I drove up to Patterson 5-10 years ago and saw people walking in the vicinity of the lake with fish that looked like 1-2 lb. salmon. Could these have been big kokanee? They did not look at all like rainbows. They may have been walking a nearby trail. Don't know how close big twin is. Could they have caught big fish of some sort there and then walked over to Patterson area?

I fished Patterson in late September 2020. Got there after 8 in the morning. Lake had been drawn down for irrigation and it changed the whole personality of the lake. 10' of bare rock all the way around the lake. Looked primitive and beautiful like a national park. I used my $100.00 fish finder for the first time and marked all kinds of fish on the far side of the lake by the deadheads but caught none until the turn at the left end of the lake as you look at it from the ramp. Then I had 50' ft. of leaded line out and the pole made one big slow pull that looked like a snag but I was in 90' of water. I was confused until it hit again. Pulled in a nice foot long rainbow. Hurried to put my line out again. Hurried and level wind reel don' mix. Now I had a backlash. while I was working on the backlash the line got another hit. I had to bring it in hand over hand because of the backlash. Now I had 2 bird nests. one from the backlash, one from pulling the line in hand over hand. Got them undone and noticed the reel had fallen oof the pole. Put it back on. I soon noticed I put it on backwards. Got that taken care of and my other line, with just a 1/2 ounce o f lead, wedding ring and worm went off. Pulled in another nice 11 incher. about 45 min. of adventure in the middle of 3+ hrs. I was happy though, scenery was great and it made for a good story.