A Sunny Day on the River

It was sunny and 62 degrees on the Grande Ronde today! That's in Northern Washington State in early February! I was fishing with my sleeves rolled up. Colleen and Luna and I and two friends and their dog went down to the river to fish and relax. The puppies wore themselves out playing and eating fish guts, and I wore myself out not catching fish. Fish were caught, just not by me.
At dawn we were sitting at the bottom of the Lewiston grade waiting to rendezvous with our fellow anglers. Sitting in a roomy, old, American truck with a dog and a friend. Can't beat it. The roads were a little icy and foggy on the way there, but things had cleared by the time we reached the bottom of the canyon on the Ronde.
We saw eagles and mule deer. I really needed a day in the wild after a long week of teaching.
My friend Jamie caught these two, and three others, on a fly-rod. I tried flies briefly but didn't really have the right set up. After watching him and looking at the rig he was using I'll be going back next week with the right gear.

Steelheading is a weird obsession. You can fish all day and not catch a thing. Some days are stellar, and you actually catch a fish. Steelheading sort of falls between the end of deer and waterfowl season, before Turkey season, and around about the time you are reading seed catalogs and ordering seeds. It's a great excuse to get outside and make a day of it in the middle of winter. Sure beats the shack nasties. We should be starting our tomatoes and peppers in the next couple of weeks.

I'm back at home, the sun has set, the owls are hooting, and it's time to go.