Wallowa - Grande Ronde Family/Friend Float

Our first family multi-day float was a wonderful adventure and overall great success. Our target river, the John Day, was experiencing lower than normal floats and my river permit was too late to take advantage of optimal flows. Did we have a backup plan? Yes, the Grande Ronde. We met at Rob and Deb’s for a final planning meeting, having gone through several rounds of electronic plan refinement beforehand. After that, it seemed that all of our participants were ready to go, and excited. Jim knew this was Rob and my families’ first multi-day float, and having been there himself some time back, assumed the role of guy rowing the gear boat, Ed’s Scadden Outlaw Outfitter configured to haul as much as needed for the group. Rob was making a run to Olympia to pick up the loaner, nearly brand new, Orangeradish raft. Ed was dialing in his Maxxon tubed; NRS framed 14’ cataraft for the clan. Ed’s boats were stacked in the trailer, pretty much intact. Boxes and coolers loaded. Back of the SUV loaded. Every one of the houses involved had also included their “community gear” items. We did a pretty good job of dividing the group use items so that no duplicates were made and that no one had to go out and buy any new gear. Our hope was a family friendly float, one that was economically sound and something that would be remembered for some time. From a planning perspective I think we had it pretty dialed in, and now back from the trip I’m sure we did it right. Our first adventure day was the Tuesday travel day to Minam, OR. My family met Rob’s family at a convenient Poulsbo location, where we delayed departure because our four had not yet eaten. After a quick bite to eat, we started rolling at about 9am. We had a few bathroom/top off the tank/get a cold drinks or bite to eat breaks along the way. This is one of the nuances of travelling with three young ladies ages 5, 7 and 8. We arrived at the Minam, OR State Park and met up with Jim at about 5pm. Jim had been there for about 2-3 hours, and had staked out a campsite for our group for the night. The state park is very nice, right on the river and had a few young deer that just meandered around grazing most of the time we were there. A quick trip into Wallowa to get some dinner fixings for the evening later and we were all set up in camp, preparing boats and relaxing. Wednesday was launch day. After a nice camp breakfast of sausage/egg/cheese scramble, the guys loaded all the boats and all the gear into two of the three rigs. The ladies and girls stayed to play in camp and give us time to set up our shuttles and get the boats off trailers at the launch. We had a plan that they would drive the third rig down about a half hour after us and minimize the time they had to sit around and wait for us to do our thing. The unplanned variable in this scenario was that we arrived at the launch to find a group spread all over the place and taking their sweet time getting ready. We were dry docked behind them and they weren’t budging. Finally, after a full hour wait, and the ladies and girls arriving to help us finish the prep, it was our turn. Three boats quickly in the water, three rigs parked for shuttle runs, and final bathroom breaks. Off we went. The reported flow that morning was 2950 @ Troy for the Grande Ronde. Unsure what it was here at our Minam launch on the Wallowa, but it was moving pretty well with a few splashy bits right off the bat. Minam is at about mile 10 of the Wallowa, and it did not take us much time to cover the 1.5 miles to arrive at our first named run, Minam Roller, a fun splashy section right above the campground. I could tell already that I was going to be having a very good time, and the rest of my family seemed to be having a fine time too. I think I ran this one right down the middle of the heavy water and we all got nice and cool, have I mentioned that it was about 95 degrees? Red Rock Rapids was just a mile and a half later, and we covered that stretch pretty quick. Huge house sized boulder, looks sketch to the right, but the left has a little drop, a lot of splash and plenty of giggles. The discussion in my boat was great, the scenery, how cool the water was keeping us in the heat and how much fun we were already having. Thus far, Jim’s gear boat and the Rob raft were also making good time. We were all together, and all having a good time. Next splash, Blind Falls Rapid, a bit of a drop on the right, but a really heavy water tongue down the middle and I hit every splashy bit of it. There were plenty of standing waves between these rapids thanks to the large submerged boulders. I don’t know if this would have been as much fun in lower flows, higher would have been fine, but maybe not a whole lot higher. The confluence with the Grande Ronde came after a short lunch break. Rob and Deb provided some awesome curry chicken wraps. This is the second time I’ve had this tasty treat on a trip, it should be on the trip menu all the time. Still plenty of small splashy sections that are not named rapids and at these flows there is about 6” of water cushion on top of most of the rocks and the cataraft slides over them with ease into the splashy drops behind. Cheers of “I’m wet”, “awesome”, “hit it again” and “go hit that one Dad” were continually heard. After 10 miles, we entered the Grande Ronde and bid farewell to our new friend the Wallowa. I, for one, am hoping we meet again; maybe regularly! Passing under the Steelhead Train Bridge as it turns from the Wallowa up the Grande Ronde, we are at about mile marker 81.5. The Wild and Scenic river section quickly arrives about a mile later and we see the first of the well-established campsites on the Grande Ronde. Looks like campsites like these will accommodate a group our size or much larger very well. Perhaps we should recruit some more families for the next run? I’m rowing toward Sheep Creek Rapids wondering if there is a creek called Sheep Creek. We passed a tiny little creek on river left and I’m wondering when both Jill, the Mrs., and Olivia, the 8, both said that maybe it is called Sheep Creek because of all the white foamy sections looking like sheep crossing the river…they are both more creative than I. Sheep Creek Rapids was really a blast, lots of submerged rocks with ample cushion to ride and easy to move from one to the next. This was really demonstrating that I was very capable of maneuvering this loaded boat well and by well I mean using it to hit every splash and giggle point I could find. Sure, there are some exposed rocks with dry tops, or some with minimal cushion that I did not mess with, but there were many more that I hit confidently and soaked us all in the splashy goodness. We pulled into a nice elevated camp area, river left, at about mile marker 75.25 of the GR, just before Clear Creek on river right. This was a nice camp site for our group, could have accommodated another tent or two and even had some pike minnow fishing excitement. We had a nice dinner of Souvlaki (both pork and lamb) in pita pockets, Tabouli salad and Tzatziki yogurt sauce. The kids had some of the above and hot dogs. We socialized, tried out the platypus gravity water filter, used the fire pan, may have sampled some scotch while the groms made smores and enjoyed the evening as the temperature cooled and a light breeze blew upriver. Day one on the water was safe, fun and tiring. Day two found me in the cataraft with all three of the girls. Jill moved to Rob’s raft for some book reading relaxation. I was charged with splashing over everything possible. With two girls up front and one seated behind, we rotated seats frequently. While up front, the two spotters would point out all the things they wanted me to hit. I missed a few, very few. Again, everything with a bit of cushion was targeted, hit and we slid over each, dropping into series after series of standing waves. I’ll admit now though, there was one very large boulder that I should have avoided. It had about 4-6” of cushion upriver, but dropped off more behind than I gauged. I got us hung up and hung up solid. Initially we spun about 45* toward river left and were not sitting balanced, we were left tube high, not terribly, but enough that I was now a concerned father knowing that I might have done gone and messed up everyone’s day. All three girls sat still as I worked us around this hang up. Now we are still high centered on my back deck area, but I’ve got us pointing straight down river and level. We are cool here; we could have sat here all day safely. Now it is time for me to think my way off of this rock, which I should have known better than to try to glide over anyway. I see Jim bank the gear boat below us. At this time I’m still at the 45* and left tube high. I lose sight of the blue raft, but Rob pulled in an eddy on the left just below Jim. Both come up to assist and are ready to come in to help unstick me from this problem. They are shouting from the bank, and I from the boat but the water is rushing past my cat tubes so loud that we can’t hear the conversation. The girls are awesome and already picking out what they want me to hit next, these little schemers…one of them picked this rock, and I went along with the plan crafted by the 5 year old… I signal to the guys with the Okay sign. I hold up the Stop hand to keep them from wading in to our aid. We are out in mid river; this is a very large rock with very deep water on both sides. They won’t get here easily, and I have an idea. My cataraft is decked fore and aft with solid standing platforms. In the rowers pod there is a scouting shelf (yes, the one I should have been standing on to see that the drop behind this rock was bigger than I should be hitting) and a “fred flintstone” hole where I can normally stand and unweight my body from the boat in shallow water. I can see the rock we are pinned on, and the downriver side of it is about 1’ behind my cooler seat. My idea, sit on my foot bar, put a foot on the rock and leg lift up and down river while holding an oar broadside in the current to let the river lift and push us on our way. First attempt, we moved about 1”. Okay, my first attempt was a pretty tentative lift just to see what would happen. Olivia, my rear passenger said she felt us slide on the rock through her rear platform. Two more leg lifts and we were floating free again. Unsure how much time had elapsed. Probably less than a minute from getting us from 45* to centered downriver, maybe another few minutes before I was returning to my rowing seat as we started moving again. Honestly, I can’t say for sure. The mothers were waiting, out of sight, nervous and awaiting the yard sale of capsized boat stuff; children, coolers, bags, etc. They never saw any flotsam and then they saw our boat slide by, girls with hands raised high and giggling as we hit something else that was much tamer this time. I was a bit shaken by what I had gotten us into and then out of, and not eager to repeat that process. I had all the precious cargo, and I had let them pick our line one too many times where I should have been the wiser. I think this was in an unnamed section, just a few large boulders, all easy to see, above Martins Misery Rapids. We did this one shortly after unpinning, and I took a wet but rock free route. I settled back down after that and we all were splashing and giggling yet again. We stopped for lunch at a location that had a geocache. Unsure of the serpent population, Jill opted not to bag this one, but we are certain we could see where it was hidden from the small campsite where we had lunch. The girls had hot dogs again. We ate a mix of leftovers from yesterday’s lunch and dinner as well as some cheese and salami sandwiches in the pita pockets. Deb had brought some sort of cheese that was buttery creamy and she said lactose free. I had never had this before and found it to be extremely tasty. No shuffling of passengers and we were off to find Grey’s Rapid, the last named rapid for the day. I did not get us stuck to anything for the rest of the day, but we did rub a few smaller rocks with pretty large cushions. After about 17 or 18 miles on the river we found a nice camp site near mile marker 58.5. By this time I know I was totally exhausted. I had rowed back and forth on the river hitting all the foam, drops and splashes that the girls had been picking and I know I covered a few extra river miles getting from one splash and giggle to the next. We set up the kitchen on the rocky beach and tents up top in the glade. There was more sipping of spirits, Jim’s tortilla soup (which was a hit to all the campers) and a lot of rehydration going on this evening. One may initially be questioning why soup on a 90 degree plus day? Because it was awesome, that is why. Made fresh right before the trip, and then frozen, it was a heat and eat item topped with cheese and avocado that was just amazing. I can’t remember how many bowls of it I ate, but let’s say more than my fair share. Breaking camp for the final morning we enjoyed fresh fruit and oatmeal. Fresh fruit on day three of a river float in this heat is an absolute treat and an excellent call by Deb for her planned breakfast. Today I started with all three girls in the boat again, but after we hit Mud Creek Access and took a vault toilet bathroom break we reunited families in their own boats. It took just under a couple of hours to this point, and only a couple more hours to our take out in Troy at the bridge. We splashed through the Double Eddy Rapids, which was a really odd pair of eddys around high cliff banks. I bet this one would be interesting at much higher flows. I’m sure that some boats have rubbed the banks at some point. We rounded one or two more corners and could see our rigs parked roadside near the green metal archway bridge in Troy. We had our boats recovered and rigs loaded, separating the community gear to their rightful owners and were rolling by 2pm. The two families were headed to Walla Walla for an off the river overnight stop at a hotel. Jim was headed into Idaho (always an adventure seeker). Before we split we decided to hit Boggans Oasis to have some lunch, which was very good tablefare. Maybe next trip we’ll float right to here, I saw a few splashy bits between Troy and Boggans that I would like to hit. Walla Walla presented a bit of respite from the heat as a thunderstorm blew into town. Both families ate at Rosarios, enjoyed some chatter and retired back to our rooms at the hotel. Rob’s family left early the next morning to head toward Olympia to return the ‘Radish raft. We hung out for the day at the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival, the 27th and got our tourism box checked off. On the way home Jill suggested that we float a stretch of the Yakima for her to get some rowing in. While we floated, my little Sophia sat in my lap many times and rowed through some easy and moderate areas, and I was giving her instruction. Jill said she’d like to try. We were going to do a simple non-canyon section of the Yakima, but found the water to be like chocolate milk due to a recent mudslide in the thunderstorms the night before. Rather than retreat to the canyon and easy rowing so that I might get some fishing time in, we went up and did a simple float from South Cle Elum to East Cle Elum. It was beautiful, the water cool and clear, and we passed a few boats that were working their fishing mojo as we floated by. The girls each fished a bit, but really this was just another chance for me to row some great ladies in some great water. I made one last stop, a further up public access where I often will wet-wade fish to await pass congestion to clear. Just a few minutes here for me to cast one of my kids’ rods and for all to see another little beautiful piece of water. We were home by about 6pm on Saturday night. We’ve been gone 4.5 days and the level of fun and relaxation was amazing. I have one more weekend with the ladies before they leave me for family vacation. Unsure what we will do, but we’ll find some fun together. I hope that others in my circle of friends decide that they would like to do a trip like this, even this very one. We’re game! I think we could all get used to doing trips like this. We forgot a few things (like my camera batteries) and could do with a few others (like maybe a roll up solar panel to charge the one battery I had for my camera that was almost dead when we started). When I get photos from Jill, Deb, Rob and Jim, I’ll add them to the report.

Camping the Staircase with Friends

The OrangeRadish clan arrived early Saturday and secured a most spectacular camp site at Staircase. The Mumbles clan meandered down several hours later. The site was vast and had a natural jungle gym of downed trees of massive proportions and huge rocks. This was all the real entertainment needed by the Radish boys and Mum-belles. The four of them range from 11 down to 6 and all four played tirelessly together the entire time.

Daddy Radish announced upon our arrival that he had already caught the biggest fish in this part of the river, a nice 16" native cutthroat trout. You all can see if you can pry a picture out of Mr. Photography Wizard, I couldn't.

We set up the two full sized clan tents. Got the gals chatting and they really hit it off splendidly. This fact was noticed early, often and discussed while on the water and hiking trail at great length. There is little better, in my simple mind, than two guys that like to fish together AND their fishing widow wives get along immediately AND their children play together fantastic while treating everyone with the utomost respect. We shall be connecting the clans as often as feasible for our schedules and the three hour separation of our respective homes.

I had an absoultely stellar time with my family, my good friend and his family. Just freaking spectacular.

After setting up our 24 hour homestead, Jesse, his girl and Jeff showed up. I wadered up and off we went. No fishy love for us early, but we saw a nice bend in the Jesse rod. O-rad and I hiked up river a bit, found a few tempting places, but still no love. I told him I wanted to fish an area on the opposite side, so back down to the bridge we went, crossed over and hiked up. I pulled a gorgeous small native cutthroat of about 8-9" our of the spot I called from the other side of the river. Satisfied for this quick trip, back to the camp.

The other friends had to go, and the dads worked on fajita dinner while the ladies and groms enjoyed the late afternoon walk about camp. Once the fire was going well we knew the dinner would be coming together nicely and it did not disappoint. We made a dinner that Jerry D and Bitteroot would be proud of.

After a good meal it was back to the river in the waning daylight. No fishy love but I made a nice rescue of O's rod tip, bobbercator and bit of his leader after a bit of a snagup. What are friends for, right? I'll scale down a sheer rock and hanging log for ya pal, no worries. Thanks to my trusty Korkers and their studded Kling On soles I had all the traction I needed for the task.

Back to camp for some barley pops and chatting with the collective clan. Slowly the groms peeled off to bed, then the ladies, then the gents. The plan to get up early was cool on my part. I was up at 5, took a little walk to the facilities and then stomped around camp a bit. No company, back in the sleeping bag. I guess the Radish was up around 6 and I was out again. So much for early plans as we finally left camp just before 9 to fish for about an hour. No fishy love, but time for breakfast. This time Mr. Radish converted the cooler refrigerated leftovers from the night before into a fantastic scramble, just adding sausage and eggs. Again, just like Jerry D would have crafted, and it was a tremendous hit from those from 6 to...well a lot freaking older than six.

Cleaned up camp, broke down the haciendas and loaded up the rigs. Parked them at the parking area and off to the trail. We hiked up to the rapids, this is not a stretch I intend to float, not ever. It was amazing, Mr. PhotOrange took lots of killer images that he hopefully will send to my email address (first initial, middle initial, last name AT SYMBOL you know who DOT net)

Got home late, unpacked the rig, cleaned all the grime off of us all and most are out for the count. I'm tinkering with the blue Saturn raft for the next family outing planned in two weeks with the Ast clan. This weekend set our clan collaborating bar pretty damn high, looking forward to upping the mark as soon as possible. Life lived like this is a damn fine life indeed.

Memorial Day Weekend at the Ball Park

When my oldest daughter, now 7 1/2, was a young enough to sit on our laps we took her to a Mariners game. She could not have been more than a year to year and a half old. She says she remembers, but I'm not so sure. Today the four of us went to the Mariners vs. Yankees game. It was the third of the three game series against the bronx bombers and the M's had already taken the other two winning the series. My six year old was very excited and up way too early this morning. It proved her downfall as she fell asleep in my arms for about 2 to 3 full innings (where the Yankees scored 5 runs in the third and another 1 in the fourth). After that she was engergized and all had a grand old time despite the M's taking a loss 7-1.

They had a blast, both girls, the Mrs. and I did too. I hope that we can go again sometime soon. We need to get to Seattle more often. I told my wife that we should find something to do in the big city at least once each month. They want to hit the aquarium tomorrow. Not sure that I'm up for that. I am hoping to talk them into heading to a new to them lake and more relaxing day before heading back to work.

An Awesome Day

Today was a pretty amazing day. The girls woke me up asking for a big daddy breakfast. I threw together a nice sausage, egg and cheese scramble and even the picky six year old ate it like crazy. Of course big sister, an impressive eater almost all the time, destroyed it and raved at what a great cook her daddy is. Flattery will get you very far around here.

What should we do today? It should be nice, I asked. Their list began. We need to go to the park and play. Flying kites would be fun, if there is enough wind. There is a book sale and plant sale at the library, can we go there? Can we take the blue boat fishing at Teal Lake?

I was floored. I wanted to know how they possibly thought we could do all that stuff today. Big sister said "today is going to be awesome". At 7 1/2 she delivered this with expert confidence. I said we could see how it goes, off to the shower with the two of you and you better make it clean and quick if you want to get all that stuff done today.

They hit the shower and I loaded up the truck with helmets, bikes, kites and fly rods. Okay, I threw in the fly rods hoping we'd do some casting. I did, but no one else was interested, but that is out of order.

At the school playground park there are three distinct age level playground apparatus. Is it apparati, apparatuses or what, hell I don't know. We played on the kindergarten level one briefly, then moved to the next and then the next. Can we ride our bikes? Sure, mom and I went and got them out. Helmets on, they were off. We live in a really hilly area and our driveway really slopes so neither are free of training wheels yet. We don't ride much either, so this is not their fault. Today Olivia, the oldest, stated she thought that if I held her and helped her get going that she could ride without the training wheels. I said okay, she kicked the wheels up so they were straight back, like she had that planned all along, and with my hand guiding the seat she was soon off and riding...and riding well. Little sister did great too, even tried big sister's bike but perferred her smaller one with the training wheels.

Off to fly some kites. Sophia, the younger, has a triangle box kite and it takes very little wind to get it up and going. She was in business right out of the gate. Olivia's is a bit tougher, but soon hers was filled with air and soaring high above. The Mrs. had her box kite going and all of a sudden we saw it taking off across the field...unrestrained and on its own. We caught it, reconnected the string and no more than a few minutes later the spool was pulled from her hand and the kite was off on its own, flying several hundred yards away before coming to rest atop a small school portable classroom. No worries, we gently and steadily tugged it off.

Off to the house for some lunch, then I gathered the evening fishing gear while they hit the book and plant sale. An hour later they were back, I packed the rig and we were off to the lake. By now the day's sunshine has given way to overcast skies and a fair bit of wind and I'm thinking this is a bad idea. I expect this to be a very short outing and me biting my tongue about all the work I put into packing for a few minutes on the water. Boy, am I glad to say that I was so very wrong. I'm rowing, they are trolling. Olivia has a trout master cream streamer just below the surface. Sophia has an olive woolley bugger with a bead head a bit deeper. I'm rowing and a few minutes into the journey Olivia's rod tip jolts, she raises it, shouts "fish on" and then "I think this is a big one". A couple mintues later she's expertly brought a 20" nicely colored triploid to the net and is smiling from ear to ear about her success. She even bragged to Sophia, who's personal best is an 18" trout, that mine was bigger than yours. Competition?

Sophia had a few strikes, but nothing hooking up, so I switched her to the same type of fly as sister. Lots of missed strikes for Sophia, sometimes strike after strike after strike and the fish just did not stick. She was undeterred though, and kept at it very focused. "I know I'm going to catch one too" she said.

It started to drizzle. Anyone want to head in I asked? No was the resounding answer. Now it is raining steadily. Is everyone still okay? We've got our hats so the rain is not bothering us they chirped with grins. Now it is really pouring, do we want to head to the dock? Make one more pass they agreed, then when we get close to the dock we can head out. A lot of fish swirled and hit the flies on the troll, but none would end up with a hook set.

Back in the car, I got the ladies all buckled and safe, heater running and I strapped the raft atop the rig. I get in soaked and they chimed in stereo, "thanks for an awesome day dad".

I don't care who you are. A great breakfast, three playgrounds, kite flying, bike riding, more playground play, quick lunch, book and plant sale and trip to a local lake that ended up with a 20" personal best trout...all because that is what THEY wanted to do...this is the making of an awesome day.

I guess it could have been better if I would have brought along the camera!

Happy Birthday Sophia

Happy 6th Birthday Sophia

We all love you greatly and hope today was a great day.

Lots of Distractions

I've been away for too long suffering from lots of distractions. After 2.5 years working in a cubicle I traded up to an office...for a temporary Director position. I'm hopeful that it will become permanent, but one never knows. I entered the aforementioned cubicle knowing full well it already had a glass cieling upon it and the only way up was if one of the four people above me would choose to move on or retire. I thought I could wait this process out. I could not.

Now I'm on a very short term contract with a local institution of higher eductaion as a Director of a small department. There are so many things to do on the to do list that I'm working like crazy whenever I'm not asleep. I want to get things done and work hard to impress them so that I get to stick around long term and get the full time permanent position.

Looming is our family trip to Yellowstone the last week of June. My previous good planning pace has faltered. I have not advanced the plans for two months now. We have our West Yellowstone reservations and Park exploration plan in pretty good shape. What I'm woefully lacking on now is the two full days of travel each way. What can we do to get out of the rig to stretch our legs? What water can we pass that I can make a few casts and find some eager yet dumb MT/ID/WA trout? I know we will do our share of geocache searching along the route and back. I want to cast a line whenever possible too.

This trip is going to happen, even if I'm on unpaid vacation. That sucks, but not going would be more suckage than I can deal with because the girls are so hyped up for the trip. Speaking of the girls and trips. We are planning a trip to the Yakima as a family in late July. The girls and the Mrs are headed to New England for nearly three weeks in August. Guess who gets to stay home and keep the work schedule running as routine? I'm not bitter...well, maybe slightly, but I need to work more than I need to take this amount of time off.

The only fishing I've done lately has been to row a Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing outing where Matt and Dave worked their asses off for no fish on a beautiful day. The fish did not realize that this may have been my last outing with Matt as he's headed home to Upstate NY in the near future. I'll see Dave and fish with him again soon, I hope. Other than that, a couple of quick trips to the local lake of choice to bother the stockers. It works to clear the mind, so I'm thankful for the opportunity and therapy.

Hopefully it all works out well. I could find myself out of a job soon and that would really suck. That could put the Yellowstone trip out of reach because gas alone would break us. Lots of distractions...I'm trying to keep the important things in focus. Those are the girls and the Yellowstone trip and busting my ass to get this gig long term. Everything else will come in due time.

A Wonderful Adventure on the Olympic Peninsula

I had the awesome opportunity to fish with two guides from Twin Bridges MT out on the Olympic Peninsula. Joe comes west and guides for Brazda's Fly Fishing for winter steelhead each year. His friend Seth came along for the road trip and to catch his first Olympic Peninsula Steelhead (formerly catching his share in a variety of other places).

Joe was working on some fly pattern variations and although he was fishing for fun and to re-familiarize himself with the changes in the river he was in full on guide mode. Telling us to fish the patters tight to structure, opting to prefer to see if there were steelhead hiding more than worry about the loss of a few flies or rigs. Seth found a pattern that worked well early on day one, brining a very fine looking steelhead to hand with ease. After a dolly he picked up another steehead in the morning, but then went on a long stretch without fish. I had touched a couple of trout along the way but nothing of size and none that I kept pressure on to get them to the net.

While in the boat moving we were using a two nymph rig, expertly set up by Joe to his very particular specifications. When we found some nice fly swinging water we would anchor at the bank and each of us would work the runs. A few grabs between us, but nothing that stuck.

Back in the boat, nymphing the last stretch before the take out my indicator went down hard. A lift of the rod tip and a nice flash beneath the waters surface and I finally had hooked into a nice fish. A minute or two later we were anchored up, I was out of the boat and Joe was slipping the net under my steelhead. Smaller than Seth's two fish, but the brightest fish of the day and this guy was really excited. There was no hooting and hollering, I kept my composure, acting like I had caught nice fish before...and could do it again too. I was very excited though, heart was pounding, grin was building and after a couple of quick pics having never lifted her from the water this beauty was off to finish her spawning run.

Thank you Joe for the open seat those two days. Thanks to both you and Seth for sharing your time with me. Thanks to Team Brazda for the night in the Bogy House, being welcomed and surrounded by so many fishy friends.

How many more days until I get to head west again?

Seth and friends:




Found a friend of my own: