25 lb mack

[fish-on-bend]

I made an overnight trip to Crescent early Sat morning with Tom (rum runner) to meet up with my nephew Guy Carl and his father-in-law, Reed from Napa. Tom and I fished till about noon and got 4 macks including Tom's 1st 20 +lber in 25 feet of water. He played tug-of-war with Tom for quite a while and we were afraid we were going to lose him because it was pretty white-cappy and nasty/windy out there. But we finally got him in, weighed and released him. 25 lbs.




This was an old fish that probably had some stories to tell. A part of his tail was missing and had long since healed over and he had sores all over his body. He also had a big head with a bit of a hook-jaw like an old buck brown. After boating him we trolled for another hour, then literally got blown off the lake. We motored in to the launch dock and tied up, went up to a picnic table and had lunch. A while later my nephew and his father-in-law showed up and we braved the wind (which calmed down a bit) for a couple more hours,while they chased browns in my nephews boat, then came in and had dinner at the resort. We went back out till 8:30 and had no more action. We came in and were sitting in the cabin when we heard a knock on the door. It was a couple guys we had seen on the water earlier and they wanted to know if we had a scale. My nephew had his boat pulled up to the cabin and he had a scale. They then showed us a huge old mack in their truck and we weighed it. 29 lbs. Kinda took the wind out of Tom's sail with his 25. The next morning we hit it early and had nothing to show for it but a lost mack on a herring. Reed rode with us in our boat for a while to experience a little mack fishing 1st hand while my nephew continued his brown quest. Reed had caught his 1st brown ever earlier in the morning. A 6lber. We wrapped it up about noon. Tom's fish was the 9th mack over 20 in my boat since last October.

[nwsoftball]

WWWOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!! Way to go guys!

[SCOOTA]

Great report along with a fantastic picture.

[jlorence14]

A hog for sure. Nice job. Did you get the length of that fish by chance? You can PM it to me as I just want to know for personal preference.

[fish-on-bend]

Originally Posted by jlorence14

A hog for sure. Nice job. Did you get the length of that fish by chance? You can PM it to me as I just want to know for personal preference.

No length, I'm guessing about 36 or 37" The 29 lber was easier to measure 'cause he was dead. It was 36" and had enourmous girth. Lots of protein in its diet.

[en fuego]

wow. crescent lake oregon? I can't wait. Thanks.

[GameChaserFid]

Dang man, you guys did real good. Congrats

[Fisherman_Shane]

what a huge friggin mack !!!

good job guys!! i hope to get back and catch a 20lber there.

[Klamanite]

Congrats on a monster Mack
You didn't just break the 20 lb mark, you blew right past it
I guess if you want a 20 lb Mack all you have to do is figure out how to get a ride on Joe's boat

[Scotty M.]

WTG. Congrats.

[rum runner]

That Mac sure had "Character"... You can't see his tail very well but it was very deformed as well as the dorsal fin. I can only imagine the stories that fish has to tell and probably a good one stemming from yesterday. When I hooked him I thought it was a big ball of grass and was half way in with him before he decided to let me know that he was indeed a fish.... We knew he was big when he almost didn't fit in the net. If Joe keeps getting bigger and bigger fish on his boat we all might have to take up a collection to get a bigger net soon.

[TTFishon]

Wow!!! What a pig!!! Way to get after them!!!

[chartreuse moose]

You Betcha; that there is one fine looking Laker there, Congralation

[Jimmy]

What a great catch. Nothing better then a big mackinaw in shallow water.

[eric71m]

Good job fellas!!!

[Waterfish]

Wow, that was a knarly old mack. I wonder what caused the sores?

[Pwillie]

Once again nice fish Joe by chance did you do any Kokanee fishing ???

[CoyoteBrownTrtHntr]

WOW!! Sounded like the BIG Lakers were on the prowl that weekend! Two macks over the 25lb. mark is incredible! I too wonder about those sores??? Hope it's not some weird disease that will affect the other fish. Good job Joe! You da Mack Man!!
CBTH

[jzell]

T & J.... quite a day!

I'm still searchin' for a 20+ lb Jerry.

jz

[SoylentGreen]

Just curious, but did the sores have anything to do with why he got put back? I think I'd have eaten him....but not if they looked really funky.

[rum runner]

Originally Posted by SoylentGreen

Just curious, but did the sores have anything to do with why he got put back? I think I'd have eaten him....but not if they looked really funky.

I felt at 25 pounder deserved to go back into the water, that fish could be over 30 years old and thought he earned a release.... Crescent isn't that big of a lake to take all the mosters out of.

I would rather eat an occasional 10 pounder if I keep any. The only reason I would have kept and ate him would have been to age him by cutting out the otoliths since he seemed so ancient.

[ommedia]

Wow...congrats

[fish-on-bend]

Originally Posted by Pwillie

Once again nice fish Joe by chance did you do any Kokanee fishing ???

Didn't even try. Water temp is still at 40. Didn't see hardly anyone fishing for them yet. I did mark one huge school near the island in 90 feet of water. The usual spring jigging grounds.

[SoylentGreen]

Originally Posted by rum runner

I felt at 25 pounder deserved to go back into the water, that fish could be over 30 years old and thought he earned a release.... Crescent isn't that big of a lake to take all the mosters out of.

Cool, yea that makes sense. Thanks for sharing.

[moknots]

BRAVO!

Originally Posted by rum runner

I felt at 25 pounder deserved to go back into the water, that fish could be over 30 years old and thought he earned a release.... Crescent isn't that big of a lake to take all the mosters out of.

Way to go guys! Great report and photo.

[OregonSteel]

wow, i hope to catch a fish that is older than i am some day. Congrats. I caught a 12 pound mack on Cultus a few years back. My first and only mack to date. I had no idea they get so big back then. I was "trout fishin" for them, trolling an f-6 flatfish with 6 pound line. Haha, what a fight! That 12 pound mack put my 17 pound springer this year to SHAME!!

[K Bill]

Very nice fish. Remember back, when I enjoyed your hospitality while fishing your area with George, Guy and Bill B ? Stay well and keep posting those fine photos. K Bill

[Waterfish]

[QUOTE=rum runner;3101984]I felt at 25 pounder deserved to go back into the water, that fish could be over 30 years old and thought he earned a release.... Crescent isn't that big of a lake to take all the mosters out of.

"I would rather eat an occasional 10 pounder if I keep any."


I release most of the big macks that I catch in Crescent Lake, with the exception of those occasional fish that are bleeding badly and probably wouldn't live if released. The fat on many of the smaller macks is mainly in the belly and is easy to fillet off of the fish. But last spring, we kept a 20 lb bleeder, and that fish had fat marbled all through the meat. My wife said "don't bring any more home like that."

[moknots]

Originally Posted by Waterfish

[last spring, we kept a 20 lb bleeder, and that fish had fat marbled all through the meat. My wife said "don't bring any more home like that."

Amen.

[40ishnewbie]

Well done. We trolled and jigged from our kayaks all weekend with not a single bite to show. Building fish karma for later this year...

Jay