.......And Summer Would Go On Forever

The end of summer has suddenly thrust itself into my consciousness and so it's reality time for me. Winter, with it's endless rains, short days and bone chilling cold is looming on the not to distant horizon. I can barely talk about it actually...sigh!
No more leisurely excursions to the north coast. No more casting a fly until almost nine o'clock in the evening and no more furiously tying reverse spiders. Coastal cutthroat trout season is over and once again it came too soon and left me unprepared for the cold months ahead. The season for coastal cutthroat trout ended October 31st.
I keep saying I want to get over to the Deschutes in the winter time but who am I kidding? It's a cold bleak place over there in the winter and to me the Deschutes is a place of warmth, life and movement not freezing winds blowing through the canyon.
It was a good season for this old fly fisherman. I had many joyful trips in pursuit of these great fish. I hooked many large trout that encourages me and makes me hopeful of their future. I hooked one "accidental" summer steelhead this year while pursuing cutts and that was just a very brief encounter.
I will begin my countdown until next years opener but it will be a busy off season. Once again the spectre of a kill season for these trout has reared it's ugly head. The usual greed and ignorance has supplanted common sense and those of us that care will try get the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to come to their senses.
It will not be an easy battle but I think with enough motivated conservation minded anglers involved we can and will make a difference.
So now I lovingly put my bamboo rods away for a few months knowing full well that some cold night in January I will take each one out and perhaps give them a fresh coat of briwax. As the spring approaches I will eagerly wait for the renewal that that sun and the trout will bring.