Green Light Go on the Fishing Scene

Busy around here. Crimony.

Penny and her Wallowa Resources friends just held their annual Watershed Festival this week, which was ultra-groovy. Fishing pond for the kids, local beef burgers, Paul and Todd making birdhouses for the kids. All manner of education and fun and even little reusable shopping bags which I meant to use at the store today but forgot it, hanging on the nail next to the door where I wouldn’t forget it. Sorry Penny.

Morgan and I head out in the early wee a.m. hours for six days of weed duty on the Grande Ronde. Here’s a nice smalltown incident for you . . . but first I must say that it’s been a rough year for flyrods. I broke the tip off mine, then did a temporary fix by duct taping a beer tab on the end . . . soda tab, is what I meant. Yes, definitely soda. So I got that fixed, then it developed another crack and has to be shipped in for replacement.

Then I borrow Morgan’s rod, get hung up and try to yank the nymph free and c-rrrr-aaaaa-ccc-kkkkk. It breaks. He seemed pretty amused by that. What a guy.

So I’ve got two flyrods to repair.

But here’s the cool part. I stop at the Joseph Fly Shop today to get some foamulators for the stone fly hatch that’s getting ridiculous on the Grande Ronde, and mention my flyrod woes to the owner, Rob Lamb, and he says, well, I’ll loan you one until you get yours fixed. I had another loaner lined up, but it was more of a steelhead rod and would be like fishing with a telephone pole, so thanks, Rob.

The take-home message in that last paragraph is that the fishing is kicking into gear. Water is settling and our fish man, Tom, reports Ponzi scheme-like results, without the downside. And the stone flies are thick. Thick, I tell you.

Here’s a photo of Sam on his private trip last week. He floated by Morgan and I as we were hard at work. Other picture is Morgan near an oldgrowth stand of scotch thistle. As you can see, they’re over his head, so they must be a good three, three-and-a-half feet tall.