Tag: Crooked River

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Tight-line Dead Drift

For a few years now we’ve been dabbling with the ‘Euro-nymphing’ flyfishing technique. About this time last year we got some formal instruction from Mary Ann Dozer. Then this week we finally broke down and purchased a dedicated euro-nymph rod.

I found an Orvis ten foot three weight that cost less than two hundred dollars. It arrived this week, so we took it out for a test cast on the Crooked River.

Euro, or tight line nymphing uses a two fly rig with weighted wet flies or split shot. As the name implies this is fished with the line kept taut through the arch of the drift.

The day was warm, for mid-February, and sunny. We hooked up to several fish and caught a couple of decent ones. There is an old adage which says, “a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.”

Well … this was a GREAT day on the river.

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Cup of Camp Coffee

Life in Central Oregon affords us the luxury of day trips to a large selection of scenic places. Occasionally we’ll hit a pub or restaurant, but more often these trips are accompanied by a packed lunch and sometimes dinner.

The one constant in all our adventures is a cuppa camp coffee … or two.  Sometimes we cook a meal but regardless the size of the offering we always put the kettle on the stove.

 

We’ve had the same picnic kit for nearly 40 years. At it’s heart is an old  “Frostline kit” with a small nylon utensil bag both gifts from Jack’s older sister. In here is a small ‘billy’ can, tea pot, two bowls, a couple sets of eating utensils, a sharp knife and a white gas stove.

Gear has gotten upgraded over the years. We still have a vintage Svea 123 Bronze stove, but our current cooker is MSR’s PocketRocket canister stove, it is a much quicker set up. Yeah, there is a S-bucks on every corner but our steamy hot mug served up with a view is unlike anything you find outside a chain latte store’s window, It is hard to equal.

The go to recipe on these cool winter outings is equal portions cocoa mix and Trader Joe’s instant coffee stirred into a mug of water fresh off the boil.

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Back on the Crooked

November is turning into a really great month, weather wise. We’ve had sun and mild day temperatures for the last few weeks. Mornings are frosty but by 10 am the sun has taken the chill off.

This week we headed out to an old favorite, the Crooked River, to do some fishing and take some photos of the canyon in fall. Had the place to ourselves, set up the camp chairs and really enjoyed the day.

Fishing was good even got into an afternoon dry fly session. As you can tell from the post the canyon was very picturesque.

The other activity was to put up a ‘Flybrary Project’ card.

You likely saw the post on Instagram @jstv. Essentially this is a fly sharing project to encourage people to share their pastime. You can check it out at www.flybraryproject.com and if you are interested, catch an episode of ‘huge flyfisherman’ on YouTube, it’s hilarious.

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Caddis hatch on the Crooked

First summerlike day and we headed to the Crooked River. It started as a Euro Nymphing practice session. The river was kind of high and turbid so we didn’t really expect much action. But the cooler was full, the kindles loaded up … so we were ready for anything.

As I was rigging up the nymph leaders, I noticed that JQ was taking a great deal of interest in a juniper near the stream’s edge. There was a Black Caddis Hatch and the tree’s branches were alive with the tent winged bugs.

Didn’t see much surface feeding, so I continued with the wet fly rig. This was moderately successful. But what got my attention was all the rises just downstream.

I headed back to the car and got out a dry fly rig. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching six to ten inch Red Band Trout.

 

 

 

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Learning a Polish fishing technique

For a flyfisher little compares to plying dry fly to stream. A moment where a fish breaks the surface, hook is set and a flash of silver proceeds your line going taut. Most of us are on the river for that experience.

However, there is a great deal of time when no bugs skitter across the water. The fish are, as any seasoned angler will tell you, always feeding. It’s just most of the time that is done below the surface.

You can enjoy a good book when there is no hatch. Or, you can employ a wet fly technique of which there are many. The current method we are attempting is “Czech Nymphing.”

“… The fly line is hanging under the tip of the rod and its end often does not even touch the water. “

–Blue Quill Angler

The origin of this style of fishing varies, but we kind of like the story about a Polish fisherman who stunned the 1989 World Flyfishing Championship with a very different style of fishing and unique hand tied flies.The beaten Czech team came back in subsequent years and “owned” the technique by basically being better marketers than the Poles.

This week we attended a ‘how-to’ clinic on the Crooked River. Organized by Sunriver Anglers the morning’s lesson was guided by Mary Ann Dozer an accomplished Euro Nympher, fishing guide and a master casting instructor. We had a blast!

Many fish were hooked. A dozen were actually ‘caught,’ and our education in short line nymphing has started. Along with how to manage line, rod and flies, we also got great pointers on casting, as well as how to read the water.

The Crooked’s boulder strewn bottom is readable from the surface. As water roils around or flows over structures in the river you can get an idea of sub-surface formation. With that information you can find the best place to toss (cast) your rig.

This river has long been a favorite place to park our van and fish the tail waters of Bowman dam. The river is known for its Redband Trout population (a subspecies of Rainbow trout). There are a fair number of fish in this river, though most are smaller sized. That said, it’s a much friendlier wade than the Lower Deschutes. Which was particularly true on this day.