Elk Hunting

I've just returned to the office after a week of Elk Hunting with good friends Eastern Oregon. We had a great time, although the Elk seemed more inclined to bug out & hide rather than hang around with targets painted on their vitals. Stingy buggars! Truth be told, we were right on top of them a couple of times - so close we could not only hear them, but could smell them. That's pretty close. But as close as we got, I never did see hide nor hair. Both my hunting partners did however, which provided verification that what I was smelling was indeed Cervus Canadensis, and not a stinking bipedal Sasquach who had been bathing in the most rancid bog in the land, which is what it smelled like. No, there are no horns on the wall. Nor is there a freezer full of elk meat. Some may count this as a terrible failure, but I do not. As a first time hunter, I was in a classroom. I learned a ton, and had I the time, I could write a list 100 items long of things to/not to do, to/not to bring, etc. etc. etc. I'd start with DO's, and that list would start with Conditioning. Elk are mountain critters. Sure, they come down on the flat, but not usually in a place or at a time that you can get to them (i.e. private feilds at dark-o-clock in the morning). To get into Elk, you have to give up the home-feild advantage and go to their house - and that means climbing. So, conditioning! Don't go trecking into Elk country cold turkey, turkey! I could add more, but I'm afraid I've neglected my duties at work too much already. TIme to make up for some lost time. In closing, however, I will say this: I'm not discouraged to come home empty handed. I'll continue to learn and apply what I have learned to the next hunt, and the next, and so on. Now I've hunted, but this process will make me a hunter. And maybne I'll even find success eventually. Happy hunting to all those who will be heading to the high country after game this year, and Tight Lines!

On The Fly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z8Zwt3Wd0I

A short video of a recent trip to my favorite spring creek in Central Oregon. Tight Lines!

Catch Magazine

Check out http://www.catchmagazine.net/
"An online visual experience highlighting the best fly fishing on the planet." Todd and Brian have really done a fantastic job and I keep up with every issue of Catch Magazine. Subscriptions are free.

That time again...

Well, the last time I went fishing....... wait a minute - that first part needs clarification. Fishing is fishing, but there is absolutely a difference between "fishing," (as in: taking the kiddo to the local kiddie pond to catch untold hordes of planter trout on worms, powerbait, marshmallows or velveta cheese drenched in WD-40) and "Fishing" (as in: Heading out with 1 or 2 fellow anglers on a trek that may require 3 hours of gear prep, a 4 hour drive, perhapse a 5 mile hike in only to find 6 other guys in your hole. Then your re-tying every 7 casts (if youre lucky), hoping that 8 lb mono is strong enough and wishing you had another 9 of that fly you only tied one of, but had 10 hits on just before you broke it off up in that pine tree on your back cast). You see - very different. So when I say, "The last time I went fishing..." I want to clarify that I am speaking in regard to the later "fishing," as apposed to the former. Got it? Okay, so........

The last time I went fishing was in April I believe. We fished Riggins, ID for Springers. Fun trip for sure, but hard fishing due to high flows, high pressure and most of all, high expectations, which always seem to make it tougher to get into'em for some reason. Prior to Springers, we had a couple of good steelie trips on the Salmon but that has been it for me. Okay, okay - some may argue that I recently traveled to Nor. Cal. to fish the salt for rockies with my brother. This is true. However, I would like to submit that trip as one of the former types of fishing trips, rather thant he later. Reason: My 5-year-old came alng for the trip. Poor kid was miserable after only 10 minutes at sea. I sat and held him for the first 90 minutes of what turned out to be a 3 hour trip (and we boated over 130 fish in that time!). Truth be told, I got a little sick myself. Note to self: No breakfast burritos before heading out to sea! Eventually I did get a line in the water and, wanting to make it a good experience for my boy, I handed the rod off to him just about every time we hooked up. And it worked, by the way. He loved it.

So case in point, it's time. It's time for a hard-core, dedicated, stand-in-the-rain all day if you have to, serious fishing trip. Oh, the roomis booked already. Time to lube the reels, pre-tie leaders, watch flow charts and water temps, cause it's on! Summers on the Salmon, here I come.

More on "fishing" and "Fishing."
I love both types. I love taking my boy - and soon both of them - out to the bass pond or to the local kiddie pond. I love it mostly because he loves it. His enthusiasm and excitement are priceless to me and I look forward to each and every opportunity to get him/them in the outdoors to experience what God has done for us. On the other hand, there's an theraputic element that comes from those intense, serious trips that may not even result in fish in the cooler. I find myself driving home from those outtings feeling... I don't know.... put back together? I guess that sounds strange. Oh well. Thats about as good as my fried brain can do right now. Tight Lines!

Salmon River.... again

Back up the the Stanley, ID area we went for another redeye trip in pursuit of metalheads. We did alright. Was pretty slow where we were, but the guys with boats who could access the other side of the run we were fishing were doing real well - prety much a fish-slaying fest! We managed 9 fish between 3 of us. No room for the fly rod at this hole so it was all traditional gear. Probably won't make it back again until next steelie season, so farewell, Salmon River. See for Springers in a couple months!

Dry Spell

Well then! It has certainly been a while since I've posted here. I've fished a handful of times since August. Once or twice on the crooked river, and a couple of times this winter on the Metolius since I've been back. The crooked is always good for a couple of fish, but so is the Metolius usually. I fished out there twice this winter (usually I hit that stream 10 - 12 time over wither and early spring), both times in what I considered pretty prime conditions, but the action was pretty weak. I caught bullies both times, but they were small - 18 inchers, which is nothing compared to the 23 - 25 inchers that are so common there. Either the fishing is just slow this year or I am not putting in my dues. I'd like to think its the later. No worries. I did get into some fish recently.

My brother came up from Cali and we fished for summer run steelhad on the John Day with my buddy Troy. Troy showed us all his favorite spots and although it was slow that day, I did manage one native steelhead:

Pretty gal here took a hunk of cured sand shrip with an orange corky. She couldn't resist taking it on the first cast! Catching this fish definately got me back into steelhead feever! I love these fish. She put up a bit of a tussle before comming to hand. Really cool spots on her. Back she went after a couple photos.

I had planned with Micah and my Father-in-law and my old roomie, Brad, to fish for Sturgeon in Idaho, but with the crazy number of steelhead in the Salmon River, we changed plans and made the long drive to Salmon, Idaho where we stayed over-night and fished all the next day for metalheads in some very cold conditions. Thankfully, we did not go home with the skunk. Brad was on fire. He muist have landed four fish while we were there. Later on he found several more. Micah, Van and Savannah all learned what steelheading is all about. That is, working really hard to go home having worked really hard.... and thats all. Such is steelie fishing. Luckily, I found a fish and Brad gave us a couple of his. We introduced them to my smoker when we got back to Boise. We got some roe out of the hens and van cured them up for our next trip. We are learning here, folks! Before too long we are going to be skilled and seasoned steelie fishers.

A couple weeks after that (last weekend) V and I took a friend and his brother back up to the Salmon for more steelie action. Even though V did not get one last time, he caught the bug and arrived on the river very well prepared with a new Shimano casting rod and reel combo - very nice! Along with a mess of corkies and some other gear, he was determined to get his fish. This time we headed for the Stanley, ID area, which is where we were hearing the fishing was strong. I caught one behemoth pretty early on, which I kept alive on a stringer until we left that hole. He measured out at just shy of 31 inches and 9 lbs (this was after he had been dead for over 24 hours). We worked pretty hard without so much as another sniff from a fish until about the last 3 hours of daylight. At that point we went back to a bridge where we had seen a lot of fish and a lot of fisherman. The nice felllows withing beneath the bridge invited us down and it was not too long before V was hooked up. His first steelie was a 25 inch hatchery hen - bonk! There were several fly fisherman doing well at this hole so I suited up and drug out the ol' Redington RS4 9 wt. If fished for 10 minutes and I was on. First fly rod steelie was a 25 inch hatchery buck - bonk! I was thrilled to have gotten one on the fly rod - something I have been wanting to do for some time! Awesome! I ended up getting 2 more oafter that, all on the fly rod, and V landed a beautiful native hen. Tom managed to find a fish also. We went home with 4 fish, who were also introduced to the smoker. How did they like it? They thought it was crowded, smokey and hot in there! yum!

More pics to come. Tight Lines!

Catch Magazine

I was recently turned onto a new on-line magazine called Catch Magazine (www.catchmagazine.net). This is a great online magazine for the fly fishing fanatic. Brian O'Keefe has been around the world with the bug rod and camera turning out dozens and dozens of once-in-a-life-time stills and action shots. you guys will love it. Check it out right away! Tight Lines!