My favorite place to be!!!!

S
strawberry shortcake
I visit my Wallowa River regularly. Love that river. I call it mine because my greatgrandfather owned a stretch of it (the stretch I fished in as a short little redheaded girl and still do now that I am...a short little redheaded whatever). The river channel is wanting to head west again instead of hug Woods Hill (also known as Evans Hill on the BLM map). That means trekking through swamp to get to the main channel. I don't mind. I'm alone. I have my fishing pole and my little shovel with me. Who cares if I smell like swamp.
 
L
Left Bank
Hey Strawberry, I was at OHSU today and believe me there are worse smells than a swamp : ) Almost everyone has that one river or lake that holds a special place in their heart but it sounds like yours has even more meaning. You'll have to keep us updated on how your favorite place pans out for steelies.
 
S
strawberry shortcake
Just found out that Saturday is open house at the Shooters Association's range. Dang! Oh well. One less day to fish. I'll survive. I sure like going to the firing range. I sure like fishing in my favorite river. So many nonworking things to do. So little time to do them in. 63 can't come soon enough! 10 years to go and then I get to do what I want to do all day long, 7 days a week. Shoot and fish. Or I could fish and shoot. Or maybe fish one day and shoot the next. I haven't shot at the range yet. I just shoot varmints around the place with my 22. I have a 357 revolver as well. Love them both. But my 22 is the one I use to shoot those nasty marmuts. Hate those things. One of these days I will try my hand at shooten at the targets at the range. I probably won't be able to hit anything that doesn't look like a marmut.
 
troutdude
troutdude
You'll have to try fishing at the range sometime! LOL
 
S
strawberry shortcake
Went to the range on Saturday in the middle of a blizzard. Shot a 50 caliber but couldn't see the target. It was like shooting inside a white feather pillow. Needless to say I missed. Man what a canon!

And Sunday we recovered from the blizzard. The fish will have to wait for better weather. brrrrrrrr!!!!
 
R
Reed
Some times after a Gr8 day at your favorite place, the second place sitting by a campfire reflecting on the day......
 
S
strawberry shortcake
Caught a hatchery rainbow. Just a bit over 8". Don't have pics because I already ate it with crackers and a layered bean dip, along with two coors light. Yum.

I used just worms (from my side of the house worm farm) on a hook with two sinkers. Sometimes I don't use sinkers since real worms sink quite nice on their own, but my favorite fishing hole was all a-swirl with high water and I didn't want my line tangled in all the roots in that spot. Another one bit hard but shook off the hook before I could bring it up. It was bending my fishing rod quite a bit. I hope to go out again before the weekend is over but if I don't, I will survive.

Besides, it's COLD up here in the county. I came over Thursday night through a bit of a snow storm over Tollgate. I have also noticed a huge decrease in my attic bat population at the old ranch house. Too cold and windy for bugs to be out. This will likely be another year of dead babies. When food is scarce, momma bats abandon their still nursing babies and fatten themselves up so they can migrate out of this cold climate when the time comes. Over the past three years, my bat population has decreased by about 2/3rds. All because of a decrease in their favorite food related to late windy Springs and cooler dryer Summers. Bats make really good weather forecasters.
 
troutdude
troutdude
I vote to replace all over paid Portland weather casters, with your bats. At least the bats are 100% accurate forecasters. And we'd only have to pay them in juicy bugs! We'd just have to watch where we step. LOL!
 
S
strawberry shortcake
You can use bat guano for all kinds of fun things. You can even blow it up. It's just that I don't have enough of it right now to do anything with it. This also means that my owls (barn and great horned) may go by-by too. Bats are horned owl's favorite food. And the occasional skunk. They also keep the stray cat with kittens population in check. This also means that I will have mice problems again like I did 5 years ago. Owls like to catch mice and ripe off just the head. I got up one Saturday to see about 6 mice laying on the side yard, all decapitated.
 
S
strawberry shortcake
Heading out again for another part of my river. This time along a stretch that family friends have given me access to (it pays to be a nice sweet redhead instead of displaying that Irish temper of mine). This time I will try to remember to take a picture before I eat the fish.
 
troutdude
troutdude
Have fun and watch out for low flying bats! LOL
 
Troutski
Troutski
Wallowa-simply amazing country

Wallowa-simply amazing country

Your post are great....having access to private land is killer. I have a few places in my stompin grounds that allow me in for the Winter Run of Steel. Enjoy your special time on the water....by the way your rod is on the way, procrastination is my third name-would have been my first but my Mother put off naming me;):think:

Chuck
 
S
strawberry shortcake
Threw one back, caught lots of snags, fed lots of fish. But even better, found two 4" tall morel mushrooms. They are already soaking in saltwater and I will fry them up tonight. Double yum!
 
troutdude
troutdude
Those shrooms will be a tasty snack!
 
S
strawberry shortcake
I'll be headin down to the river by the middle of the week. It is high, caramel colored, and fast! I'll be going down the back side of the river this time because the swamp on the other side is now PART of the raging river! Looks like I'll have to take the hillside combine counter weight with me for a sinker! Heaviest chunk of iron I've lifted. Now that's a paper weight. I'm guessing it could also be used to keep the Health Care Bill from flying off in a breeze. Also makes a great door stop, except for the imprint it leaves on the carpet.

There is a protected slower back channel on the river that I am thinkin fish are using till the raging main channel calms down. Which won't be happening till near the end of the week. The rain is back tonight in the south canyons of the Wallowas and there is still plenty of snow in the mountains. The dams are starting to release water, including the lake dam because, well, the tubs are full! Damned global warming.

Anyway, I love fishing in high water. It is such a challenge to be able to catch fish when everyone else is saying the river is too high.
 
S
strawberry shortcake
Pulled three out of the very high water today but threw two of them back (they were exactly 8" and I would like to see them get a bit bigger). The big one decided it didn't want to land, so it turned, bit the line in two, and way it swam after jumping around in the shallow sand. It looked to be about 14 inches.

One of the little ones was a real fighter. It turned out to be a beautiful Redband Trout. You can always tell because of the creamy white tips on the belly fins. A stunning fish. I ended up having to cut the line because the little bugger had swallowed the bait.
 
troutdude
troutdude
Sounds like another great day in the neighborhood!

The one that was released with the cut line, should be perfectly fine. A fisheries biologist once told me, that an enzyme in their blood will dissolve the hook in 3 days or so.
 
H
Hawk
Great fshin'.

Have a Beautiful Weekend...

:D:D:D
:cool::cool:
 
S
strawberry shortcake
My little stretch of that river is a real lesson on how quickly a river bed can move. Within just two seasons, one section of river has moved 10 feet towards Woods Hill leaving the old section rock rubble dry, while another stretch has created a diversion dam, swampland, and water rapid heading in the other direction. The interesting thing is that it isn't high water by itself that creates these diversions. It's log jams and pileups, sometimes occurring up above a section of river that looks quite innocently and permanently held in place.

Another thing I noticed, walking down the other side of the river this last time (thinking it would be dryer - it wasn't), is that animal trails can become new side creeks and baby channels.

All these changes can and do occur in a stretch of river that local land owners have tried, over the years, to control by putting rip rap here and there when the river threatens to erode a bank and move. All that effort means nothing when something happens above the rip rap that causes the river to completely bypass all that human effort because a log/rubble pile-up upriver forced the waters into a completely new direction.

I just love that river.
 
H
Hawk
Mother Nature is very powerful & mysterious...

:D:D:D
 

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