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Waterfish
10-28-2008, 10:22 PM
Last Friday my brother Rod and I towed my boat to Crescent Lake and met up with our friends Doug and Mark who were already on the water with Doug’s boat. As we were getting my boat ready to launch, I called Doug on the VHF radio and he answered saying that in the two hours they had been on the lake, they had already caught two nice mackinaws. After hearing this I couldn’t wait to lower the downriggers and start fishing! :dancingman:

Once on the water I turned on my GPS and started following tracks I made from my last few trips.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Macs_on_GPS.JPG


Sure enough, the same paths and underwater reefs where I usually find macs were showing macs today. Notice the long arch suspended mid depth under a school of kokanee. Below that, on the bottom are two more macs at a bottom depth of 115’. We would see this pattern many times over the next three days. I seem to have the best luck targeting macs on the bottom, but several times over this 3-day weekend I would lower my downrigger to the bottom while Rod targeted the suspended fish. We scored on macs suspended and on the bottom.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Fishfinder_Mac.JPG


Maintaining a desired speed used to drive me crazy. If I wanted to troll at 3.0 mph, my 8 hp Honda kicker would vary the speed plus or minus from 2.6 to up to 3.3 mph. I solved that last spring by installing this Troll Master. Man, I love this thing, especially when trolling the Columbia for salmon where a speed of 0.8 mph can be critical. The Troll Master keeps the speed dead on (except for wind or current changes).

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Troll_Master.JPG


It wasn’t too long before we started reeling in macs, trying to catch up with Doug and Mark. Here is a nice one coming to the boat. This silver-blue J-plug is one of my most productive.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Mac_1.JPG


Usually I can release them without netting them, but this guy had the hooks from my silver blue J-plug buried deep, so I had to net him to get the hooks out.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Mack_in_net.JPG



The amazing thing about this weekend was that most of the macs we caught were nice sized. Almost all of them were over 30” long, and some real fat ones too.


http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Mac_2.JPG



I’ve switched from using my old round downrigger weights (on the right) to pancake weights (on the left). Both of these weights are 15 lbs. We often troll at depths up to 170’ at speeds up to 3.0 mph. I was getting way too much blowback with the round weights. The pancake weights result in noticeably less blowback. Someday I plan on getting some 20 lb pancake weights so that I can reduce the blowback even more.

The slowest that I troll for macs is 2.2 mph, and the fastest is 3.0 mph. Sometimes it seems that 3.0 mph triggers more hits, but even with the pancake weights that speed causes pretty good blowback. Slowing down to 2.2 mph really reduces the blowback and I will stay at that speed if the fish keep biting. At a depth of 100 feet and at 2.2 mph, letting out 110 feet of downrigger cable will keep the pancake weight just off the bottom. Let the cable down to 116 feet and when you bring up the weight it will have grass on it. But sometimes that’s good. When targeting macs on the bottom, skimming the weight off the bottom seems to trigger bites. The weights stir things up (or wake up the macs), and then they know that 100 feet after that downrigger weight goes past them; a nice J-plug will be following. Notice how the rubber coating I put on the pancake weight is shredded off the bottom from skimming it across rocks. I use these big rubber snubbers to help bounce the weight off the bottom, and it also is important because it breaks the electrical connection between the weight and the cable so that a fish repelling negative charge isn’t produced.



http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Weights11.JPG


You should bend the fins outward at about 5 degrees on the pancake weights to make sure that they track to the outside. Especially important when making sharp turns at fast troll speeds.


http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Weights_2.JPG


This is the biggest mac that I caught over the weekend, and maybe my biggest ever. This thing was heavy and fat, all way to its head. I caught him on a herring rigged with a Limit Out herring helmet. The silver-blue J-plugs outfished herring by a wide margin, but I wonder... had this big old mac seen too many lures, and decided to bite on a herring because it's something different? Just a theory: could herring catch fewer, but bigger fish than lures? Note to my brother Rod: next time try not cutting off the top of my head, and the fish’s tail! :jester::jester:

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Mackinaw_08.JPG



A quick photo and he’s back in the lake to fight again another day

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Mac_released.JPG



You’re right, this photo was not taken at Crescent Lake. It's from a Paulina Lake kokanee trip last spring. Neat photo so I stuck it in here.


http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Dash_08a.JPG

What a great 3 days on Crescent Lake! It was warm and sunny with barely any wind, and Sunday was the most crowded day on the lake with my boat, Fish-on-Bend's boat, Doug's boat, and maybe one or two others. Sunday I think there were only 3 boats on the entire lake! I may have to plan one more trip over there before it gets snowed in for the winter.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Mac_1a_Oct_08JPG.jpg

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Mac_2a_Oct_08.JPG

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Mac_5a_Oct_08.JPG
fish-on-bend
10-29-2008, 05:31 AM
Way to go Mike. Nice report. I may be up there again Sat if the weather isn't too nasty (or even if it is :wink:)
Jimmy
10-29-2008, 07:23 AM
Congratulations and thanks for a great detailed report. :applause::applause::applause:
moknots
10-29-2008, 09:21 AM
Super report, thanks! You've sure done a nice restoration on the Glaspar!
joemomma
10-29-2008, 12:22 PM
Yes, great report! Thanks for sharing! Nice boat! Looks real compfy!
Got One!
10-29-2008, 12:33 PM
Great report! Thank you:applause:
hookjawfreak
10-29-2008, 12:41 PM
Great fishing and killer report. Thanks for sharing all the details. I have spent dozens of days on Crescent. Mostly targeting browns, but some downrigging for the macs. I will be there in a couple of weeks and you have inspired me to spend some time targeting the dinosaurs of the deep.

Dan
bwild
10-29-2008, 01:12 PM
Very Good Report, Waterfish! :applause: If the weather isn't too bad, I may be up there in a week or two. Thanks for sharing those intricate details. I've often thought of using herring up there, I've even brought some with me in the cooler but I would come to put one on and then I'd talk myself out of it. I love those J-Plugs. Probably one of my favorite lures for targeting trophy trout.

Again great report, and congrats on your biggest laker!!:thisbig:
Waterfish
10-29-2008, 01:18 PM
Great fishing and killer report. Thanks for sharing all the details. I have spent dozens of days on Crescent. Mostly targeting browns, but some downrigging for the macs. I will be there in a couple of weeks and you have inspired me to spend some time targeting the dinosaurs of the deep.

Dan

I've yet to catch a big brown, but I have to admit that it's probably because I usually sleep in and miss that window at first light. I used to read Kim Daggett's column when he wrote for FishSniffer. He used downriggers for "full water column trolling" for browns. But most reports that I read now recommend flatlining plugs along the shore in shallow water at first light. I have a lot of homework to do before understanding how to target browns. :idea:
Dullhook
10-29-2008, 02:32 PM
Excellent report. The pics ain't bad either!
hookjawfreak
10-29-2008, 09:27 PM
I've yet to catch a big brown, but I have to admit that it's probably because I usually sleep in and miss that window at first light. I used to read Kim Daggett's column when he wrote for FishSniffer. He used downriggers for "full water column trolling" for browns. But most reports that I read now recommend flatlining plugs along the shore in shallow water at first light. I have a lot of homework to do before understanding how to target browns. :idea:

Yes, the classic "first and last light" is a good time to be on the water for hooking a big brown, but I have caught way too many in the middle of the day to abide too strictly by that rule. When the surface temps are below 50 degrees it is good to spend most of the time in the shallows (5-20 ft), but Kim Daggett was on the money with his full water column methods. I have the most consistant success on catching big browns in the summer running lures in the 25-40 ft range... mostly around 30 ft on the lakes of central Oregon. Think thermocline. The biggest key is time on the water so you are there when they bite. The hot bite may be at 6 in the morn or noon. Many times I have taken big fish of the trip while most of the other brown fishermen are on shore because it isn't "prime time" for browns. :wink:
bwild
10-30-2008, 08:57 AM
Yes, the classic "first and last light" is a good time to be on the water for hooking a big brown, but I have caught way too many in the middle of the day to abide too strictly by that rule. When the surface temps are below 50 degrees it is good to spend most of the time in the shallows (5-20 ft), but Kim Daggett was on the money with his full water column methods. I have the most consistant success on catching big browns in the summer running lures in the 25-40 ft range... mostly around 30 ft on the lakes of central Oregon. Think thermocline. The biggest key is time on the water so you are there when they bite. The hot bite may be at 6 in the morn or noon. Many times I have taken big fish of the trip while most of the other brown fishermen are on shore because it isn't "prime time" for browns. :wink:

Don't give away the farm, Dan! :D :wink: JK! Waterfish, I could not agree more with Dan on this one. Thermocline, Thermocline, Thermocline.
bwild
10-30-2008, 08:59 AM
I also wanted to say to Waterfish that the one pic of the laker with the J-Plug in it's mouth, the fish sort of resembles a pike.
Waterfish
10-30-2008, 09:23 AM
I also wanted to say to Waterfish that the one pic of the laker with the J-Plug in it's mouth, the fish sort of resembles a pike.

Yes, we were catching pike on that trip too! :jester::jester:

Hookjawfreak, Thanks - that does clear things up about fishing for browns. And Jimmy sent me a link to all of the archived Kim Daggett articles. When the water temp is above 50 degrees in the summer and you are fishing deeper for browns, do you end up catching more macs than browns in Crescent Lake?
Klamanite
10-30-2008, 10:11 AM
Don't give away the farm, Dan! :D :wink: JK! Waterfish, I could not agree more with Dan on this one. Thermocline, Thermocline, Thermocline.

:yeahthat::yeahthat::yeahthat::yeahthat:

Pay attention when these guys speak of Browns.....Good things happen :D

Trust me :thisbig:

A visit to Trophy Trout Hunter's website wouldn't hurt either. Lotsa good reading in there. Google it :twocents: