Clearwater Dreams...

The Clearwater haunts me.

It gives me a gift in July and nothing since.  After 100 consecutive casts today without anything but a sunburn to show for my efforts , a steelhead picks up my offering and for a split second I have a connection.

Then, as fast as it came....it was gone

You get to the point of casting, closing your eyes and feeling your way through each swing.  Done correctly, each cast should "feel" just so.  During those casts my mind truly wanders

Why dont people catch steelhead in the ocean like they do salmon?

God I miss baseball sometimes

They should make a peanut butter snickers...

I hope I can be as good as a parent to my child on the way as my parents were to me..

It's true mental therapy.  Yet as I go to sleep tonight, my dreams wont be like the questions I have asked myself while fishing.

No, no no no...

I get a constant, repetitive feeling of flowing water.  A good double spey cast.  A tick tick tick of a following fish.  A hard pickup

Then...nothing, the fish is gone.  Steelhead and the Clearwater are haunting beasts.

Yet this tale is not ment to display woe, but the infectious nature of this river, this fish, and this lifestyle.

I love it

Photog on the Rise..

Introducing the works of Mike Visintainer, photographer on the rise.

 Brother of Sean Visintainer, owner of the Silver Bow Fly Shop, Mike's one of those guys who's good at whatever he does.  Recently Mike joined his brother at the shop as their IT manager and web content developer.

Cars, web sites, and now photography....his work is the kind you expect to see in the Drake Magazine.  Matter of fact, I bet we see it there soon.

Mike joined Sean and I recently at our triple secret pond dubbed "Location Stinky Finger" and chronicled the adventure.  The shots on this post are from that trip and showcase his talent, attention to detail and ability to find the unusual photo prospective beyond the grip and grin shots that we are all used to.

You can see more of his work across the Silver Bow web site, but check out his gallery here

Absolute Beauty

Sunkissed and golden, is there anything more beautiful than the free rising Westslope Cutthroats of the the Mountain West.....

 Or the streams and rivers they inhabit?














Probably not...probably not at all

Hey "Lost" Fans...

While out fishing the home waters, I am pretty sure I found another "installation".  I was half waiting for Sawyer to come running out and ask me to save them.

Here it is, in the middle of town, and you have this fenced off area next to the river.  You can walk into it, but each building is razor wired off. Another friend I fish with calls this area "The Compound".   This is one of those places within our fair city that I am sure 99% of the 500,000 or so people in the metro area have zero clue that it's there.

As you read the signs, take notice of the last line of caution on the next picture.

"Military Working Dog Teams"  Lord help us if they have laser beams on their heads and GPS systems in their paws

Shoot, all I want to do is fish by it.  Hope it doesnt end up with military action against me, as in military working dogs with ripping fangs telling me I shouldnt be there

Yeeeeesh.

Running the circuit..

When the river drops below the flood of Spring and settles into it's Summer pattern, it's time to run the circuit

The fish hang close to the basalt rock walls and are a tough nut to crack, but when you do, they give you all they can.

Acrobatic.  Thick Shouldered.  Deep Red Bodies

And most of all, completely and utterly wild, Columbia Strain Redband Rainbows.

So we run the circuit.  The water pushes into defined runs and pools, and then there's the gems that you only find with time on the water.  The non fishing folk look at you like you have snakes growing out of your head.  They peer and stare and wonder aloud..."there's fish in that river?"

Oh yes...yes there is.

What a way to spend a summer evening, only 5 minutes from home.

Credit...where credit is due

There are some people who need a pile of recognition from Chucking Line and Chasing Tail.

We roll out of bed at 4am and disrupt their sleep.

We disappear for weekends to chase our passion and they smile at us and give us an understanding smooch, with no thought to how nasty smelly and bearded we are when we return. 

They listen intently to our fishing stories and keep listening even though they could swear they'd heard the  same story possibly 17 times.  "Yes honey, the steelhead...yes, it jumped how many times?"

The Wifey and Mrs OMR, here's to you two.  You stand by us time after time when we get that look and you tell us...GO, GO Fishing and hunting.  These Chicas get it.

Knowing how much they help us, it makes us work harder at being good husbands and a son to them.

Both will fish (Mom tends to outfish Dad given the opportunity) when pressed, but they are content to support us.  What amazing women they are and OMR and I are thankful they stand behind us as we go slay the dragons afield.

So we embark on a new post category here at CLCT.....spotlight on the people who dont normally get their credit.  Significant others, lodge cooks, shuttle drivers, so on and so forth.  If you want us to throw the love their way, let us know and we'll post it here

Send submissions to jmills81@hotmail.com

Thanks Mom and Wifey, you are both awesomeness unlimited.

Jet Boat Ban on Grande Ronde...

Thank you Sweet Baby Jesus

Last fall for the first time during Steelhead Season, a guide began using a jet boat on the relatively small waters of the Grand Ronde.  There's just nothing like swinging through a beautiful run on the Boggan's to Schumaker float only to have your piece and tranquility (not to mention great fishing) broken up by the roar of a jet.

Besides the ultimate suckiness of having a jet whirl buy you at 20 miles an hour, it began poising a safety issue as guys and gals were reporting the boat was almost swamping them as they fished

It looks like calmer heads ruled

Jet boaters and fisherman have reached a tenative pact to regulate when jets can use the Ronde.  For the majority of the Fall and Winter Steelhead season, they're out....da motorbots that is


Read the full meal deal here, a link from the Spokesman Review