"Dusty Britches" here along with "Cuss Cussler", "Peppermint Patty", "Fog Horn-Leg Horn", and "Silent Sam". We've been STRUCK BY LIGHTENING ! Lightening Trout, that is. They are part of our last trout plant..and our next trout plant. The fish come from Mt. Lassen Hatchery up in northern California. The strain of fish was developed there by one of their employees who happened to see an odd looking trout in the tub. It was female, so he milked the roe from the fish and fertilized it with sperm from a male rainbow trout to see what would happen. The result was 25% of that roe turned out to be "lightening trout". After that, he was off to the races and developed that particular strain of trout, and the rest is history. The fish has a light, almost yellow color to it with an orange-red stripe that follows the lateral line on both sides of the fish...cool, huh. They are a good fighting fish that don't go belly-up when you set a hook. Jay Blaylock arranged to have these fish stocked during the "Easter Break", and did a great job of it because the rest of the trout plant turned out to be trophy trout, which you'll find out more about as you read this article. Several 10 pounders have come out of the pond in the last couple days and I just heard on the radio that an angler just checked in with a couple of 8 pound "bows". We just broke the old record of 15 pounds 4 ounces with a 17 pound 8 ounce rainbow. Our idea is that some of these trophy trout stay in the pond long enough to get us another lake record.

Mike Stames of Chula Vista reeled in an 8 pound 8 ounce rainbow with his limit of fish using a Gulp pinched night crawler at Lone Pine; Dave Dollom of Imperial Beach included a 3 pounder in his limit of trout and 2 channel catfish using power bait at Lone Pine; Bart Gossack of Ranchita, Ca. only brought in 3 fish, but their combined weight was 16 pounds with the largest being 10 pounds using power bait and inflated night crawler (the Cuyamaca Sandwich) on a 24" leader of 4 pound mono; Austin Aaro of Escondido nailed a 9 pounder, called it the largest trout he had ever caught on power bait at Lone Pine; Roth Ward of San Diego also caught a 9 pound 8 ounce "bow" at Chambers Park, then gave it away to another angler; Dawn Ahrens of El Cajon landed an 8 pound rainbow using rainbow power bait at the secret spot; John Lang of El Cajon in cluded a 6 pound 8 ounce rainbow in his stringer at Lone Pine; S & S Maclin of San Diego reeled in a 7 pound 4 ounce eeler using inflated night crawlers at Lone Pine; Mickey Roman of Pine Valley only caught 3 fish, but the largest was 14 pounds 8 ounces using a tube jig and 2 pound test line for a leader at Chamber's Park shoreline; Pete Desciectold and David Terrell landed a 7 pound 4 ounce rainbow using orange cheese at Lone Pine; Paul Mintzer of Hemet nabbed a 14 pound 8 ounce rainbow at Chamber's Park using inflated night crawlers, then called it a day saying "it can't get any better than this"; "Birthday Boy" George Snyder of San Diego caught an 8 pound rainbow at the handicap dock using rainbow power bait; Glen Shaffer of EL Cajon with the largest weighing in at 2 pounds 8 ounces using marshmallows and night crawlers at Lone Pine; Haley Rosselle (12 years old) nabbed an 8 pound 4 ounce rainbow at Pump House Cove on night crawlers; Laura Vaccaro of San Diego caught a nice 1 pound rainbow using night crawlers; Kameron of Julian caught the gamet with trout, channel catfish, and crappie coming in over the rail of his boat near the north finger jetty; and Jeanine Neustaedter of El Cajon nailed a nice size 9 pound 8 ounce bow to go along with her 4 channel catfish.

Easter came early for the Cuyamaca Anglers...The campers are a good group this weekend. Ranger Joshu-us Sparticus Ernstus did the late shift on Friday and made sure everyone was behaving. Dolores Gomez and Yosemite Sam, better known as "Fog Horn-Leg Horn" have added a little bar-b-q pork ribs and chicken to their repertoire. Old Yosemite Sam doesn't "nancy around" when it comes to throwin down some grub, but don't go into the kitchen..he bites. Good food, great hospitality, and the views from the deck of the restaurant are hard to beat...especially when the bald eagles are flying around. So if you're in the area, stop in. I hear they have beer and wine too... Tight Lines and Bent Rods.."Dusty Britches".