Monday, September 28, 2009

Persistance on the NUMPY!




After pounding the river all winter long and prodding it during the summer, I was beginning to doubt my good friend, the North Umpqua.




Casey and I left Eugene/Springfield at 4:15am on Sunday and drove through the dark to the famous Camp Water section. A few cars in the lot and a headlamp parked in "Station", we decided Casey would go upriver and I would go down.




I asked Casey which runs I should hit and he replied with "Fish Kitchen first and then swing through the Mott Pools. They look fast, but they'll fish." So I headed down the dark path, stepped in at Kitchen and began fishing. A fish rolled across the river just where a piece of bedrock was sticking out of the water. I thought if I was going to catch a fish, it would be over there. Taking my steps down I looked down and small a smaller steelhead of a about 22 or 23 inches swimming up and resting in between the indentions of two rocks. I shortened up and swung over him........no go. Fished through the rest of kitchen with no luck, tried boat with no luck, tried sawtooth with no luck. So I headed back down to fish the Mott pools which another angler had already fished through that morning.




About 6 swings and halfway through the swing, it happened. A slight tug, followed by sharp ripping of the line across the river and the fight was on. I was in disbelief that I was actually hooked up with a N. Umpqua steelhead! Looking around to see if Casey had come down I noticed I had gained an audience. A couple hiking along the path was witnessing this miracle. After a decent fight I was able to slide the fish into some calm water, tail it, and snap a quick photo before the release. Redemption! Now on to the Deschutes.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Jacked for the North Umpqua/Deschutes

On my list this year are 2 defining goals: I need to catch a steelhead on the N. Umpqua and the Deschutes. I'm going to take a run at it this weekend on the Umpy and next weekend on the D.

My cool new waterproof and shockproof camera should be in tomorrow so we'll get pictures to prove the pudding accordingly.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Couple of quick pics to get things going




I honestly hate when people post fish pics and call it "fish porn". That said, these fish are what I call pigs! So here are a few pictures from an unnamed river to generate a little fun.

I'm blogging son!!!!!

I'm going to start documenting my fly fishing adventures on this blog. Be on the lookout for large fish, bent rods, and gratuitous shots of microbrews.