Crescent Lake 07/14/12
With great expectation of picking up some nice sized kokanee, and the anticipation of another great Kokanee Power of Oregon Derby I couldn’t have been more excited to go fishing. Even though Crescent Lake has a five fish limit it is known to produce some larger than normal kokanee.
I normally give myself a few days to pre-fish a lake before a derby, but because of a family vacation we headed over on the 13th with Greg & Joan Loe to fish this derby blind. Kokanee Power of Oregon was setup at Simax group campground and it sure was fun camping with all my friends from this great organization.
Ok let’s get down to the details Crescent lake is loaded with kokanee but they are extremely small. I was lucky if I caught one that was 11 inches and release more than 50 fish with an average size of around 9 inches. I’m not sure what is going on with this lake but I believe there are too many fish and not enough food to support them and I won’t be fishing it again this year. In fact if you are planning a kokanee fishing trip please pick a different location because you will be very disappointed. Top gear for this lake was a UV Blue size 3 Sling Blade with a Crystal Basin Wee Thing “Wee Tad” Witch Doctor fishing the south west corner of the lake. I’ve had great luck with this lure two years in a row fishing Crescent Lake and I would say it’s a must have if you are planning on fishing this lake.
You can find this Lure @ http://crystalbasintackle.com/p-6-wee-thing.aspx Make sure you tell Kyle that the kokaneekid sent you.
Wee Thing “Wee Tad” Witch Doctor
Even though the size of the kokanee was very disappointing we did pick up two very nice sized browns off a point by the Boy Scout camp in 105 feet of water using a Pink and Orange R & K hoochie with a silver blade and an Arrow Flash 50/50 hammered dodger.
Greg’s wife was very upset with me when I told her I was going to release it and thank God on the second brown the hook came out right before we could net it so I didn’t have to disappoint her again.
These big predatory fish help keep the kokanee population under control and healthy, plus they don’t taste very good even if you smoke them. Releasing a fish that takes forever to get this big is just good for the lakes ecosystem and with a couple great pictures that will last forever and seeing them swim away unharmed to keep kokanee population under control is way better than killing such a beautiful inedible fish. Maybe next year we will again see that above average size kokanee that I expect when I fish Crescent Lake.
Fish On kokaneekid