Ever since I have been in Oregon I've considered the week before Labor Day to be the last week of Summer, and coincidentally my work historically has always closed for said week. I always go on a last ditch panicked effort to soak in the last of Summer and this year was no different.
There was a lot of options on the table this year: Cannonball it to Banff to visit a friend, running to Idaho or Montana, or sticking around and helping a friend go through a hard time in Oregon. Obviously the latter was chosen and we opted to start the week backpacking in Eastern Oregon. On the docket was a ~30 mile hike (with all the detours and side trails) with plenty of fishing in between.
We started out by driving out East from Portland and made a quick pit stop at the headwaters of a famous bass river and this consequently was our only skunking of the trip--granted we only spent 30 minutes or so trading off casting the 4wt. Regardless, it's a mighty fine river and would love to get back to explore it some more this high up.
Next stop was to meet up with two of our good friends who were also meandering around the state. Cooked a good dinner and went to bed so we were ready for the hike.
The next day started off with running a shuttle as our hike was one way. On our way to the the trailhead we stopped at a random little tailwater in the area and proceeded to land 2 small (9" and 11") rainbows in about 15 minutes on a hopper.
The rest of the day consisted of climbing up to a beautiful cirque with 2 lakes that were completely surrounded with mountain goats and rising brookies.
We caught 8-10" fish all evening and kept a few for a pre dinner snack.
Camp at the backend of the lake.
A family of Mountain Goats
The view of the two lakes as we ascended the ridge the next morning.
The next day was ~12 mile day which gave me a lot of time to think. I had already caught a good amount of fish, and I knew I still had a handful of days of sporadic fishing coming up so I needed to mix things up. Along the trail I had come across a handful of Mountain Goat hair that I grabbed to bring back to my kid. As I was walking I remembered @SteelheadBee 's Grass Fly post and I started concocting how I could try that lakeside. I wanted to tie a fly using only what I had on hand. So far, I had some mountain goat hair, a needle and (very thick) thread in my emergency kit, and eventually also came across a feather. When I got to camp, I stripped down a previously tied size 14 Royal Wulff to the bare hook and got to work. I can tie somewhat decent flies, but with no vise and no bobbin it wasn't the easiest tie and definitely wasn't the prettiest. Holding the hook with my left hand while trying to wrap with my right wasn't easy but this is what I came up with. It's basically a mountain goat dubbed body with a little feather over wing. I called it the Hail Satan. I REALLY, REALLY, wish I took a more in focus picture of it.
There was a lot of options on the table this year: Cannonball it to Banff to visit a friend, running to Idaho or Montana, or sticking around and helping a friend go through a hard time in Oregon. Obviously the latter was chosen and we opted to start the week backpacking in Eastern Oregon. On the docket was a ~30 mile hike (with all the detours and side trails) with plenty of fishing in between.
We started out by driving out East from Portland and made a quick pit stop at the headwaters of a famous bass river and this consequently was our only skunking of the trip--granted we only spent 30 minutes or so trading off casting the 4wt. Regardless, it's a mighty fine river and would love to get back to explore it some more this high up.
Next stop was to meet up with two of our good friends who were also meandering around the state. Cooked a good dinner and went to bed so we were ready for the hike.
The next day started off with running a shuttle as our hike was one way. On our way to the the trailhead we stopped at a random little tailwater in the area and proceeded to land 2 small (9" and 11") rainbows in about 15 minutes on a hopper.
The rest of the day consisted of climbing up to a beautiful cirque with 2 lakes that were completely surrounded with mountain goats and rising brookies.
We caught 8-10" fish all evening and kept a few for a pre dinner snack.
Camp at the backend of the lake.
A family of Mountain Goats
The view of the two lakes as we ascended the ridge the next morning.
The next day was ~12 mile day which gave me a lot of time to think. I had already caught a good amount of fish, and I knew I still had a handful of days of sporadic fishing coming up so I needed to mix things up. Along the trail I had come across a handful of Mountain Goat hair that I grabbed to bring back to my kid. As I was walking I remembered @SteelheadBee 's Grass Fly post and I started concocting how I could try that lakeside. I wanted to tie a fly using only what I had on hand. So far, I had some mountain goat hair, a needle and (very thick) thread in my emergency kit, and eventually also came across a feather. When I got to camp, I stripped down a previously tied size 14 Royal Wulff to the bare hook and got to work. I can tie somewhat decent flies, but with no vise and no bobbin it wasn't the easiest tie and definitely wasn't the prettiest. Holding the hook with my left hand while trying to wrap with my right wasn't easy but this is what I came up with. It's basically a mountain goat dubbed body with a little feather over wing. I called it the Hail Satan. I REALLY, REALLY, wish I took a more in focus picture of it.
