Fishing Report 5-10-06

This past Wed. was, in all probability, my last guided trip to Lake Billy Chinook this spring. It has been an awesome, though different year up at the lake than years past. We caught many more big bulls with a lot of them over 10 LB.

Due to increased runoff coming into the lake from the Crooked River, the turbidity was as bad as I have ever seen it. We did discover how effective the flasher/herring rig was early in the spring when water temps were cooler and that accounted for most of our bigger bulls.

I picked up Bob Welch and his friend Jeff at the Cove Palisades campground at 6:00 a.m. as promised. We headed right to the island area to get in a shoreline run before the sun hit the water. We did catch some smaller bulls to around 3.5 LB. but things slowed considerably after a few passes.

We worked Kelly's "Slim Shadey"area and pulled one bull off the end of the run past "15 LB. point." That was it for the flatlining drill that morning. I made the move to Box Canyon, and we set up the riggers for working the area down to "Big Bend," just east of Perry South. I had just brought the rigger up 5 feet when the rod bounced hard. The custom painted 5" Lyman had picked up a bull. Jeff got on the rod and soon had a fat 8 LB. bull to the boat. After some photos, we slid her back in.

By midday, the bulls had slowed down and we switched to kokanee rigs for something for the guys to eat that night. The kokes were coming at 35-45 feet and were interested in Shasta Sling blades pulling Pro-Troll Kokanee Killers in hot pink and watermelon. We stopped at 4 kokes to resume our quest for bulls. The guys were still hoping to stick a 10 LB bull, if possible.

We made several moves, before arriving back at the island run. On our last pass around 4:30, one of the rods went over hard. We had gone back to pulling Lymans on top and it looked like it had paid off. Jeff was up again and said right off the bat that the fish felt like it had a little weight. This bull put up a great fight near the boat as they often do. We didn't get them a 10, but this 8.5 Lb. bull ended the day well.

I have sold my home and will be tied up for the next few weeks. I will be attempting to get into some brown trout fishing when possible. With my wife heading to her Mom's in Indiana the first two weeks of June, I should have plenty of time to fish. Look for reports on browns and lakers to follow. Also, look for our DVD on the bull trout in July. It will be available from the site.

Tight lines, Rick