S
Socaaron
So it started OFF as an idea and a desire that gradually grew into a plan. The idea came from "Fishing in Oregon". You probably already own this wonderful bible of lakes, rivers, and streams, but if you don't I highly recommend picking it up. I've had one in my possession since I was 8 and even though the most current edition is 9 years out of date it is a very handy book and a must have.
One night while perusing this book looking for a future fishing trip I found it, the perfect water, location, and conditions for some trophy bows and browns. But the time wasn't right the book told me to wait. I waited 3 months eagerly anticipating. During this time the rest of the plan came together. And as with any fishing trip there were some snags, actually a lot of snags before we could get under way. I wont bore you with the details but long story short, A buddy was invited, gear was purchased, a car and kayak were rented and OFF we went. We left Portland a little after 11pm and 4 1/2hrs later arrived at our destination. Kimball State park. A short few hrs in the car before first light were spent unsuccessfully trying to get some sleep. I was too excited and uncomfortable, sleep would not come. Fast forward and the kayak is packed and launched and we drift down this languid beautiful river. But this beautiful clear water reveals one problem...fish. Where the heck are they. We see no sign of them on our float, no fish rising to take flies, no fish scurrying away from our shadow, no fish jumping. We stop a few times at some likely water to no avail. And then it happens, Splash! A more welcome sight could not have been seen when 20yrds off our starboard side this beckoning trout leaps. I dig my paddle in to hold us steady as my buddy throws multiple casts towards the bank where the fishy was spotted. He has no luck so I take my turn. First cast is out and almost to the boat a monster rises with his mouth open to inhale my lure, but then he spots us and away he goes. But we've done it we've found some fish. We hurriedly beach the kayak and start bank fishing. My buddy goes upstream to try and work the waters where we found the first fish, I decide to work this lovely back eddy near our landing spot. I get one decent sized guy chasing my lure in but not much else, and then I spot them, the one's the book foretold, the monsters. But these big browns did not get big by being dumb. I even tried laying in the grass on my belly to hide from them but browns are wily and would not be deceived. By now the fish are more active and periodic leaps give away their location. I work one likely area and on my second cast it's fish on! My first Wood brown and he's a decent 14-15in 2-3 pounder. A few more casts lands me his big brother(the shirtless pic). We spend the rest of the morning working up and down the area, more big guys are spotted by no fish are caught. We head back to set up camp and prepare for the evening bite. For the evening we move downriver to the day use area. Beautiful deep undercut banks, riffle-backs, side eddies, logs jams with pools, a fly fisherman's wet(get it) dream. But alas we weren't fly fishing(i'm working on learning) and only managed to pull 2 resident browns out 12-14in. We decided for the next morning to hike into our "honey hole" due to how tiring paddling back upstream had been the day before. We miss the spot by a few hundred yards but still find some very fishy water and I pull another 2 nice resident browns out and miss 2 other hook sets. But back to the hole we go. For today I decided to run a brown trout colored lure and boy oh boy did it pay OFF. Every few casts it was Fish on! Including my new record 6-8lber. I ended up with 12 for the morning before the fish got tired of us and the bite was off.
While we didn't manage to catch one of the monster 20lbers(my buddy didn't even get a fish) we had a fun trip. All fish were released unharmed after a quick photo, and as you can see one fish even attempted a open mouth kiss(never on the first date geez!). If you paid attention you know where we went, and I'll definitely be going back next years, my only regret is that due to uncontrollable circumstances the trip happened during the same days as the Trillium fish off but I did get some trophys of my own! Sorry for the mini novel but just wanted to share and concise was hard!
One night while perusing this book looking for a future fishing trip I found it, the perfect water, location, and conditions for some trophy bows and browns. But the time wasn't right the book told me to wait. I waited 3 months eagerly anticipating. During this time the rest of the plan came together. And as with any fishing trip there were some snags, actually a lot of snags before we could get under way. I wont bore you with the details but long story short, A buddy was invited, gear was purchased, a car and kayak were rented and OFF we went. We left Portland a little after 11pm and 4 1/2hrs later arrived at our destination. Kimball State park. A short few hrs in the car before first light were spent unsuccessfully trying to get some sleep. I was too excited and uncomfortable, sleep would not come. Fast forward and the kayak is packed and launched and we drift down this languid beautiful river. But this beautiful clear water reveals one problem...fish. Where the heck are they. We see no sign of them on our float, no fish rising to take flies, no fish scurrying away from our shadow, no fish jumping. We stop a few times at some likely water to no avail. And then it happens, Splash! A more welcome sight could not have been seen when 20yrds off our starboard side this beckoning trout leaps. I dig my paddle in to hold us steady as my buddy throws multiple casts towards the bank where the fishy was spotted. He has no luck so I take my turn. First cast is out and almost to the boat a monster rises with his mouth open to inhale my lure, but then he spots us and away he goes. But we've done it we've found some fish. We hurriedly beach the kayak and start bank fishing. My buddy goes upstream to try and work the waters where we found the first fish, I decide to work this lovely back eddy near our landing spot. I get one decent sized guy chasing my lure in but not much else, and then I spot them, the one's the book foretold, the monsters. But these big browns did not get big by being dumb. I even tried laying in the grass on my belly to hide from them but browns are wily and would not be deceived. By now the fish are more active and periodic leaps give away their location. I work one likely area and on my second cast it's fish on! My first Wood brown and he's a decent 14-15in 2-3 pounder. A few more casts lands me his big brother(the shirtless pic). We spend the rest of the morning working up and down the area, more big guys are spotted by no fish are caught. We head back to set up camp and prepare for the evening bite. For the evening we move downriver to the day use area. Beautiful deep undercut banks, riffle-backs, side eddies, logs jams with pools, a fly fisherman's wet(get it) dream. But alas we weren't fly fishing(i'm working on learning) and only managed to pull 2 resident browns out 12-14in. We decided for the next morning to hike into our "honey hole" due to how tiring paddling back upstream had been the day before. We miss the spot by a few hundred yards but still find some very fishy water and I pull another 2 nice resident browns out and miss 2 other hook sets. But back to the hole we go. For today I decided to run a brown trout colored lure and boy oh boy did it pay OFF. Every few casts it was Fish on! Including my new record 6-8lber. I ended up with 12 for the morning before the fish got tired of us and the bite was off.
While we didn't manage to catch one of the monster 20lbers(my buddy didn't even get a fish) we had a fun trip. All fish were released unharmed after a quick photo, and as you can see one fish even attempted a open mouth kiss(never on the first date geez!). If you paid attention you know where we went, and I'll definitely be going back next years, my only regret is that due to uncontrollable circumstances the trip happened during the same days as the Trillium fish off but I did get some trophys of my own! Sorry for the mini novel but just wanted to share and concise was hard!
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