North West Fishing/Off Road Tour
I decided I needed to escape the Vegas heat for a while, (it was 114 the 2 days before I left) so I figured I would head to a hopefully cooler part of the country.
During an uneventful trip to Boise, I actually achieved 17 mpg this time which was impressive considering the tent and awning are on top. (last time it was between 8 and 12 because of the wind and no tent or awning)
Over the course of this trip, I will be fishing my way across Oregon(my next stop, Bend, OR) then on up to Portland to fish the Wilson. Then heading to Seattle to see what fishing adventures it holds. From there I will either head to BC for some Canadian fish, or head over to Cascadia National Park for fishing and sightseeing. Then on over to Eureka MT and down to explore Glacier National Park. Heading on down to Missoula and the valley to the south. Then working my way over to Bozeman, and depending on time, money and sanity, I may head into Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons parks, or if it just way too crowded, may just head down to fish the Henry's Fork of the Snake river. No matter what happens it should be an interesting and fun time. (disclaimer, I have threatened my boss that I might make a wrong turn after Seattle and keep heading North and would need an extra week of vacation as I would accidentally end up in Alaska for some Pizza at
Moose's Tooth in Anchorage.
This afternoon we headed out to the Owyhee river to get in some fishing. The flows he recently increased so the water was a little murky. Surprisingly there were quite a few others out on the river today. So we kept driving to near the dam. Found a nice spot and went back to the car to gear up. By the time we got back there was already someone there so we had to move further up stream. Found a nice spot about 150 yards up and prepared to fish. First cast and bam, a slurper grabbed my fly and bolted. Unfortunately he bolted around the rocks and I reeled up no fish and no flies. Damn, last of those two flies I had.
So tied on another pair and set to fishing again. Meantime, Brenda has gotten set up and moved upstream about 20 yards. Short time later she is into a good sized trout. She manages to land it and then let it go to continue with its life. A few minutes later my indicator disappears and my line starts stripping. Hooked into a nice one. Fought him for a while then noticed that he isn't coming in straight. I had managed to hook him in the belly. Grabbed the net to get him in quickly and get the hooked released. Took a good solid minute of babysitting him to get him revived from that ordeal. A beautiful 19" rainbow.
Shortly after I hook into my 3rd one and managed to bring him quickly but again, had a hard time reviving him. Didn't think this one would make it. I rolled him over to make sure that wasn't a spot in his belly from a hook. He just laid upside down, probably thinking, this is it, I am done. But after about 2 minutes he perked up and kicked off with some force.
Now of course, during all of this we forgot the camera. Brenda hooked into another nice one and got him landed fairly quickly. He swam off after a few seconds.
She ran off to hit the rr and grab a camera. We fished about another 20 min but it was getting late and we needed to get. I stated that I hoped one of us caught a nice fish so we at least had a pic. And I hooked into one just before we were ready to leave, of course it being the smallest of the day. But that is OK. Caught my 2 biggest trout ever, landed 3, lost 2, Brenda landed 2 and lost 3.
Great way to start my fishing trip. (I need to get a cheap waterproof camera to keep with me. My phone is too big to fit in my waders pocket)
Below is the one fish we actually got a picture of. It was the smallest of the 5.