Summer Time

It's been some time since I've been fishing. I guess I haven't made it out for any serious time since Spring Break. That change this week as I finished up the term and had my grading in by Thursday morning. This gave me time to spend a couple days camping and fishing. There was one great day of fishing and two great days being outside. Here are some pictures.

Happy Memorial Day

One week..... Where to go? Gold Lake? The Metolius? Hike-in lake? The Deschutes? Hmmm....

Yellowstone Fish Management Plan

Slowly Yellowstone is beginning to put more and more effort into protecting native fish. Not sure Yellowstone Lake will ever be the same again since there doesn't seem to be a way to eradicate the Lake Trout. I do think they need to put lots of effort into keeping their population in check and maybe someday we'll find a good solution (or better yet Mother Nature will).

http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/11046.htm


One more week of classes and one review session then I'm free for the summer (well, until I teach). I think some fishing is in order as it has been a long Spring with little time on the water.

Steel

Today was a good day. I caught some fish and enjoyed one of my favorite places in Oregon. It's a race with steelhead between me and them to see if I can get my camera out before they revive. So, I only took a picture of one. I also took a picture of a steelhead that was hanging around with me. He decided to take up the spot of the bigger fish I caught vacated. He was pretty ragged, so I don't think I was helping natural selection but I think I made his day.

Small Stream Getaway

Last winter I made it out to fish for steelhead four times and caught one fish and lost another. I thought this was a pretty good record, especially since I caught one my first time out. I tried my hand at summer steelhead only to lose several fish hooked. Then, this winter I have struggled and only had fish on for about 5 seconds. I don’t view fishing for steelhead the same way as trout fishing. I can have a great day trout fishing and not even come close to catching a fish, but for steelhead it’s a different story. The crowds wear on me and there are no hatches to match.
I feel different about small coastal streams where the crowds are nonexistent and the fish (the few there are) are wild. Any time you combine small creeks with few people and big fish there’s a good chance I am going to love it. So, I headed to this coastal stream in search of steelhead and better yet solitude. Luckily, I found both. After managing to spook a few fish in the clear water I hooked into a nice male. At first he was happy running upstream and so was I since this was easy to control and I figured this would tire him out. This wasn’t his plan though and he bolted downstream. I “sprinted” down after him treading water and trying not to fall. He was headed straight for a downed tree. I figured this was the end but ducked under the tree where there was a big enough gap between tree and water. The run had stopped and I feared that I was hung up on the tree. Then he bolted straight downstream. With the reel screaming and me trying to chase after him I prayed that this would be the one to end the drought. After such a long run I could see he was tired and I pulled him in and tailed him. My first native steelhead! I wanted a picture. Of course this meant the camera didn’t want to work. By the time I had the camera ready so was my fish. I let him go without a picture in hopes that in a couple winters I might be able catch one of offspring. I felt satisfied and this gives me an excuse to go again.

Fishing Trends

Found this by way of Midcurrent this morning. It has the trends from 1991-2006 in fishing. Things I noticed:
-Less people are fishing today than they did in 1991 (somewhat surprised)
-Saltwater fishing increased in popularity until 2001 (no surprise there)
-People in Maine, PA and Oregon like to fish for trout. Guess that's why I've lived in all of those states.

The moral of the story to me is that we need to get more people out fishing. I hate finding a crowded river, but if people don't like to fish how can we expect them to protect the fish?

http://library.fws.gov/Pubs/nat-survey2006-trends-fishing-hunting-1991-2006-focus-on-species.pdf

Help Protect the Yellowstone Cutthroat

Yellowstone National Park is proposing increased efforts to remove non-native species and restoring native species. I have been fortunate to visit Yellowstone the last two years and I feel that it is truly special place due to the native cutthroat trout that swim in its waters. Take a moment to make a comment on the proposal and let them know what you think.

Comment here:

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=111&projectID=30504&documentID=37967