't just stop at one! |
.... and JJ got this 23 lber, the biggest for the season!
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| JJ scored this 23lber after Joe caught the 20 lber. What a day! |
The next weekend was Thanksgiving and my wife and I got a cabin for 3 nights and had several
friends come and go for a day each of fishing. Thanksgiving day I got this 20 lber just before dinner time.
| Happy Thanksgiving, but that's not a turkey?!?!? |
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| That's another 20lb Mackinaw for Joe! Great Fish! |
The next day I nailed my biggest of the year at 22 1/2 lbs!!!! We caught lots of beautiful fish
that weekend.
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| Joe with a monster 22-1/2 lb Mackinaw! |
On the 4th of December, we got 2 fish, 12 and 14 lbs before we got blown off the lake before noon.
The next trip was Dec 11th It was at the end of a brutal cold snap with temps down to -25 at the lake.
I was surprised to see no ice on the lake. It was -6 when we launched and I got my friend Jerry his 1st mack ever.
A beautiful 19lber.
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| Jerry with a pretty 19lb Lake Trout |
The next weekend my friend Tom joined me on the 18th and he caught probably the most gorgeous mack I've ever seen.
A big 18 lb male in full spawn colors. It looked like a giant brook trout.
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| Tom with a beautiful 18 lb Mackinaw in full spawning colors! Amazing Fish! |
On the 26th of December, there were actually 5 boats on the water. The most we had seen since
we started in November. My friend Doug had the hot hand by getting 5 of our 8 fish including this 16 1/2 lber.
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| Doug with a nice 18lb Laker! |
My last trip was January 2nd. We were the only boat on the water all day. There was a foot
of snow on the beach.
| HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! |
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| Trophy Trout Fishing is NOT for the faint of heart! |
I got a nice one after only a few minutes. A fat 18 1/2 lber.
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| A 18-1/2lb pig of a Laker! Look how fat that thing is!!! |
After about an hour I hooked a monster! I knew right away this fish was huge!
Having caught 3 over 20 the last 6 weeks, I knew this was in a different category. He would not come up.
He didn't run, he just meandered. I would crank up 10 feet or so and he would take it right back.
I could feel head shakes and we played tug-of -war for about 20 minutes. He
finally gave a big head shake and came undone. How big was he? 25? 30? Bigger?
For now he's "the one that got away" until I hit Crescent again in the spring.
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