Fishing Report 6-3-05

My first guiding trip at Paulina Lake this year was very successful by any standards. My client was a contact from the Portland Show last Feb. who had wanted to fish for bull trout. After pre-fishing a few days before at Billy Chinook, I decided to steer him to Paulina Lake for browns and kokanee if he wanted an outing now.

Bob Deveny and his son-in-law Mark met me at the ramp at 4:30 a.m. to get after the browns early. We worked the shoreline with marginal results. After landing one smaller brown of 2.5 lb., we decided to give the kokanee a shot. We were working the area off the point across from the resort at depths of 20 to 40 feet in water of 175-200 feet. I was trying some new small squid skirts that have been so popular in Cal. the last year or so. The most productive lure turned out to be the Pro-Troll kokanee killer 2.0 in watermelon behind a Shasta Tackle Slingblade in nickel with red. All in all, we hooked about 11 kokes in the next few hours landing 6 of them. The kokanee seemed a little smaller by Paulina standards than years past.

After lunch we headed back out and worked for the browns again. We ended up landing 3 more browns from 3 to 6.5 lb. The water temps are still low for this time of year at 43-46 at the surface. I think things will get even better on the browns as the water approaches 50. The chubs are moving in shallower and will be spawning soon. With 4 browns over 10 lb. coming out already since the opening, I expect a few more to show up before long.

What a beautiful place to work!

Tight Lines, Rick