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09/06/09

fly fishing oregon:

harriet lake with the young of the youngs.

 

spent the last two nights camping out with my buddy harold and his family up at harriet lake in oregon. harriet is stocked with rainbow trout and also has a population of brown trout. it is a very popular lake for conventional gear fishermen. because the lake had just been stocked a couple of days prior to us going up there, and because of the impending labor day weekend the lake was packed with guys mostly chucking power baits. we fished the lake in float tubes using intermediate lines and wooley buggers. i fished the beulah 4/5 switch lined up with a 7wt. intermediate cortland camo line.  this combination turned out to be a fantastic float tube outfit for trout. the fly of choice for me was the carey special. i also got some fish on seal buggers.

 

 

harriet lake was as close to combat fishing as i care to ever get. casting was sometimes a little tricky as you had to be aware of other guys in float tubes and pontoons as well as boats and a bank lined with fishermen. at times it was like being in a no holds barred fishing war zone as you would hear the plunk of lead hitting the water as close as three feet away from you. sometimes you'd make a long cast and as soon as your fly landed in the water some dude on the bank would cast his lead right over your line.

 

 

despite the madness of the kamakazee style of fishing that takes place up there, we did get quite a few rainbows (some pretty big) and browns. not exactly my scene. those who know me may be amazed that i even fished it, but i’ll try anything once.  i gotta say, it was fun to get out with harold and his boys casey (17) and ben (14). i don’t get to fish with them that often and we had a blast horsing around and fishing. we joked about the “trout berry” hatch, the term we gave to the fluorescent pink, chartreuse and yellow powerbait balls floating around in the water that fell off of the gear fishermen’s lines. i saw how much casey’s cast had improved (like father like son i guess) and the boys also got some good fish which made it worth while for me. even hayley, harold’s wife, caught a trout throwing a wooley bugger from shore with a spinning rod. the people there were nice and it was a good family atmosphere all around. all in all apparently a better time than watching the ducks play boise state which sounded like a game this uo alum was better off not watching.

 

 

we found an awesome campsite and camped for two nights right next to a fast running section of the upper clackamas. we ate great food and had some relaxing nights sleeping to the sound of the river flowing. i taught benny and casey the first and second rule of camping in the woods. rule number one: always go into the woods with a camp buddy, preferably one that you can run faster than. rule number two: if you can’t run faster than your camp buddy be sure to bring a big stick to whack your buddy with at the first sign of danger to at least give yourself a sporting chance.

 

 

today we tried to head out to the wilson river for some sea run cuts but a front came in the night before and the weather turned out to be a bit over the top for these two old guys so we decided to turn around and take a day off. we’ll give it a go again tomorrow if the front clears, which it should. stay tuned all. my internet opportunities up here are spotty at best, but i’ll continue to update as much as i can. until then here are some photos from a couple of days on harriet.

 

benny displays his nice rainbow while clay get's a pretty little brownie.

 

ben got the fish of the trip and became known by name by many of the campers at harriet.

 

little guy.

 


the carey special clay's style.

 

harold get's a nice brownie at the proverbial twilights last gleaming.

 

this guy fell for an olive seal bugger.

 

casey boy with a brownie and clay with a chunky bow.  look at how rip this kid is... not the one on the right (to clear up any confusion there may have been).

 

another cute little brownie.

 

seal buggered brownie.  look at the leopard spots... awesome.

 

another chunky monkey.  benny and casey boy, i had a blast camping and fishing with you guys.  as always with uncle clay... good times.

 

clay.


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