The LeSage's First Family Outing...

My buddy Quinn is carrying some extra special cargo on his first trip to the river.

Quinn and Mary LeSage welcomed their first, a baby boy named Sawyer to their family around 5 weeks ago.  They spending a lot of time on the Missouri outside of Craig, so it was inevitable that they introduce Sawyer to the sport they love so much.  So I'll do my best to shut up here and let the pictures speak for themselves.  Enjoy!

A teacher and baseball coach, Quinn and his wife Mary are also damn good behind the video camera.

Check this OUT.

Filled the Raft....

Couldnt be happier right now.  And nervous at the same time.  Big C has taught us a lot, but what's 2 munchkins going to be like?

I suspect craziness will ensue, but what I do know is that I now have a full raft for years to come.

Mason Mills joined us a day and a half ago.  My wife was heroic and we had no idea what the sex of the baby was going to be until mantackle was spotted.  Big time booya!

The Millsfly tip of the day....if you can stand it, wait to find out.  It's a complete rush.

Could They Be Brothers?

You dont need DNA evidence on this one.

OMR and his younger brother OMR Ver 2.0 knocking back a little stream side lunch on the Grande Ronde.

As a side benefit, they both dont hear well.   Just about the only thing that separates them is the 10 years in age, and that's about it.

Lastly, they're both fish vacuums.

Hey Dad, Take Me To The River...

Well, he didnt actually say that, but I could tell that's what he was saying while he was "talking" to me.

After a long weekend of pretty intense teething pain, Big C's first trip the the river was great.

The wife saddled up the kiddo in the backpack, Murph Dog bounded around and I threw a few casts into some great water.

One thing's for sure...

I'm a pretty lucky dude...

When Your First Fly Rod Fish is 10 Pounds....

You're standards might be a bit high....

There is absolutely nothing better than getting to share our passion with another member of our family.  My nephew Trent from Seattle joined us for his first time fishing with a fly rod.

You tend to take for granted the little things that make you successful.  Stripping line in when a fish comes toward you.  Not reeling when a fish is running.  Keeping constant tension, so on and so forth.  The size of the fish on Sunday can humble anyone, let alone a rookie.  One of the first fish Trent hooked trucked him so fast he barely knew what happened.  The line popped and the and piled back in his face.  All we could do was laugh.

Not to worry, success came fast and often.  With 2 fisherman instructing (see "yelling nervously and barking orders) Trent honed his skills, culminating with a massive triploid on a size 14 chronomid and on a five weight rod.

The fish at Rufus Woods stacked the deck in our favor yesterday. They're freaks.  They're everywhere.  They're BIG.  Everyone was catching fish but it didnt matter.  All that mattered was we have a new member of the fly fishing tribe.

This picture was my favorite of the trip.  It made me realize we had done our job.

Happy Easter...

The outdoors is my church.  I know when I hit the river if I am of a clear mind and an open heart,  I have the opportunity to see examples of god in the natural state and sunrises like the one above on the Clearwater River affirms my beliefs as a Christian.

Here's to a wonderful Easter to you and your family.  If you sneak away after whatever church you attend to find a rising trout or a bass chasing shiners, I think JC would be ok with it.

After all, he was a fisherman.

Family, Portland and the search for Springers

I put my fly rod down this past weekend.  Bigger game was in our sites.  Columbia River Spring Chinook

Springers.

Daybreak on the Columbia

Trolling for Springer Chinook is very familiar to me.  It's how I grew up going after anything bigger than twelve inches and didn't come from a stocker truck.   I am not afraid to bait up a cut plug herring, lash on 6 oz of lead and go bounce the bottom.  It was very, very early for this run of fish.  Fishermen in our family are optimists, and if you're not an optimist, you wont last as a fisherman in my family

OMR and OMR Jr

The best part of this trip is the Mills family in Portland.  This town feels like a second home to me, as OMR's entire side of the family resides there.  Family dinners with 20 or more people at my uncles house are the norm.   His three boys are more like brothers than cousins, and my wife and I get the opportunity to hear legendary stories of our family, past down through oral history and aided by a generous helping of vino and spaghetti. 

Time on the water was a testament of will, especially on Friday.

Uncle Chuck, spry and fish crazy at 84

Layer after layer of waterproof clothing buffered us against repeated squalls and high winds.  Drift, reel up, repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.  I was starting to see a similarity between swinging for Steel and trolling for Chinook.

Saturday brought much better weather, great conversation with OMR,  OMR Jr and his son Cole.  Larry, aka, ORM Jr. is a great boat captain on his home water, and I tried to learn as much as I could.

Boat traffic was way up, but nobody was catching anything.  ANYTHING.  In over 80 boats, we saw ZERO fish caught.  Of course, conversations with other boats hinted at success, but we hadnt seen anything.

The day drifted away and on the way back to Rodgers Marina, we hoped against hope and made one more drift.  And as you would guess....pay dirt

Twenty pounds of dime bright hatchery chrome threw our boat into a crazed mess.  The buck hit my cousing Cole's offering, only to wrap into OMR's herring, then circle under the boat to wrap into Uncle OMR Jr.'s rig as well.  Talk about a five alarm Chinese fire drill.   Four guys all 6'2 and above and all over 220lb....dancing around a 20 foot Boston Whaler.  With a tank of a Chinook hooked up as well.  Holy Hell

So you have three fishing nuts screaming instructions to Cole as he's attached to two other lines and one pissed off Chinook.  Finally, we determined what lines could be cut and the dance ended with this beaut on board. Nice work Cole!

What a great weekend with family, traditions and of course, that beautiful fish

Not  to mention that second slice in was phenomial tonight for dinner.