New Currents Outdoors--Iron Sharpening Iron...

New Currents, Outdoors (NCO) 2013 Expedition from Soul River on Vimeo.


Growing up, I was a lucky kid.  The outdoors was always a part of my life.  Always.

I feel asleep to the hunting and fishing stories of my father and spent hours casting Mepps spinners off the dock at our lake cabin.

Not having that would feel like I was missing my identity.

Thus it brings us to New Currents Outdoors and the work they're doing to bring inner city youth of Portland to the river and the woods to show them a different view of the world through the lense of outdoor recreation.

Along with that, they also bring returning military veterans to the outdoors as part of the healing process and return to normal life.

This is the most interesting and worthwhile project I have seen in a long time.  Watch the video and see how these kids are just fired up about the adventure and how the military vets and support staff beam with pride about being part of this great program

Enjoy, and like New Currents Outdoors on FB to learn more about upcoming projects and initiatives.

Here Pink, Pink, Pinky...

Why the hell anyone would disregard pink salmon as a gamefish is beyond me.

2011 was my first experience with the pink salmon run that descends on the Puget Sound in the odd number year rotation.  Anywhere on the west coast, late summer and fall means salmon season and the frenzy it creates amongst fishermen and women is really something that should be experienced.

People lined the popular beaches hoping to intercept the schools of pinks and or coho whilst boats buzzed around the Sound with the hopes of getting to where the beach anglers couldn't.  The embodiment of stress and anxiety of the whole thing can be seen at the boat launches where the line to launch grows by the minute in the predawn morning.  Lord help the guy who's not a proficient back up artist and delays the whole racket.  Many a fight have happened on the boat ramp in salmon season unfortunately

Spending the day with Dave McCoy of Emerald Water Anglers and Dylan Rose of Flywater Travel was a crash course in the mechanics of salmon fishing.  Long stretches of inactivity followed by some of the most frenetic fishing I have ever been a part of.  Once we found a back bay in the South Sound where pod after pod of pinks cruised by, it was on like I have never seen fishing on.  Double after double, after double.

This weekend, we go back to the coast in search of salmon and I cant wait.  Fire up the smoker, it's time to fill it up with pinks.

Fishing Through Fatherhood....

That's it...the raft is full now.

I find it the ultimate joy, two boys to raise up and share our family's love of the outdoors, and especially fly fishing.

Right now, my fishing schedule is on the back burner.  More filling sippy cups and changing diapers than dropping the loop and coming up fast to a line burning steelhead.

Alas, Big C, the older boy is showing that the fishing gene hasn't missed a generation.

Steelhead season is upon us.  Soon we'll have to combine my too loves.  Until then, it's dawn patrol early mornings and savoring the days that I can get away and swing a fly.  

Fishing through fatherhood....awesome, challenging but extremely rewarding.

A Cut Wheat Field....

You go through summer and after about the 15th 90 degree day it starts to feel like it's never going to end.  People bitch when it's not summer yet, and then the heat drives us to bitch that we've had too much of it.

In the peak of the dog days of summer, the first signal of the impending sweet spot of the year is a cut wheat field.  The green stalks of winter wheat have morphed to gold and the combines that roll up and down the rolling wheat fields of Eastern Washington  to me are better than any weather forecaster in predicting what's coming.

Steelhead are arriving in a trickle and hopefully soon in a flood.  The scent of pheasants, chuckar and quail will soon be in our dogs noises.  Bucks begin to shed their velvet.  A little football doesn't hurt either.

Yes, the cut wheat field is a beautiful sight around town and in the rolling hills of the Palouse.  It signals to me my favorite time of year.

Get our there and have some fun.

OMR Rings The Bell...

OMR kicks off his 2013 steelhead season with this little guy.  No matter the size, it's always a spectacular feeling to get on the board and get the monkey off your back.

Dryline season is awesome.

MFC Iphone 4 Snap Cover Giveaway...

I recently upgraded to the fancy shmancy Iphone 5....and this guy wont fit my phone.   The good people at MFC sent me this cover a while back and was waiting to put it on (already had another MFC snap cover...they're awesome) when the phone broke.  

So it's time for a little contest.  We'll make it simple, just a little hunting and pecking around on the Montana Fly Co's web site and the answers will be right there for you

Here's the 5 question scavenger hunt.  

1.  What two/three apple products does MFC offer covers for?

2.  How many different styles of Iphone 4 covers are listed on their web site

3.  What town is MFC based out of

4.  How many Washington retailers are listed on the map of retailers on the MFC site?

5.  Who's the artist of this Iphone 4 cover?

Send your entries to jmills81 at hotmail dot com

Deadline for entry is this Sunday, August 18th at Midnight.  Winner will be drawn by random number generator in order of correct entries that are received before the deadline

Have fun getting to know a great company and good luck!!

Yukon Makes Me Miss Montana...

Its been a bit too long since I've wet a line in Montana.  Kids and Steelhead have a lot to do with it but this fall, I may have to sneak away for a bit and remember how amazing a place it is.

Enjoy the video from Yukon Goes Fishing

Steelhead are Awesome...

Damn these fish are awesome.  Good luck to you all this steelhead season.

Sniper Whitey...

Terrible picture, I know.  The story is about mechanics. As in how the hell does a whitefish put that hook in that mouth.  Mega advanced geometry if you ask me.

Standing in one of the fishiest runs in the entire lower river,  I get the telltale sign that every steelhead fisherman is looking for.

Pluck, pluck, pluck...(oh shit, we got a player) pluck....(drop the loop)

Line comes tight....( yes, the fish is still there)

Slight lift of the rod (here we go!)

Wait, not enough umpf to this (WTF, a whitey?)

The fish got me good.  Got my heart going, subjected me to a bit of ridicule from fellow fishermen.

Damn, it almost was...SNIPER!!

Oh Crap, I Caught One...

Maybe it would have been better to not catch one so darn early this year.  Setting the expectation of catching a white unicorn from here on out is going to be rough.

The Clearwater has done this to me before.  I went 5 days between action the last time I caught a fish so early.

Bye bye trout gear, see you in the spring.  I've had a great time with the tiny bugs but it's time to dive into that time of year.   Dryline time on the big river is as special as it gets.

While not the biggest steelhead ever, she was as perfect of a wild specimen as I've seen and gave a pretty nice battle for a fish it's size.

As she swam away, the guys I was fishing with looked at me and in unison, asked how that felt?

"Awesome"

It's the best way to describe the first steelhead of the 2013 season

Photo credit to the guy who puts out this awesome online mag for swanging flies.

A Season's Start....

Sunday, we crack open the lid on the 2013 summer run steelhead season

Hells yes!

From the moment I put my spray poles away after winter run season to the moment my boots hit the water this coming Sunday,  steelhead occupy a gigantic portion of my brain.

It could be an exercise in futility but there's just enough fish coming over the last dam to make the diehards salivate and most others say, "eh, I can wait"

Not me.

In tearing off the cover of this year's season, it's a bit like waiting upstairs on Christmas morning and waiting till your parents say it's time to open presents.

So Sunday night, I dont think I'll sleep much.  Instead of sugarplums, I'll have steelhead dancing in my head.