FISHING

and allows newcomers to Rock to apply their trolling approaches from other fisheries.

Small spoons like Needlefish, small FlatFish and Kwikfish, unbaited and baited spinners, Apexes, and small Shad Rap and other Rapalas can turn up plenty of fish, whether deployed on leaded line, a flatline troll or using weights. There’s no reason to break out downriggers in winter since the fish are shallow, but some guys still use them.

Whatever your approach, stagger lures from 20 feet to the surface and see where you are getting bit most consistently. Deploying steelhead-sized lures and large minnow imitations like large Rapalas and swimbaits also yields plenty of fish and is more likely to tempt a 20-plus-inch fish. However, trolling either small or large lures tends to result in a good mix of nicesized rainbows and some browns and is a great approach to learn the lake and to keep beginners on the bite. But trolling is definitely not how I would target the lake’s biggest fish.

CASTING BIG LURES AND FLIES: In 35 years of Rock angling, it took me a long time to realize how many big fish were in the lake and how my tried-and-true techniques were not resulting in the class of fish I knew were present. Trolling standard trout lures or standard trout flies resulted in very good numbers of rainbows and also lots of browns, many of which were over 20 inches, including a 24-incher landed on a stripped leech cast to a rockpile on a shoreline while trolling a spread of rods. I did well, but there was a class of browns I was not touching.

Eleven years ago, I accepted an invite from a reader who contacted me on Facebook and swore he had big-fish abilities at Rock and wanted to show me. We had friends in common, so I went. We hit the water at an ungodly time and motored uplake in the dark. Just as light began to emerge, the guy dropped the trolling motor and grabbed a casting rod and started fishing a hatchery-rainbow-

State fishery managers stock a decent cohort of brown trout into Rock annually, and some of these fish get really old and really, really big over those years. I’ve had several big browns throw up hatchery rainbows and little browns of a size mirroring fish I have killed as part of a limit. The big browns and rainbows in the lake eat a lot of big fish, and pursuing the lake’s biggest specimens with lures that represent a large meal is wise. This 26-inch brown ate a slow-trolled 6-inch streamer pattern tied for bull trout fishing. (JEFF HOLMES) sized swimbait. He told me to start casting a giant black Vibrax spinner he had recommended. He quickly shouted and claimed he’d been followed by a steelhead-sized brown, and I thought, “Uh oh, one of these ‘Did you see that!?’ guys.” No, I had not, but I started to watch him, and was immediately shocked to see a 6to 8-pound brown trout again slash at the big swimbait! Over the course of a day, we landed several browns from 18 to 25 inches and saw a few fish much larger, changing lures often.

That lesson launched me on a quest for a 30-inch brown, and I regularly worked shorelines weekly for a couple of years, yielding a large class of browns and rainbows topping 20 inches. Sadly, I no longer live a scant 25 miles from Rock, but if I still did, I would cast big lures for browns at least weekly. It is such fun sport that reminds me of pike or bass fishing, only for big, predatory browns and rainbows.

Lures I favor include Husky Jerk Rapalas and Floating Rapalas in size 11, size 5 black Vibrax, and a variety of trout-imitating soft- and hardplastic swimbaits from 5 to 9 inches. I work these lures slowly in February around shoreline structure and on reefs and rockpiles. Don’t expect lots of bites, but if you’re into giantchasing, put in some time in the very early morning and see if you don’t gain some confidence in this approach as well.

SLIP BOBBERS AT LAUNCH, ELSEWHERE:

Unless you have at least a 14-foot deep-V with a reliable outboard and a backup motor and set of oars, you should find someone else’s boat to

OREGON

CULVER

Culver Marine (541) 546-3354 www.culvermarine.com

EUGENE

Maxxum Marine (541) 686-3572 www.maxxummarine.com

FLORENCE Y Marina (541) 590-3313 www.ymarinaboats.com

PORTLAND

Sportcraft Marina, Inc.

(503) 656-6484 www.sportcraftmarina.com

WASHINGTON

CHINOOK

Chinook Marine Repair, Inc. (800) 457-9459

(360) 777-8361 www.chinookmarinerepair.com

EVERETT Boat Country (425) 259-6126 www.boatcountry.com

MOUNT VERNON

Tom-n-Jerry’s Boat Center, Inc. (360) 466-9955 www.tomnjerrys.net

PASCO

Northwest Marine and Sport (509) 545-5586 www.nwmarineandsport.com

TACOMA

King Salmon Marine, Inc. (253) 830-2962 www.kingsalmonsales.com

TACOMA

Tacoma Boat Sales & Service (253) 301-4013 www.tacomaboatsales.com