Lake
Billy Chinook 3-22-05
Mark Burford, who watches
over our I.R.A.'s and mutual funds at Edward Jones joined
me this last Tues. for a guided trip. We started out in
the dam area just to get a different look than the island
drill. Of course I knew we would end up there before the
day was through. On the first pass along the shore flatlining
we hooked up on a dink and the ice was broken.
After nothing else in that general area, we decided
to head in the direction of Chinook Island to hit the spot.
Right away Mark was fast into a nice 6 lb. bull and we were
rolling. One of the highlights of the day occurred while
I was setting up to do some deeper downrigging in an area
where we could see a lot of kokanee working the top. While
I was getting ready to put the line in the release on the
rigger, I could feel the rod throbbing at the tip as a fish
had hooked up before I could get the set down. We were in
178 feet of water. Turned out to be our biggest bull of
the day. A real nice hook jaw male of 8.5 lb. Unfortunately
my camera was acting up and Mark didn't have his so we have
nothing to show for it but great memories.
All in all, we hooked and landed 8 bulls with the biggest
4 going 4,6,7and 8.5 lb. Most of the fish came in the general
area of the Island and were picked up on J-13 Rapala's and
some other lures that I will keep quiet for now. Another
highlight was pulling an 8 in. kokanee out of the gullet
of the 7 lb. bull......it was really fresh. We have seen
a lot of this so far this season.
My next trip is tomorrow so look for another report early
next week. Next Wed. I will be taking the fish biologist
from PGE for a half dayer. I'm really looking forward to
fishing with Scott Lewis....that should be an interesting
report.
On another note, look for my upcoming article in Salmon,
Trout, and Steelheader titled "Bull Trout Bonanza"
in the April edition.
Tight Lines, Rick
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