Just Because....

Because a sunset as a day draws to an end in my favorite place in the world is never a bad thing to stare at.

I hope you enjoy it as well.

Picture Of The Year...

When I look back on 2012 and the year we had, from a fishing perspective, this is the photo that will have defined the year.

Another year to share with OMR and our friends.  Another year of early wake up calls, monosyllabic grunts and talks as we sped towards our water of choice and hoots and hollers as someone in the crew hooked up

Our trip to the Skeena system left us wanting more and a desire to come back.  The people and the land left an indelible mark on us forever.

Our year was fun, filled with amazing stories, hilarious bloopers and a few other happenings that probably should stay out of the written word to protect the innocent. haha!

So why is this the picture of the year?

It showcases the bond between my father and I.  It shows how much we're willing to go to fish for these ocean runs.

More than anything, look at this fish.....a perfect specimen.  Cleaner than clean with perfect angular fins that show that this fish is wild born and bread.  Also, this is a monster for the river it was caught on.  They dont get much bigger in this system.

My only regret is that I didnt catch it, OMR did.  On the swing.  In 37 degree water.

I will gladly play the role of gille any day

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

The Bend Giveth...

Nothing sweeter than a spey rod resembling a taco...

Because at the end of the line, there's some bidness to attend to....

And oh yeah, OMR cleaned up with the best looking hatchery fish that he or I have ever seen.

What a perfect day out with the person I most love sharing a river with.

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.

Letting Pictures Speak...

The bending spray pole...

Look what I found...

Inland perfection....

Whats in your beak...

Until next time home river, until next time...

Photo courtesy of that fish crazy nut-bag, Steelie Mike

Steelhead Numerology

Numbers.  Steelhead fishermen and women watch the counts about as much as a day trader looks at the markets.  So here's a little bit of steelhead numerology with three corresponding sets of digits

Number set 1--7747, 6972, 6518, 5975, 6229

Number set 2--2258, 2828, 3678, 3514, 3731

and lastly--221, 197, 376, 430, 601

Beautiful, oh beautiful numbers to the steelhead tribe. 

Set 1--The daily passage of returning fish over Bonneville Dam, hurdle #1.

Set 2--The middle ground of the gauntlet, daily passage over McNary Dam

Set 3--The daily totals over Lower Granite Dam, the most important figures to us inland fishermen.

Notice the big spike in the past 2 days at Lower Granite.  The fun has just begun kiddos so warm up your scandi lines, get your skaters ready as the greatest and most demanding part of steelhead season is upon us for the Clearwater, Snake and Grande Ronde fishermen....

DRYLINE TIME!

Good luck to all in this 2011 summer steelhead season!

The Flip Side of 4am Wake Up Calls...

Is that your fishing buddies tend to conk out as soon as you hit highway speeds, leaving you and the highway all by your lonesome for hours on end.

Trout Unlimited Prompt--The Canyon

Recently the good folks at the Outdoor Blogger Network linked up with Trout Unlimited for quite an offer.  Write a blog post on your favorite fishing trip, and have the opportunity to win a hell of a prize.

Click here to read more on the contest.

My favorite fishing trip is more or less one place in my mind.  The Canyon.  Enjoy the read.

My mind instantly goes to one place when someone asks a question like, "where's your favorite place to fish?"

The Canyon.

It's not unknown, but one trip down this section of the Grande Ronde River in extreme Southwest Washington and you know why it's an inspirational place.  Drop an oar into the water at Boggans Oasis and it's you, the river, the fish and 8 or so miles of road-less water that allows you to forget about the rest of the world for a brief moment in time.  As I have said before about this place, your cell phone is about as useless as a paperweight.

Its a rare place of wildness in this connected world.  You get the opportunity to really communicate, with your boat mates and with yourself to lock back in on what's important.  Your Facebook status is non impressive to the big horn sheep that stare at you from the steep canyon walls.

My favorite days on this water bring together two of my favorite things in this world, time with my father and steelhead.   It is such an opportunity to be able to sit in my drift boat with my dad as we search the water for these ghosts of fish.  I can't tell you how many times people have told me that I am lucky to have the relationship I have with my dad.  I know this, and the Canyon gives us the time when it's only us and our jokes, jabs, even a yell or two at each other.  For me, it's perfect.

The water itself is beautiful and foreboding, to be respected as it to be admired.  Admired for the fact that it's perfection for steelhead habitat.  Run after run of water to swing and deep pockets to nymph as the day progresses.  And to bring it all together, the two greatest runs to me on the entire river to end the day on....180 and Pigeon

Over time my father and I have grown to know the water intimately.  On days where commitments draw us in opposite ways, brief conversations about the day allow us to know exactly where fish were found.   The Elbow, Last Chance, so on and so forth.  Like other hallowed steelhead water, we have our names for our favorite places.

The crazy thing that this water was almost lost in it's present form.  Many don't know that it almost was the site of the last dam on the Snake River, and 2 miles of the river would have become a lake.  Thankfully, the project was defeated and never became a reality.

The greatness of this water is due to how rare of a commodity it is.  It allows for a father and son to grow closer together.  It allows you to focus on what is in front of you and only that because you can't do anything else.  It gives you the opportunity to loose yourself  as you focus completely on finding a fish on your line.  Although augmently by hatcheries, the river gives wild fish a fighting chance in spite of the stacked deck against them.

This place has to be protected and tremendous thanks needs to be given to anyone who spends their time and energy to do so.   A place can only defend itself so much, it needs advocates like Trout Unlimited, The Wild Steelhead Coalition and The Native Fish Society to help retain it's current form and ensure it for future generations.

The Canyon's walls draw you in and firmly implants in your brain.   If you haven't been, I hope you get the opportunity to loose yourself in those 8 glorious miles yourself.

4 Mills's on a River

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of all time.  My Father on his 70th birthday was surprised by his two brothers from Portland, OMR Jr and Jerry...the original Old Man River.

I got the pleasure of watching Jerry (80), OMR (70) and Larry (61) fish my favorite run on my favorite river together, all while teaching Larry the basics of spey casting. 

We had a tricky river crossing but all three of us had a great day.  Who knows if this occasion will ever happen again, and I cherise that day more than most.