About a Year Late, but...

Heading West.

I've finally had a moment to put up some pics from my trip to Oregon. I went for nine days and it was absolutely amazing. I hooked a fish my first hour of fishing, but that was it for steelhead.

I started on the Deschutes and stopped in Maupin at the Deschutes Angler. John and Amy Hazel, as well as Bruce Berry, the Oregon rep for Montana Fly and Beulah Fly Rods, were absolutely wonderful to me and gave me more detailed information than I would have ever expected. Bruce said I should burn that map that John made for me, but I kinda wanted him to autograph it! I fished up and down the Deschutes for three days. There were a few people out, but it was easy to get in wherever I wanted. The weather was pretty pleasant--about 50 with some rain, but the water temperature was about a million degrees warmer than at home.

First afternoon on the Deschutes.

The road goes down river right and the railroad on river left. Supposedly, two competing railraods built on opposite sides of the river and the one who lost had theirs turned into the BLM road. I'm not used to Double Speys, so I had to work pretty hard on my casting, but that was really a good thing. I had never fished without a sink tip either--it's a whole new game with a floating line.

Dinner for one.

A beautiful Deschutes run. Lots of deer, but no tugs.

The river was so beautiful and there were so many colors--it was a nice change from Hailey, which is already pretty wintery. At the run above, I saw about ten whitetails swim across the river--I've never seen that in my life. I would have bet money I was going to catch a fish here, but I only lost a fly on a rock. I guess that's steelheading.

Can't beat a first cast trout.

One afternoon, I was swinging through a run and there were trout going crazy everywhere. I finally had to stop and pull out a trout rod and caught a fish on my first cast. I had to beat the trout and whiteys off my standard ParaWullf with Zebra Midge dropper. It's amazing how a few trout can lift your spirits on a slow day.

Part Two is coming soon...

A Little Thanksgiving Reading...

I've been back from my steelhead trip to Oregon for a week now, but I haven't even unpacked the car! I've been SO busy with work, work, and work (there are actually three types of employment at the moment) I don't think I've even downloaded pics yet.

Anyhoo, check out an awesome story by Peyton Baker on Blood Knot. It's a familiar story for a lot of ladies...

I hope to be back to normal after the holiday week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oregon Trail

I'm heading to Oregon for 9 days of steelheading on Monday morning. I'm just rocking it by myself--camping in the car and keeping warm with a bottle of scotch. Last night I was reading about flies and I got so excited I was a little nauseous! I have no idea what I'm doing--I just had images of me walking in to the first shop in starched Orvis clothes, asking, "Excuse me, but is there anyone who can teach me how to Shadow Cast?" I guess it's not that bad--I have a pretty bomber Snap-T and an acceptable Double Spey, but the learning curve is pretty steep. My goal is to catch one fish--anything else will be icing on the cake. This will be a great learning experience and a grand adventure. I can't wait to see what I find...

If you haven't yet, check out the new issue of Blood Knot!

Blood Knot--Issue 3!

Issue 3 of Blood Knot is out and is representin' the ladies. April Vokey's on the cover, Casting for Recovery is featured, a holiday song from Marcy Stone, and a letter to Santa from yours truly. Check it out here!

Fly-tying Binge

In the last two weeks, Paddy and I have managed to blow $900 on fly-tying materials. That's $900 of guide prices--seriously. There are so many new kins of shiny dubbing to get stuck in the carpet now--I can barely contain myself.

Yesterday, we received our Hareline order and I finally got a new vise (my Renzetti has been rubber banded together for two years). I went for Griffin's Montana Mongoose. I had heard bomber things about it and I was not disappointed when I opened the box. I couldn't figure out why there was a pistol on the table when I got home, but my vise s so heavy duty it came in a gun box. It came with a pedestal and c-clamp and has one of the best roataries I've seen in a long time. The clamp to tighten hooks in is bomber and super fast to use. That will be super handy tying all of the 30 dozen zebra midges I'll look forward to this winter.







I'm really looking forward to tying a few steelhead flies tonight. I'm heading to Oregon on November 8 and I've already had two steelhead dreams. Last night, Brian O'Keefe guided me into a nice wild hen on the Deschutes.


My life is messed up.

Some Sweet, Sweet Steelhead Action

Paddy and I went up to Salmon last week to swing for some steelies. Paddy popped two (on nymphs--shame) and there were over 100 people swinging in a ten-mile area. WTF! I was really excited to see that many double-handers, though. I also managed to get a Green Butt Skunk all the way into my thumb--super fun. The fish were super hot--it was an awesome trip.



I'm so excited about heading to Oregon I can barely contain myself! Only two weeks...

Blood Knot

I'm super excited to say that there's going to be some sweet, sweet Blood Knot action soon! Check out our website at www.bloodknot.net.

And...I hope to pop a steelhead on Friday. I can't believe it's already that time of year!