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  1. RRSmith

    Part-Time, Volunteer, or other opportunities?

    If you're interested in doing something in the area of natural resource management, maybe look into some of the watershed councils around the Portland area. On the coast near Lincoln City, we have the MidCoast and the Nestucca, Neskowin and Sand Lake Watershed Councils. Watershed councils tend...
  2. RRSmith

    Upper Klamath Trib

    We are doing some traveling to visit family and ended up back in my old Northern California stomping grounds for the Thanksgiving holiday. Now is the time for fall steelhead and my local go-to Klamath River tributary was open for business. I only brought my 6 weight floating/bobber setup along...
  3. RRSmith

    Got any bird pics?

    Fabulous images Steve - I can totally appreciate what you went through trying to capture them - well done!
  4. RRSmith

    Chinook observed in Klamath River tributary above Iron Gate

    That's not unheard of in California as well - especially when it comes to the large diversions in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys.
  5. RRSmith

    Chinook observed in Klamath River tributary above Iron Gate

    The perceived rapid recolonization of the Upper Klamath Basin has caught everyone by surprise. I'm not sure who's responsible for the screens but most of us Oregonians know that ODFW has gone through some severe budget cuts. Perhaps they already have dollars allocated or encumbered. The water...
  6. RRSmith

    Got any bird pics?

    Condors are technically non migratory but that doesn't mean they don't move around some in search of food. I do think some persistence and luck is involved. Maybe early or later in the day near known roosts would be a good place to start.
  7. RRSmith

    Still water Steelheading...

    I am familiar with these lagoons as two of them were under ownership of the outfit I worked for and part of my management area for a portion of my career. While steelhead have been documented in three of them, only one has a consistent annual run. I never targeted steelhead but used to...
  8. RRSmith

    Devils Lake

    All of the cutthroat in the lake are wild - the only stocked fish are adipose clipped rainbows. As far as whether or not these fish spend time in the lake or the ocean, I suspect it's both. I maybe fish Devils Lake a handful of times a year - typically in the spring and early summer and I have...
  9. RRSmith

    Got any bird pics?

    Interesting - are the broods with the hens? Adult (after hatch year) drakes should be starting to color up. Usually they are the first to arrive on the wintering grounds but that's typically earlier in the fall and much further south. They go through their summer molt on large open wetlands...
  10. RRSmith

    Got any bird pics?

    The one bird looks to me like an young of the year GWFG. The bill coloration, lack of white plumage at the base are both characteristics of immature birds - I've handled quite a few over the years. There's also a fair amount of variation in size and plumage coloration depending on which...
  11. RRSmith

    What's Catching You Fish?

    I didn't actually tie this fly - it was in an assortment I got about 10 years ago from Jeffrey Delia when I first started trying to figure out how to catch Northern California/Southern Oregon SRC's. Jeffrey calls this fly the brown wonder worm. It's supposed to imitate a polychaete and it...
  12. RRSmith

    Stuff in the Sky

    Just a crummy iPhone image as there was no point in breaking out the dslr for longer exposures. It could have been a good show.
  13. RRSmith

    Northern Lights right now

    It's rivaling May 2024 - my cousin in Prescott, Arizona is even able to see them right now. We are screwed by overcast on the Oregon Coast - at least where I am.
  14. RRSmith

    Stuff in the Sky

    Wow! Huge aurora and geomagnetic event underway. We just had impact from a CME launched by a solar flare yesterday. Bz is down to -50 nT, which rivals the May 2024 event. My daughter in Klamath Falls just sent this.
  15. RRSmith

    Stuff in the Sky

    There is a mid latitude aurora is sparking this evening. My son in law is hunting in NW Colorado and sent this iPhone image. We are screwed here on the Oregon Coast.
  16. RRSmith

    Devils Lake

    I went back to the spot on Sunday and the area was full of coho waking and rolling. I was a little under-gunned with 4 and 5 weight cutthroat gear and was too lazy to motor back to the house to get my salmon stuff so I flailed at them with floating line and a size 10 Ally's shrimp (per Lance...
  17. RRSmith

    NFR Got any mammal pictures

    I ran into the local neighborhood stud muffin on this morning's dawg walk.
  18. RRSmith

    Devils Lake

    I haven't seen any while I have been out fishing (which is infrequent). I once saw a group porpoising out in front of the dock below the house which I thought was pretty cool. My boat mechanic grew up here and he says there's a small but dedicated group of old timers that target them...
  19. RRSmith

    Devils Lake

    Yesterday I got blown out of plan A which was tidewater fishing for salmon so plan B was to splash the scow and stay local at Devils Lake on the Oregon Coast. I am not concerned about hotspotting as in November, you may very well be the only boat on the lake (and I was). Coastal cutthroat are...
  20. RRSmith

    Clouds

    Last Saturday, SPC issued a marginal risk for waterspouts and brief tornadoes along the Oregon Coast. We made a couple of trips to the beach to watch some cells make landfall but never did see anything that resembled a rotating storm. Fun weather though with lots of thunder and lightning.
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