New Beginnings

It has been 4 months since I have written to this blog…Much has happened.  Joan’s Father, Joe Michaud, passed away at 66, a family friend, Don Adams, passed away days later at 57, America elected her first black president Barack Obama, our economy sunk further into recession, and my family and I darn near got ourselves stranded in Hawaii.  January brought further declines in the economy bringing with it seemingly daily reports of layoffs Nationally and  localy and pushing closer to a depression.  Our hopes were uplifted at the inauguration of our new leader and our faith in leadership was rocked by yet another story of a lying politician who refuses to step aside.  That brings fairly up to date…We’ll make a go of this once more and see how it goes.

 

Fall Fishing 2008

Part 1: In Search of Fish Tales

done

Our journey began late in the evening on Sunday, September 7. It was time for my father and I to embark on our annual fishing trip to Eastern Oregon. This has become a yearly pilgrimage to what has become one of our favorite rivers to fish in Oregon. After celebrating my grandfathers 84th birthday and tucking the kids into bed, we left the city into the warm later summer night heading east, eager to get knee deep in the rejuvenating waters of the Wallowa and Imnaha rivers. We made it to Pendleton and were fairly lucky to get a room as the Pendleton Round-Up was to begin the next morning.

Nine hours after arriving in Pendleton, and a restful nights sleep, we were geared up and in the Wallowa River just up stream from Minam. The Wallowa is typically a beautiful and clear river that has produced well for us, however, this year the river has been stingy with our usual spots, not producing nearly the size or quantity of catch. The water this time was tinged a turbid, dirty brown which in my estimation was a cause of the less than consistent bite. After a few hours on the Wallowa we pressed on, passing through the small communities of Wallowa, Lostine, Enterprise, and Joseph onto our final destination, Imnaha.

Driving through these small towns your mind begins to romanticize the virtues of simpler times. A hard day’s work is just that, visiting with neighbors is done daily and not just on weekends, and Friday nights are celebrated under the bright lights of High School Football fields. The further you go the more you are unshackled from the complications of life in a big city. This culminates with your arrival in Imnaha where there is no cell phones, the taverns big screen is a 16 inch television with a 26 inch magnifying glass mounted in front of it, and the only hotel has no telephones. Arriving we checked in at the tavern, unloaded and head up stream on the Imnaha.

We were greeted, as we are every year, by the wild turkeys that border on ubiquitous throughout the valley and one of the best dry fly trout streams in Oregon. The moment you step into this river you feel your stress and worries wash away. Relaxation can come in many forms. Some absorb themselves in a book while others may find it on a yoga mat. For me there is nothing quite as relaxing as the constant bubbling of water over the rocks, the pressure and force of the river as it surges past your legs and through your toes, and the burst of adrenaline when a trout attacks your line. This was to our home for the next three days. Con and I did quite well here, it just so happened that the waters were particularly generous to me.(A wink and nod to you dad)

The Imnaha River Road travels 26 miles upstream from the town of Imnaha. For the first 18 miles the river flows primarily through private land making access to river spotty. The remainder of the river up to the hells canyon turnoff is mostly in national forest land. When all is said and done you only fish one percent of the upstream portion of the river. But, that means two full day of exploring the Imnaha’s many holes and at this time of year, with the water level down, the fish seek refuge in those holes, feeding on the grasshopper and in many cases each other. This is one of the few streams I have been in where fish after fish we have caught has had a half eaten trout in its mouth.

For two days we visited many of the holes we have come to enjoy fishing and found for ourselves a few new spots that neither of us could remember. The catch here is rainbow ranging from six to sixteen inches and feisty. In the lower 18 miles they are all to eager take a dry fly and destroy it. Con and I both lost more flies to being demolished by fish than to snags. It can take two people several hours to fish quarter mile stretches and in many of these holes we were catching 10-20 fish apiece. For me, it was a draw to pick my favorite catch. First there was the 16 inch rainbow that I caught with 30 feet of line out over the top of a tree fall on the opposite side of the stream. That was a combination of luck and casting ability with an emphasis on luck. Tied with that was a beautiful 16 inch German Brown pulled from a deep pool on the opposite shore. Both caught on a number 3 Parachute Madam X Peacock.

On our final day in Imnaha we awoke to a herd of Horses who were passing through. Where they were going who knows, but, they were very interested in us. We headed out and up stream to the national forest portion of the river. There were we explored a gorgeous canyon that was some 60 feet below where we could park. This area was marked by big sweeping “S” turns of deep blue pools that meandered into a narrow torrent and emerged in to more deep pools. The scene belied the fishing to be had. It was about an hour into before I decided give a nymph a shot, which paid off on the first cast, coaxing a spirited 13 to 14 inch rainbow from the deep. That one fish was pretty much all their was to be had on the upper section. It was baffling considering we got into some areas where it was obvious that few had been to as we had to find our way through thorny trees 30 feet deep that lined the stream. It wasn’t until we got up to the fish weir that we found why the trout may have been laying low. There, in a pool about 100 yards down from the weir and hatchery, we saw 5 or 6 large Chinook. Beaten and discolored from their long spawning run up the Columbia and Snake Rivers, it was an incredible sense to be there, see these fish, and realize the hardship of that journey.

On that magical note, we began our trip through Hell’s Canyon and a bit of our family history.

 

Last Lazy Days of Summer

As many of you probably know, I just returned from fly fishing in Idaho. This was a fantastic trip and the company could not have been better. I made some attempts to write in the blog from the road but due to some technical limitations I could not really get things going. Towards the end of that trip I cracked a rib while bouldering along a stream which took the wind out of my sails. It’s shocking how something as small as a rib can suck the energy and life right out of you.

I am back and over the next couple of days I will get you caught up on my trip with some insight on where to go mixed with a little history. Stay tuned…

 

Belated Birthday

A Bit late with this one, but…Happy Birthday Bob!

 

Slug Story

Last night I got this little gem of a message from the 6 going on 19 year old.

I hate slugs and my mom has trained the little darling to salt them (I prefer to send them out in style with a little cheap beer). I could not figure out what in world she was talking about other than she was watching it and it was “wicked cool”. Well, as soon as I got home I was greeted with this delightful picture. I wanted to bust out the Morton’s then and there but, my efforts were thwarted and now we are apparently protecting these things now that we know they have babies. Disgusting!

 

Farmers Market

This morning Sienna and I got up bloody early and headed on out to the Beaverton Farmers Market. It was great way to start day. The morning was overcast and cool but not in the normal dull, depressing way so typical of Portland. We arrived and got phenomenal parking just outside the entrance. The crowd was not bad for a cool morning and the vendors were stocked full. We walked around for a while as we really had no purpose to be there other than to enjoy the sights and smells. There was a chili vendor there who was making fresh roasted chili’s in drum tumbler. The odor was incredible. We visited several of the produce stops and decided we would get fresh cut flower for my grandmother, Betty, and for Joan. After picking out a gorgeous arrangement of sunflowers (Betty) and dahilia’s(?) (Joan) we headed out to make our deliveries. It was a great a little father/daughter time we had and we got to brighten the days of two others too.

 

Lucky Old Sun…

So tomorrow night Brian Wilson is playing at the Roseland Theater.  I can remember listening to the Beach Boys from a very early age and lately I have been enjoying his recent solo work.  I wouldn’t mind seeing him once.  His prolific song writing and influence make him one of the those performer you want to see before they’re gone.  Unfortunately, I leave for Eastern Oregon and Idaho tomorrow so I’ll have to wait for Brian to come back.  I’m sure it will be a good show though, and fun to reminisce.   Here’s a little then and now…enjoy.

1966

2005

 

That’s Interesting…

I had a visitor to the site who arrived here via a search engine looking for japanese skateboard.  I must have been buried deep in the pages because I couldn’t find it.   Pretty cool all the same…

 

Avocado Man

 

Back to School…

Today marked the first day of school for the kids.  It was tough to get them down last night and 6:50 am came quick.  We now, officially, have a 1st and 3rd grader.  For me this was monumental, our babies are becoming less….well babies.  I looked at these two this morning while getting our annual first day of school snaps at the house and marveled at how quickly time flies.  4 years ago when we moved, there were so many reasons why we couldn’t live in certain places. We evaluated places based upon a fear that the kids would drown, or not have a place to play, or wasn’t kid friendly enough.  At the time it seemed reasonable, but now, looking back with clearer eyes and an appreciation for the accelleration of time, it makes you wonder what you were thinking.  This was the hardest “first” day for me thus far.  Both kids are bigger, articulate and gaining independence.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t choke up, good thing I was wearing sun glasses at drop off, people might talk.  Little Wonders