5/21/13
John and I had an epic two weeks together in May that I will never forget! Not just from the catching success rate, which was phenomenal, but some cool crazy stuff that happened along the way. Read here
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5/14/13
This has been an incredible spring so far for me. I have popped a lot of quality browns and am grateful for every one of them! Read here
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5/6/13
One month into Spring 2013 and already several Brownbagger members have caught some nice browns over 10 LB. That is the magical number members must surpass to add browns to the Brownbagger List. Read here
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4/29/13
Just as fast as it can get good, it can slow up just as quickly. That is what I experienced this last trip. Read here
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4/22/13
This is my favorite time of the year without a doubt! The browns get stirring after a slowed metabolism during the winter months. As the water temps get up into the 40’s and right up to around 50 they will continue to get more active. Read here
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4/16/13
This is the time of year that browns with start to make a move into the shallows and are accessible right after ice-out on many lakes. Read here
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4/8/13
Owen decided on a green and yellow Tomic plug for his line and put it about 60 feet down off the riggers. About 15 minutes later we had a fish on. Though we were inexperienced, we worked as an effective team Read here
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4/1/13
With the water temps at 37 degrees, I didn’t really know what to expect but with the warming weather and recent reports of some good brown action, I was glad to get out on a nice warm day. Read here
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3/26/13
Mount Contest Entry. I have only fished with one person that is as protective of a fishing hole as I am, and that is my friend and fishing partner Rafael Rossi. Read here
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3/18/13
Mount Contest Entry. On January 12th, 2013, my friend, Jesse, and I were out fishing on Kootenay Lake. It was about 7:00 with a stiff breeze but we decided to stay out all day and I’m glad we did. Read here
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3/11/13
The macks came off riggers at depths from 70-130 feet. He said they picked up the browns while flatlining. Looks like Crescent is starting to pop. Read here
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3/5/13
Mount Contest Entry. On January 28th, 2013 in South Park, Colorado we had an awkward start to our morning. We got out on the ice at 8 a.m. and started drilling holes! Read here
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2/19/13
Mount Contest Entry. I was fly fishing on a small spring creek in Central Pennsylvania this past May, 2012. My friend hooked a nice brown, about 18 inches, and I was watching him fight the brown in anticipation of helping him land it with my net. Read here
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2/15/13
I was pulling my boat out of the water when Steve and his wife were arriving at the dock in his boat. We just started talking about fishing and one thing led to another. Read here
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2/5/13
Mount Contest Entry. I grew up fishing the put and take lakes because it was easy to catch numbers of stocked fish and I think my father knew I would be hooked this way. The last few years I've focused most of my fishing time driving far west into the hills chasing larger trout. Read here
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1/21/13
I was excited to be getting back to Lake Billy Chinook after three years away. When my wife retired a couple of years ago, we decided to buy a travel trailer and snowbird down in our old home town of Porterville during the winters. Read here
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1/15/13
Mount Contest Entry. I have been fly fishing upstate New York in the fall annually since the year 2000. It may seem crazy to fly over 2000 miles to fish. That actually might be true, but for some the prize is worth the effort. Read here
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1/5/13
Mount Contest Entry. I was alone, standing waist deep in the Clark Fork, fishing with a big stonefly nymph and a small mayfly nymph dropper. I had hooked several whitefish in just a few minutes... Read here
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12/25/12
The last week to 10 days has been tough fishing. Low numbers and working
hard to get our big one for the day. Not typical of this time of year. Read here
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12/11/12
Mount Contest Entry. Jeremy Evers sent in his story on catching this killer 8 LB. 6 oz. hookjaw brown trout. It was caught at East Lake. Read here
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12/3/12
After getting back from our Kootenay trip I was still hungry to fish. I hadn’t been to Crescent Lake in months and Fall can be a great time as the water temps start to drop and the overall fishing traffic falls off dramatically. Read here
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11/26/12
Two days ago we had real steady action till 1:00 pm with the 18 being the biggest. At 1:00 pm the light switch turned off and we never got another bite. Read here
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11/19/12
What can I say about Kootenay Lake that I haven’t already said? It is my favorite lake and if I were to choose the best fishing destination for trophy rainbow trout in the world, it would win, hands down! Read here
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10/25/12
Pulled out three between 10 and 17 lbs a couple of days ago,on the 221 and 204. Most days getting fish over 10 lbs. Read here
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10/15/12
I was chomping at the bit to get out to pursue some browns in the waning days of our fishing season here in Central Oregon that ends Oct. 31. Read here
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9/26/12
The weather was supposed to remain under high pressure and I had gotten reports from fellow Brownbaggers, Dan Stewart, Ted Neal and Phil Brehjle, that they were still picking up some browns early and late. Read here
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9/18/12
I met Dave Rossberg when he moved to Bend several years ago from Crane for his Diabetes treatments. He had gotten to the point of needing dialysis every other day and Bend had the facility to meet his needs. Read here
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9/11/12
I found myself with an open afternoon and it was an easy choice on where to go fishing. Wickiup has been good the last couple of weeks as the browns are making their move up to stage prior to the spawn. Read here
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9/3/12
My uncle, Dick Arnold, came up the next day to sample some of the best fishing the season can offer. We did well both days with some killer fish! Read here
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8/27/12
This is the time of year that the browns can turn on in the famous lake. A lot depends on the water levels. The lake stayed really full this year due to the late spring snow and rain. Read here
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8/20/12
Our dear friends, Chuck and Norma Bunch, came up for a week with us in July and we hit some of the local sights and made a trip into Western Idaho to see old friends we both knew. Read here
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8/1/12
Chuck finally caught his best brown to date with a short, fat brown that was pushing right up to the 5 LB. mark on my Boga-Grip scale. Read here
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7/23/12
It was not long until one of our rods started bouncing hard and pulled from the release, I grabbed the rod out of the holder and could tell it was a decent fish. Read here
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7/16/12
My dear friend and old fishing buddy from Porterville, Gary Scott, would often say things were “double tough” when the fishing was super slow. That would kind of sum things up for East Lake this past week. Read here
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6/25/12
Tues. morning I got out early and worked several areas I have caught fish from regularly over the years and scratched out a few browns to around 2.5 LB. Read here
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5/29/12
The weather looked perfect with 40-60% of showers each day and overcast until after we left. You can't ask for any better conditions than that for this lake and the monster gerrards we would target. Read here
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5/21/12
We thought it was a big laker the way it fought and sounded. About ten minutes into the fight, we could make out the silhouette of the big laker about 30 feet below us. Read here
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5/14/12
Spring fishing on Kootenay Lake is on. Most days out getting rainbows over 10 lbs. All chromers coming in as the spawners are up at Gerrard now. Read here
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5/7/12
After 4 months in California this winter without lifting a rod, I was more than ready to finally get out for some brown trout action. Read here
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4/30/12
Spring fishing is starting. Starting to get rainbows on hair. Need to keep
it slow to about 2 - 2.2mph. Should be full on here in a week or two. Read here
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4/2/12
My friend, Jeff Morris, landed his 45th LCT over ten pounds on that day, and #45 was an exceptional one. It turned out that it was worth a new Polaris ATV as the reward for taking first place in the derby that weekend. Read here
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3/26/12
Not too much new to report on Kootenay Lake. Still good Bull Trout fishing. Averaging 4 - 8 fish per day. Read here
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3/19/12
February is gone already and the guys are still telling me that the fishing is still kind of hit and miss. Out of eight boats the other day one had their best fishing of the winter landing 8 fish Read here
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3/12/12
Brandon Lane and I decided to head up to Lake Billy Chinook to fish the Metolius Arm opener and break in my new 18'6 Lund boat. We woke up to 5 inches of fresh powder so I knew the drive was not going to be fun. Read here
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3/5/12
This year, the amount of time it takes to catch a quality fish, or any fish for that matter, has gone up significantly. Read here
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2/12/12
Fellow Brownbagger, Matt Carollo, caught this monster hen brown this winter. The toad was 32.5 in. long and weighed in at 21.5 LB. Read here
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12/16/11
The end of November already. Kaslo held their annual Rainbow derby on the Nov 11th long weekend and three more nice fish were brought in by the winners. Read here
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12/9/11
Lots of great trips happening making for lots of smiling faces. The fishing is just awesome. Last trip out was saturday. We landed 7 rainbows between 11 and 18 lbs. Read here
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12/2/11
Primetime Kootenay lake is on. Excellent fishing for Gerrard's. Water temp is in the low 50's which is prime. Most days out getting fish over 10 lbs or multiple fish over 10lbs. Read here
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10/28/11
The middle of October and we have things happening. Water temp is in that 56 degree area where anything may work on any given day. Some guys are telling me that they are having great days on plugs and apexes, the next guy will tell me that everything was taken on hair.Read here
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10/21/11
Kootenay Lake is fishing very well. The last 7 trips out we've landed at least one Gerrard Rainbow over 10 lbs. My top 3 producing flies have been the 228, 215 and the 205.Read here
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10/13/11
Dan and I meet a couple of years ago when he ran his boat across Paulina Lake that October afternoon to get my help in taking some photos of him with his big male brown. He had just popped the gorgeous 13 LB. male a few minutes before. here
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10/3/11
My buddy Phil Brelje caught his second brown trout over 10 LB. this year from Wickiup this past week. Back in the spring, he put a friend of his on a 15 LB. hen brown and then caught a 10 LB. male the same morning. Too bad he is so unlucky! Congrats again buddy! here
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9/14/11
Though Wickiup didn't produce the incredible number of big browns it did last summer, there were still some quality browns caught. Read a report from the last couple of weeks here
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8/31/11
My oldest grandson, Colin, has fished with me for most of his 17 years now. He has been coming up to Central Oregon every summer since he was 5. I have fond memories of his first trout that he actually hooked and reeled in by himself. Read more
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8/18/11
I got a call from a buddy of mine, Tony Herrin, the other day. We realized we hadn't fished together in quite awhile and he had a drill he wanted to share with me. Since East Lake had been productive for better browns of late, we decided on giving that a shot for an early morning drill. Read more
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8/10/11
Saturday morning was our best action of the trip. We found plenty of browns and Vince popped this beautiful 8 LB. hookjaw buck that really gave him his money's worth on the fight.Read more
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7/21/11
I finally got the chance to take my buddy, Dave Rossberg, on a long overdue fishing trip. We have been planning this for some time now. Part of the delay was the logistics of getting him in and out of the boat. Read more
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7/13/11
I was also going to test some new fishing products from www.cut2spec.com that owner, Paul Dubriske, had recently sent me. Paul was the original designer of the Downjigger many years ago and had, in 2007, revived his latest version of the G2 Jigger and his G2 Planerboard.Read more
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7/6/11
I just returned June 21st from my third annual week long fishing trip to Wallowa Lake with my good friend. Wallowa Lake is such a special place so it is never hard to stay one week fishing. The thought of catching a large Kokanee easily keeps your interest peeked.Read more
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6/29/11
When Alec arrived this June, I asked him what he wanted to accomplish as far as "fishing goals" go. He thought about it a bit and said "How about a 20 Lb. lake trout and a 10 LB. brown?"Read more
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6/22/11
I thought I could catch 10 LB. browns at will back in the late 90's and the early 2000's when I put four on the Brownbagger list in a couple of years after 18 years of trying to get my first. Boy, was I wrong! It has been a humbling nine years since I landed my last brown of 12 LB. from Wickiup back in 2002.Read more
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6/16/11
After a long winter off, I have been describing my behavior lately as a "fishing drunk." Seems like I haven't been home much in the last month and a half and fishing is the reason. Some of the trips were already scheduled but I have worked in a few more and the bottom line is...I have been "fishing my face off."Read more
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5/25/11
We held the Bill King Memorial Rainbow derby on the May long weekend and had the best turnout since we started hosting the event, we had 93 participants take part in the derby. Read more
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5/25/11
Some of my friends have asked me why I would get so excited about fishing for kokanee. It was never one of the highlights in my fishing experiences until I had heard about the enormous kokanee that Wallowa lake was starting to kick out about five years ago. Read more
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5/18/11
Spring 2011 Fishing Report Collage
We knew we had timed our trip right due to all the shallow activity we were having.....a really good bite! The wind picked up around noon so we started to head in for lunch when my rod went over with line peeling off like crazy. This was obviously a much better fish than what we had been catching. Read more
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5/11/11
Spring is here!!! Having some warm days finally and it feels great. The lake has been a bit behind because of the cool spring, but is turning on now. Usually it happens around mid or third week in April, but is a couple of weeks behind this year. Read more
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5/4/11
There has been a ton of snow in the Sierras this year, and the Truckee River is raging into its terminal, Pyramid Lake. It has caused the fishing to be up and down, and the term I am labeling this spring's fishing with is "manic." Read more
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4/27/11
We were working "skinny water" with abundant structure and it paid off with 4 browns to around 5 LB. I am sworn to secrecy on the actual lure but I can tell you that he was on to something. Read more
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4/20/11
It was a day between storms with little wind and ample sun. It felt so good to be back home and fishing again. That is probably the longest stretch that I can remember when I have not fished. A little more than 4 months! Read more
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4/6/11
My friend, Phil Brelje, put his buddy, Bob Braman, onto this monster hen brown that was pushing 16 LB. during a recent trip to Crescent Lake. Phil caught his second over 10 LB. during the same day. What a day! Read more
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3/30/11
Now that the Nets have closed, fishing has been spotty and the action
sporadic. There has been a very good bite early in the a.m., but these
fish are mostly small slot sized fish. read more
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3/23/11
Kootenay Lake continues to be exceptional. I've been telling everyone to
expect things to slow down, but the fishing has continued to be very good. read more
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3/16/11
Some of you may already know this, but RD and I had some of the best bull trout fishing of our lives at Lake Billy Chinook this last weekend. I was able to catch the largest bull trout of my life! read more
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3/9/11
Fishing all through January has been generally good with the odd bad day especially around the full moon. Rainbows up to 24 lbs were being caught. There seems to be more guys getting out there than last year even though the weather seems to be worse. read more
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2/27/11
Mike McNeilly recently sent me this Pyramid report with a photo of his
best lahontan cutt yet. The big buck weighed 12 LB.+ and was released! read more
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2/20/11
It seems that Mike Mott's new record rainbow broke the old one going back to Dec. 1971 that came out of Lake Mojave. His big beast weighed in at 16.5 LB. read more
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2/13/11
Well the first annual Hook it Up Tackle's fishing derby in Nakusp was a
huge success. Excellent turnout with 139 people entering, and approx 41
boats. read more
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1/22/11
End of December and into January has been very good for trout. Most of the larger Gerrards are in the 15 - 18 lb range. I did see numbers of fish coming down as the water got colder, so I slowed my presentation down and threw out some Lyman plugs. read more
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12/22/10
December continues to be excellent fishing. Still pulling hair on top at around 3 mph. Lyman plugs and flasher and hootchie on the downrigger is producing some nice Bullies. read more
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12/6/10
I got a call from fellow Brownbagger and buddy, Jim Bringhurst, back in Oct. He asked me if I could join him for a trip to Lake Michigan in November. read
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11/27/10
Kootenay Lake is fishing hot. Great numbers of big fish coming in. Many days we're having multiple rainbows over ten pounds on the same day. A good example of this was on Nov.11 when Karl a new guy came out with two of his buddies. read
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11/20/10
Kaslo Derby Report. On the Friday I caught five, the largest about 12-pounds, two about eight-pounds and two shakers. I didn't take photos with the quite severe wind and rain. In fact, I didn't even net any fish, prefering to use plyers to release them next to the boat. read
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10/29/10
Catches of the week! read
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10/18/10
Fall is a special time to me... the end of summer and a shot at the big browns during their pre-spawn and spawning cycles. When you do tag one, they are usually breathtakingly beautiful in their best fall colors. read
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10/11/10
It seems like fall is coming early this year and this one may be the prelude to a bigger winter if the Almanac is right. read
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09/26/10
I had been up earlier in the week to fish with Dan Stewart and we both thoroughly enjoyed the time together. The fishing was tough and remained slow for most of Jan's and my stay. read
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09/12/10
It seems like fall is coming early this year and this one may be the prelude to a bigger winter if the Almanac is right. read
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09/05/10
After my report to the "Dinkmeister" the week earlier, John decided to make a trip up for some of the Wickuip brown action before the fall season ended and while you could still get a boat in. read
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08/29/10
A Trip to Remember! I met Chuck "ZZ Top" Jones back in the late 90's while I was pursuing trophy browns on our Central Oregon lakes. We hit it off right away with our mutual zeal for big browns and dedication to catching them. read
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08/12/10
I decided to meet up with the Dinkmeister and Mikey at Crescent for a couple of days. Colin and I had some decent luck on a couple of nice browns and a large laker the week before. read
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08/06/10
For my final fishing trip of the summer with Colin, we decided on heading up to Crescent Lake. I hadn't been there since the spring and hadn't fished it as much as I have in the past few seasons. We didn't get away until late and finally got on the water right around 8:00 p.m. read
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07/31/10
I had the opportunity to have my good friend, Rick Coffin, and his grandson, AJ, out this past Thurs. evening at Wickiup. We had hoped to get AJ his first brown trout. read
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07/24/10
After a whirlwind trip to California to swap grandsons and deliver several fish to the taxidermists, it felt great to be back in Central Oregon! read
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07/10/10
We decided we would head back to Paulina and East for our final outing this year. It seems that the fishing is in a bit of transition from the spring to summer pattern. With the long wet spring, it has put everything about a month behind schedule... read
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07/02/10
Congratulations to my Grandson, Alec, on his biggest brown to date. We released this nice 8 LB. hookjaw right after this photo... read
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06/09/10
Fishing on Kootenay has still been great! Splitshot has been hot out there!... read
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05/29/10
The Bill King memorial Rainbow derby was held over the long weekend, with 60 participants vying for the bragging rights... read
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05/27/10
Hot off a trip back in April, John "Dinker" Werwie and I had made plans to hit Wickiup for part of a week in May. We met at the Gull Point campground on Wed. evening and got out for an evening run at the browns. With some great action early this season on some bigger browns, we were excited as usual... read
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05/21/10
It's interesting how it goes. Some days it's just fairly steady action, and other days you have a 1 to 2 hour window of opportunity when the bite turns on, and the big guys hammer your flies... read
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05/07/10
Kootenay Lake is fishing very well right now. There's been a couple of 20 pounders weighed in this spring already, and good numbers of 10 - 15's... read
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04/28/10
Sittin' here in my camper watching the snow fall and having some lunch. Fishing your old stomping grounds here at LT Bridgeport. This is my 4th day with 5 browns total... read
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04/29/10
I was driving home from a fishing trip of my own when I got a call from buddy, Eric Cole. He and one of his friends, Darrell Todd spent most of the opener at Wickiup in pursuit of big browns... read
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04/28/10
I was really pumped for our first fishing trip of 2010. What a sweet set-up we have dialed over the last several years. He brings his Lance camper and I meet him with my boat... read
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04/25/10
My buddies, Vance Haug and Scott Johnson, came west from Nebraska to fish Pyramid with me last week. I told them that a realistic goal for a big fish for them would be a 7Lber... read
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03/24/10
I couldn't believe that I was finally heading to LBC for the first time this year. More than three weeks after the Metolius Arm opening, I was just now getting out. Part of the problem is that larger bulls or even legal fish (24 in.) have been on the decline for the past couple of years... read
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03/23/10
Fishing has been nothing short of sensational for the last two weeks. The ice in our marinas has disappeared and that only means one thing...big fish... read
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03/03/10
This past Tuesday I called Jerry to go over the paint scheme of his mount. It was then I learned that a buddy of his and 35 year resident of Joseph, OR, Gene Theil, had just broken the record... read
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2/21/10
The water here on Lake Michigan is warming up and so is the fishing. Fished a couple of trips this week and we are averaging over 20 brown trout per trip. The water has been clear so stealth presentations have been key... read
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2/5/10
December was a tough month to do much fishing on the east slope of the Sierra's. Temperatures in the negatives,icy roads, and unplowed boat ramps made it difficult to get around... read
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1/29/10
What a month December was. Excellent numbers of rainbows to 15lbs. I think my favorite story was when my little buddy Tom came up for a visit, and we took the kids out fishing for a day... read
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12/1/09
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