Category: Nature

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Glad It’s over … nearly

Blackbirds, Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge

This is the 60th time this year we’ve shared our week.

The blog serves as a reference point in our lives. What we did last week gets translated into words, images, and an occasional video.

Smoke from Oregon’s forest fires inundated the area making it impossible to do anything outside.

As the year comes to a close it would be easy to focus on the dumpster fire that was 2020 … maybe naively think 2021 is going to be any better.

But a blog allows us a look back at directions we took and points we hit.

 

Fort Rock

Last January started with a typical Central Oregon mid-winter thaw. This presented an opportunity to explore where just a few weeks before the roads were snowed in and would be again the following week.

By April we were in the clutches of “first wave” quarantine and social distancing. We discovered that fewer people working meant crowds in the forests and on river banks. Thus we had to look for alternatives.

Time was blocked out visiting via Zoom, experimenting with recipes and creating new rituals.  Cocktail hour became a new favorite. We spent time sipping and testing different whiskeys.

As Spring shifted into summer we discovered new spots to spend a day. Explorations of different roads around Summer Lake, Fort Rock and the high desert forested edges occupied our day trips.

 

We upgraded our camera kit this year, adding a lens sized for wildlife photography.

The summer and fall got filled with days stalking feathered critters in addition to the usual finned variety.

 

Kokanee

A blog by design is retrospective, focused on what happened.

We actually got in quite a few great adventures while perfecting our social distancing skills. That said it will be nice to see the end of this year.

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At the Tying Bench

 

Winter’s cold arrived this week. Coupled with the Governor’s “stay at home” request, our activities cooled as well.

We don’t stop fishing in the winter,  just shift tactics. Some streams open all year, and of course fish don’t hibernate.

One thing that does pick up is activity at the tying bench.

Flyfishing, like most hobbies, offers lots of distractions to occupy time and resources, Some more essential than others. Fly tying is one of these side ventures.

Winter, or off season, at the bench serves two functions. First it replenishes boxes depleted by summer’s excursions . There are also some very different types of flies used in the cold months.

The art of dry dropper,  wet fly, or Euro nymphing techniques is, for us, just in the formative stage, as are any patterns used in those tactics. It’s helpful to be able to sit down at the bench, work out different artificial based on what we see on the river.

There is also a cathartic and meditative side of attaching bits of feather, fur and tinsel to bends of wire.

Like standing in the middle of a stream … fly tying has its own sort of Zen.

With shortened days … that’s a good thing.

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A Quiet Day

 

This week, with constant din on social media and political static on email we thought it would be good to take a break. Phones were turned off and we headed to a favorite stream bank.

The days are cooler but not cold and there is the threat of ‘first snow’ in the forecast. But the Crooked River offered a quiet pause before dropping back into the media storm.

The turmoil surrounding us right now will ease. There is a new challenge ahead, but for now we’ll stay safe and hunker down against the storm.

We hope you’re able to do the same.  As for next week, well we plan on going back out into the world … just not any place with lots of people.

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Morning Light

This week we headed back to Odell Lake. We made it there at first light and were able to get some amazing images . . .

 

There were lots of eagles flying about. But fewer Kokanee in the creek, so it must be at the end of the spawn.

The campground was shuttered, so we had it to ourselves.

This morning we were mostly focused on the ducks as they landed, took flight and just paddled around. A calm day left the lake with a mirror surface.

 

We are starting to get familiar with the new camera kit, but there is still a learning curve with the system.

I hope the snows hold off for another week.

We had such a great time hiking along the edge of the lake, we may try to make it back again.

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Kokanee Adventures

Signs of fall are in the air … cool, crisp temperatures and autumn color.

Leaves aren’t the only changing color. Landlocked salmon, Kokanee, are a blazing red as they start to spawn.

Oregon’s Trapper Creek, feeding Odell Lake. is one spawning site that attracts scores of Bald Eagles feasting on vunerable salmon.

Not too far north, as the eagle flies, is Wickiup Reservoir, which also has a population of Kokanee. We try to get to at least one of these two places every year just for the spawning event.