The Canyon

I had a chance to get over to the Deschutes a couple of times in the past month. The first was a work trip that Chad and I parlayed into a 24 hour jet boat excursion. This was Chad's first trip taking his own sled up from Heritage Landing. Having been a passenger on other boats gave him a good idea on the proper lines to take. If you've been on this section of the river, you know that hazards abound. There are many places where ledge rock is hidden just below the surface. Hitting one of those can ruin your trip in a hurry.

While Chad was a bit puckered going up through Rattlesnake, we made it through fine. The rest of the rapids went off without a hitch and shade was on the water in no time. Coming off a July trip where I was skunked, I was in disbelief when my loop was taken from my finger and line began peeling from my Salmon 1. While the fish wasn't a trophy, the small hatchery fish marked the start of a good night for both of us. At the end of the night, we exchanged stories of each take and enjoyed a cocktail. The next morning wasn't quite as productive, but we still had our share including a big native buck that kept me smiling for some time.

I tried to get a picture of Rattlesnake rapid on the way out. It was a little bumpy, so excuse the finger in the picture below.

Chad playing a hot one

While the jet boat trip was sweet, it was too short. I had to get back. Bernie and I packed up the driftboat and headed back over. Fishing started out slow for me as I hadn't even had a tap in the first 24 hours. That was all forgotten later in the trip when both Bernie and I ran into a pod of fish for an epic night. My size 8 drab little pattern I tied up was getting yanked aggressively. On the 2nd fish of the run, my 7127 Burkie snapped at the top ferrule. I had to collect myself quickly and sprint the 1/2 mile back to camp to exchange rods. Luckily I made it back to the same run and nobody had stepped in. The fish didn't go anywhere either.

Mid Summer update

We've been reaping some of the benefits of the long cold spring around these parts. The flows have remained pretty steady and water temps have been good as well. The fishing hasn't been red hot, but good enough to give it a go after work.

After a few months of finding the right motor and a tiller installation, the sled is now fully operational. She gets on plane extremely easy and is gonna be a great fly fishing boat. It's a 19.5 foot by 60 inch bottom made by Jerry's Marine out of Gold Beach, OR. They are the same folks who run the jet tours on the lower Rogue. Needless to say, they know how to put together a sled without overloading it with extra heavy gauge aluminum. The 90HP Yamaha two stroke jet that I found works great and gives me plenty of power. With a dry weight of only 260lb's, the motor keeps the package light and fit.

Ricky strikes again

I was sitting at the vise tying a few hairwings, when Ricky calls. He tells me its his birthday and he wants to go fishing. I said "Fine bud, we'll go somewhere. Be here in 30 minutes and we'll go out for a couple hours."

The first run we fished has been a known producer for me with the present river conditions. I got grabbed, but the only bite that stuck were the mosquitoes that were all over me. We reeled up and moved down river. I only had 35 minutes left to fish before I had to depart for highly coveted 9:15 softball game. The run we planned on fishing was occupied. On a whim, we tried one other spot. Ricky's egg sucker got bit and the ACR's mojo I'd proclaimed was corroborated once again.

Old guy, new trick

I commissioned Rick to help me out over the past year with some projects around my house. He helps me, I help him. I'm not sure there is a better return on investment that bringing in your first steelhead on the swing.

I thought our opportunity had passed as he fished several promising pools with no grabs. I had a short lived hookup behind him, but that was the only action we'd seen. The last run we fished was too deep for Rick to fish it effectively, or so I thought. Wading tight to the bank and chopping some line out, I was pretty sure it was a lost cause. I was about ready to wrap the night up when Rick stars yelling that he's got one on. I figured it was a trout, but the large splash and roll on the surfact confirmed it was a steelhead. After adjusting his drag and soiling his drawers, Rick worked the fish in and allowed me to tail his first on the two hander!

Now this feels better

I hadn't caught a steelhead since March until last week. I couldn't remember why I liked swinging flies, what the takes felt like, or what it was like to see the backing on a big reel. I now remember.

I squeezed in a session on last week between work and my softball games. We play double headers on Thursday's. To appropriately match the theme, I hooked up and beached two hens. One was a dud and the other was the Ashton Eaton of steelhead. She jumped high, took shorts sprints, long runs, did it all like the Decathlete himself.

Bernie got in on the action this weekend with a couple fish of his own. I can freely admit, he picked my pocket clean on one of them.

Below is a shot of the 5115 CF Burkheimer Bernie has been using. The rod is fun to fish with and handled a 7lb'er just fine.

Back to some fishing

This bird was hit at cruising speed and somehow managed to stick. It is pretty much an accurate description of how I felt all spring.

I haven't posted in forever because I haven't been fishing all that much. With the local rivers running twice their normal flows, a guy is suddenly more motivated to work on the yard and complete those unfinished projects. With my early local steelhead season pretty much blown, the focus was geared toward some quick spring salmon trips.

One feat of note was that I did manage to catch a Ling Cod off a coastal jetty in the morning and a Springer on the Umpqua later that evening. Not sure how often that happens in Oregon?

Small springer

One fish from a pretty decent salmonfly day.

I had an hour to kill after work last night.........

Springerfest 2011 Part 2

Well, we had hot fishing for an hour and a half. The weather started to cool and so did the bite. We moved up river to what is now referred to as the "Otter hole". We didn't hook anything that night, otters or fish.

The nights were cold, especially the 2nd, where the low was set to drop to 34 degrees. Not a welcome temp when you are worried about cold water. The next day pretty much went like the first. We got up early and waited.......and waited. Nothing. By 11am, the sun finally broke over the canyon walls and the water started to get warmer. Just after 2, on of our rods went down and another hatchery fish was in the cooler. It is amazing what 1 fish can do for the mood in the boat. The feeling was eerily similar to a winter steelhead trip where 1 fish makes you feel successful.

The pressure was off for the day and we hooked up a half hour later 1 final time for that day. Luckily, we were running into hatchery fish, which always makes family and co-workers happy back home. The weather that night was predicted to rain, so we decided to break down camp a night early and go sleep in a dry hotel. We were not going to repeat our soaked camp experience like last year.

In the middle of the breakdown, Chad's buddy Ron came up around the corner in his boat. We thought he'd be around, but hadn't seen him either day. After he gave us a profanity laced hello, we agreed to meet up with him later and fish until dark.

We came up empty in the evening session and left Ron to spend the night on the water in his favorite corner. Chad and I got to the boatramp as the sun went down and decided we should just transfer our gear to the car and sleep on the boat. It all seemed like a great idea to idle downstream until we realized that it was not only dark outside, it was really dark outside! Luckily, my little headlamp was bright enough that alternating shots of each bank kept us safe. We got positioned next to Ron, who was just finishing up a bottle of wine. Listening to him tell his stories was ten times more entertaining than any basketball playoff game we would've been watching at the hotel!

The last morning, we scored first with a small hatchery fish. While Chad was fighting that fish, Ron got ripped across the river by a busty native. After that, nothing. Chad and I tried a couple of other spots, with no luck. We loaded our gear up and went home. My only regret was that we missed the fight later that day between Ron and an 8 foot sturgeon!

In the meantime, its back to the 2 hander for me. I even did some dry line casting last night!


The Camp

Ron hooked up in his sweet boat.