He's Back!!!!

After a nice but fish less visit to Central Oregon your favorite angry fly fisherman is back.I met my new granddaughter and spent time with my other two grand kids.
Central Oregon is such a wonderful place even if you are not a fly fisherman and we took in a lot of the clear air of this region.
There is just something magical about living in a town that has the Deschutes River running through it. I tell my son just how lucky he is to be able to live and work exactly where you want to be. Bend is where he has worked hard for FedEx to be and I hope to move to that region some day.
So what lays ahead in the never ending battle for the well being of wild fish? We will be testifying before the full ODFW commission on August 8th. Here is hoping that we get the big turn out of wild fish friendly people at the meeting to show that we are indeed willing to fight for this precious resource.
The proposals are out there to bring back a kill fishery for wild North Umpqua winter steelhead and wild coastal cutthroat trout. Seems like this is a never ending struggle no matter what the status of these wild populations are and ODFW does not seem to care much for the well being of these fish or they would have never allowed these wrong headed proposals to get beyond the review board.
The summer time warm water temperatures have halted my coastal trout fishing and I will not resume until the cooling weather of fall. There are also a huge amount of salmon, trout and steelhead smolt that seem to take pleasure in sinking my dry fly.
With the fall rains comes the returning cutthroat trout and of course the fall salmon.
This year the salmon well has almost gone dry and the bag limits will be severally cut back in most regions.
This is a good idea but I am afraid that it is at least two years too late.
The effect of those dark and inedible females slaughtered for their eggs has taken a toll much larger than the bait slinging, knuckle dragging so called sportsmen are willing to admit.
So after a short respite I am back with all kinds of new rants in mind...stay tuned friends.

Thoughts on Tradition aka An Insomniacs Rant

Couldn't sleep so please excuse the ramble and over zealous punctuation.

Fly fishing is steeped in tradition. Some of the old names associated with our sport are, or should be, instantly recognizable. What fly angler, worth his salt, is not familiar with names like Lee Wulff, Hardy Bros. and Orvis. As a graduate of the gear fishing fraternity I must say there are very few "legends" in that type of fishing that are not just regional names. Sure most gear guys know who Buzz Ramsay, Jim Conway and Clancy Holt are but their fame do not go much beyond the Pacific Northwest.
I do love much of the folklore and tradition of fly fishing but am not so rigid that I have become dogmatic about it like some I've encountered. I do use a split bamboo fly rod for trout but if I were a strict traditionalist I would also use a silk fly line and a gut leader.
I also think that fly fishing, as far as the efficiency of it, is very impractical. Think about that last statement for a minute. If our goal were just to catch a lot of fish in the name of sport isn't there easier ways to accomplish that and still call ourselves sports anglers? I know for a fact there are. Getting past all that crap about "Isn't it cheaper and easier to Safeway and buy your fish" that is what the practical man would say and I say he is full of it. However there are easier ways to satisfy ones hunter/gatherer instincts!
I could have kept my old Lamiglas drift rod with my ABU Ambassadeur level wind reel and tied on a bit of salmon roe then let fly. Been there and done that! Caught a lot of salmon and steelhead that way and while it was fun it became very routine and not very challenging.
Hence my entry into the world of fly fishing. I give homage to the traditions that make this angling pursuit what it is and why the legend and lore of it are so appealing.
Taking that further I think we, who chose this method of sports angling,should at least give a passing nod to tradition.Tradition is all the things, at least to me, that make this sport such a pleasure. Many of we fly anglers do offer something to tradition and I hope that once us old guys have made our last casts that some of those traditions will not die with us.
I wonder though....Would Norman Maclean and his brother Paul have used a strike indicator?
- Tight Lines -

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

My newest grand daughter arrived yesterday at 6:18 PM in Bend, Oregon. She weighed in at 8.8 lbs and is 22 inches long for those of you that find importance in that stuff.

Allyson Rose is her name.
So here is hoping, from a proud grandpa, that she grows up to appreciate the world around her and all the wonderful things about it.Here's also hoping that when she is an adult that she can enjoy clean water, wild fish and a world without war. Yes I know, wishful thinking but it should be every one's goal to insure that our grandchildren will not have to just read about the beauty of the nature but actually get to experience themselves.