San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Took a 2,500 mile road trip pulling the trailer to the Cascade Mountains and everywhere in-between. Had a chance to fish Diamond Lake, about a half an hour from Crater Lake.

Took out the kayak and it was windy. Sucks because it was glass the evening before, but that's the way it goes when you want to stuff 7 days of adventure into 3 days in that area. High class problem??

We threw Rapala Broken Minnows. It was difficult to fish with wind and chop. There was whitecaps. We got got one bite. It was on a Rapala Broken Minnow 9 cm in black and silver on 4 lbs test. It was a good one. 22 inch Brown that hit very soft, but put up a real good scrap! Fish was in approximately 10 feet of water.

Regardless of how the pic looks, I did my best to only hold it by the gill plate and not touch his gills. It was difficult to manage the kayak paddle, fishing rod and the trout in the chop. Pics looks calmer than it was.

Beauty,
Awesome catch. That is a fantastic bait to troll.
Bass love them on leadcore.

Nice going! That's a beautiful brown trout

Beauty, eh.

Why didn't you just lip him?

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Nice brownie.. I fished that lake with my Brother, Sister, Cousin and Stepdad when I was a kid… Best trout fishing I ever did… We all limited out 2 days running with Kamloops rainbows that averaged 2#s after being gutted.. All bright pink meat… My Mom and Aunt caned most of the fish… Just excellent!
Butch

Carpkiller wrote: Thu Oct 09, 2025 9:37 pm Beauty, eh.

Why didn't you just lip him?

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That would be like lipping a Calico or Spotted Bay. Too many teeth for my thumb. The fish was wild and full of fight.

Midnightpass wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 5:50 am Nice brownie.. I fished that lake with my Brother, Sister, Cousin and Stepdad when I was a kid… Best trout fishing I ever did… We all limited out 2 days running with Kamloops rainbows that averaged 2#s after being gutted.. All bright pink meat… My Mom and Aunt caned most of the fish… Just excellent!
Butch

Sounds like a great family trip.

From what the locals were saying, the lake is one of the warmer ones in the area and has a longer growing season.

They also have Tiger Trout in there. Most guys I talked to were landing Rainbows. Lots of fly fisherman when it was glass.

The Tigers and Browns are catch and release only now.

Beautiful Brown. Growing up in Colorado I miss fishing for big browns and lake trout. Great catch!

Carpkiller wrote: Thu Oct 09, 2025 9:37 pm Beauty, eh.

Why didn't you just lip him?

..................

Teeth, that's why lol

Fantastic