Fishing Report 1-20-06

One of my buddies, Dan McAllister and some of friends, made it up to Crescent Lake in early January for a shot at some browns. With very low water conditions, it is a bit of a crapshot to launch your boat. The resort is doing a good job of keeping the ramp open, but I would always call ahead before planning on a trip up there in the winter. They are currently charging $5 to launch if weather permits. Part of the problem is, with the lake hovering at 20,000 acre feet, it is very shallow and you have to put your rig way back to float a boat. Smaller boats are less of a problem.

They did fairly well with one brown that measured 29 in. and only weighed 5.5 LB. That length of brown trout could easily weigh 10 Lb. if it had been eating well. Remember that these browns are coming off their attempts to spawn this last fall. Dan commented that it looked like the cross between a pike and a brown. He said that Andy did catch two nice looking male hookjaws that went 4, and 4.5 LB. respectively.

The lake is capable of producing some really nice browns into the teens. I was fortunate to catch my second brown over 10 LB. back in 2000 from Crescent. I have word, from a very reliable source, of an angler who caught two browns last year over 10 with the biggest going over 14 LB. a few days apart. I won't be surprised when someone catches a brown exceeding 20 LB. from Crescent someday. I have, on more than one occasion, witnessed browns in the teens pushing up through kokanee schools during the spring. Their back, dorsal and tails breaking the surface as they lunge around after the kokes. It is a lake that should be on every trophy brown trout anglers list.

They also have a thriving population of mackinaw that reach into the 30 Lb. range. A couple of years back, a friend of mine and I accounted for 68 lakers over 15 LB. in a little over two and a half months. We had 23 over 20 LB. and his biggest went 30 LB. 8 oz. A guide on the lake caught and released a fish that was in the mid-30's last year as well. They also have some of the bigger kokanee in Central Oregon. Though not as prolific at producing big numbers of kokes like Odell, the average size fish is bigger.

Tight lines, Rick