A couple of days off

This past week I had two days off because of Thanksgiving, which made for a 4 day weekend. This year I would be going to the in-laws for Thanksgiving, which meant short drive on turkey day thanks to living in the same town and I got to catch up with my wife’s cousin who has some fun adventures. The conversation that I won’t forget was the one that involved his new found passion for bow fishing. To sum up his story he and another “redneck” buddy of his went fishing at night for catfish and he said when they could see the fish in the water and not taking the bait they decided to pull out there bows and try it that way, and what do you know they got fish. That’s how the love of bow fishing became the best topic at our Thanksgiving meal.

Since we met our obligation of Thanksgiving with the in-laws on Thursday we decided to head out of town and meet my parents at the cabin up on Willamette Pass. We have always loved going there, it is such a nice place to go and relax and let our dog, Charlie, run around in the woods. It did not let us down again, we had a great time up there. I always love fishing with my dad, he is one of those guys that just loves to fly fish, he loves that chess like game with fish and their holding spots or how they run up river in certain conditions. Every time we fish together I always gain another piece of knowledge that would have taken years to figure out on my own. Now after saying this there is one piece I will leave for him, that is his strange obsession with catching a Brown trout from Crescent Lake. I am pretty sure it his white whale in life, this elusive creature that he has never seen but just knows it is lurking about in the lake. This weekend we tried the tactic of fishing at dusk and targeting right behind the spawning kokonee, somehow he knows the Browns just hang out behind feeding off the eggs. Well,  it was a couple pleasant hours each night hanging out and fishing with my father but now Browns just a couple of those kokonee fish. The legend of the Brown lives on.

We also picked up our Christmas tree. Since my wife and I have been married we go out into the woods and cut down our tree. This year we are especially pleased with our choice of tree, it is a great corner tree. This means about 3/4 of the tree is really good and the last 1/4 is best for the corner. All in all the days off work, dinner at the in-laws, and the weekend at the cabin it was a good couple of days.

Just a thought

One Among Many

The weather this past week has been much needed for the coastal rivers to bring the fish upstream. With the water levels reading about 6.2 ft on Friday evening and falling, Saturday would be on the high to good side for the Nestucca. I put the call into my fishing partner for the day and the plan was set, head out at 8am, put in at 10am and fish 1^st bridge to Farmers Creek.

The plan was in motion and we set the truck up for the shuttle service and went to 1^st bridge to put in, as we were twisting and turning up the river road we had counted 8 boats that were already on the water. At the launch there were 3 more just sitting there and another 2 behind us right after we put in. I had never fished with so many boats on the water at once, but we not there for what was on top of the water but rather below it, that is Fish, mainly steelhead.

The guy I was fishing with was on a gear setup, so I can’t tell you a whole lot about what he was using just that I know it was not bait, looked like corky’s. I was setup with my bug with legs then an egg pattern as the dropper fly. After getting pressured into leaving the first spot by an upcoming boat we slid into what I believed to be good water, it turned out to be good water for my first fish of the day, a 10 inch rainbow. After another hour of playing frogger with other boats we anchored up right above a rock field with a few seams running parallel to each other. My partner was busy changing his set up for the 5^th time on the day, I believe he is under the impression if something doesn’t bite it must be the type of setup not that there just might not be fish. I fished the closest seam first, carefully making sure I was covering every inch of that water. Nothing, no hits, no snags, no anything. Moved on to the second and further out seam, same thing making sure I left no water untouched, WHAM! Second fish hits, this one took the egg pattern again. It struck with vigor, but I quickly realized it was no steelhead. Turned out to be a nice 14 inch rainbow which was kind enough to regurgitate its breakfast for us in the net. It looked like it had been feeding on all the bait fisherman’s leftovers and a few leeches. My partner still at this point has not had a fish, let alone a bite.

We push on weaving in and out of boats to hit the last few spots before the take out. A float down a nice narrow rapid lead to a wider section with a gorgeous looking tail out. I tell myself this has to be the spot; this is the last place I can remember that has decent looking water before the take out.  Like the generous host I am I let my friend fish the spot first and simply watch. After seeing no action after ample time for him to get a bite I decide to go for it. Fist cast, no fish. Second cast, no fish. Third cast, no fish. What is going on? This is the spot it has to be, then after too many casts to county it happens. The fish I had been waiting for, it took that egg fly and ran. It made a good initial run downstream and then came barreling up towards the boat. I am trying to reel and keep up with it, when it happens. It all happened in slow motion, the fish rose to the surface showed it’s shiny 25 inch body then poof, spit the fly right at me and it was gone. The hit the run and the rise to the top are what we live for, the spitting of the fly that is just to keep us laughing at life. Once we got over what had just happened we made our final spot picking up one more rainbow to end the day with 3 rainbows landed and one resistant steelhead hooked.

The key to the day was hitting the seams with walking pace water and using any kind of egg pattern. There is still so much to learn about this river.

Bring on the Rain

So all last week I was itching to get back out on the water and fish. My work schedule does not allow me to fish during the week so those 5 days of work just kill. My dilemma the whole week was do I fish where I know there are fish or do I try some place new and hope?

I went against my better judgment and fished someplace new. It was the first time I had fished the Nestucca so I figured I would try a pretty tame float between 1st bridge and Three Rivers. Like all of the reports it was pretty straight forward, and thanks to the sporting goods shop in Hebo for the shuttle service, the car was taken care of.

The morning started out with overcast skies but no wind or rain, Yet! The water level was down a bit but I figured I came all this way, might as well go for it. Right as I was putting in I saw 3 salmon spawning right by the boat launch so I knew it was going to be a day of seeing a lot of dark beat up fish.  About an hour of no bites or tugs I hooked into about a 15 inch cutthroat. It fought pretty good for using a 7wt rod. After that little guy I am pretty sure I was living thing on the water and in the water for about 2 hours. As the rain and wind started to pick up in those two hours I kept thinking to myself “I bet the McKenzie is doing pretty good right about now”. A spawning salmon did take to a Stone nymph which ended up staying with the fish and not returning to the rightful owner, myself. Once that fish took my fly everything about the day changed, for the worse. The sky became dark grey and the showers became full on tropical rainstorm, basically the size of gumdrops. As I was making the final stretch to the Three Rivers boat launch, the heavens had broke open and this was it. The rain, the gale force winds, the ominous clouds overhead. The winds were so strong up stream it was creating a current that was flowing upstream, I felt like I was in the perfect storm just trying to row to get home.

As I pulled into the launch after my 30 minute battle against the wind and waves I saw a man get out of his truck and grab his pole and head to the water. Right as I was thinking to myself this guy is completely nuts, did he not see the signs that a hurricane was likely to take place anytime soon, he asked how I was doing? I replied, “Good except for the rain, and yourself?” His response, which took me off guard for the situation, “Good, just thought it was a good time to go fishing”. That was it, in passing these few words were said.

Looking back on it, I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Thought it was a good time to fish”, come on these where hurricane conditions. But the more I think about it this is the guy that I have always wanted be, the I don’t care about a little rain or wind I am going to do what I love to do kind of people. So my day of floating on a river trying to hook into a steelhead turned into a thought provoking afternoon that I will not forget anytime soon.

The Clackacraft that I have recently aquired worked great. I can't be more happy with the decision, and the slogan of "Fear No Rock" holds true. I am ready for the Winter Steelhead season to get underway, this year is going to be a good year!