Marty's Drift September 2004

August and September Travels (with a bit of fishing, too)

"The work that is really a man's own work is play and not work at all."
- Mark Twain, The New York Times November 26, 1905

Vacation at the Coast

It's been busy for the past three weeks. I've done more traveling since late August than I've done in the past five years. About mid-August Joyce, Yukon, Buster and I took a week of vacation at our beach house near Lincoln City. It was great to escape the 90 + degree heat of Portland and enjoy a few cool, misty days on the coast.

We took our 5-weight fly rods and sea-run cutthroat patterns with every intention of doing some fishing. However, when we got to the stream we found so many ripe blackberries we couldn't resist. We filled bowls, buckets and pails with the sweet fruit. Then we headed home to wash and cook and freeze them and turn them into jam and waffle syrup. Yes, I'm picking seeds out of my teeth after every pancake or waffle breakfast, but what sweet, delicious topping.

A few days on the Deschutes

About August 27 Damian Wilmont came to Oregon from Wisconsin for a visit. Damian is a fishing guide in Superior, Wisconsin, and he rows a ClackaCraft 16' Low Profile. He wanted to do some trout and steelhead fishing on the Deschutes River. Our intrepid leader, Bruce conveniently keeps a camp trailer at Maupin, on the banks of the Deschutes. That became the headquarters for Bruce, Damian and me for three days. On Saturday we floated from Beavertail to Macks Canyon. Early in the day we fished for steelhead. Although we worked some good runs, we didn't move any fish.

As the day progressed and sun hit the water, we put away our heavy gear and picked up our 5-weight trout rods. While the trout fishing wasn't red hot, we all caught enough to keep us happy.

Bruce had some business to take care of on Sunday, so Damian and I fished with John Hazel from Deschutes Angler Fly Shop. John has been guiding on the Deschutes for over 20 years, and he knows the water well. John is also an accomplished two-hand rod fly caster and he included casting lessons for us. After an hour or two of coaching from John, Damian and I both were doing a respectable job of getting our flies into the fishing zone. It was a day of guided fishing that I greatly enjoyed and benefited from. I highly recommend John or one of his guides. Contact him at (541) 395-0995.

Bruce got back Sunday night and Matt and Nicole Paulson also arrived. Matt is the owner of the shop where Damian works. Monday morning I headed home while Bruce, Damian, Matt, and Nicole headed for the river. Their steelhead luck changed this day. Three were hooked and one landed. It was a six-pound hatchery steelhead, and they tell me it was good right off the Bar-B-Q grill. We apologize to all the "catch & release" anglers, but we can't allow those hatchery fish to dilute the wild fish gene pool.

The Ennis, Montana Fly Fishing Festival

The Festival began on September 1. When Bruce and I arrived, the Festival was in full swing--seminars, casting and fly tying demonstrations, slide programs, lectures, FOOD (everywhere) and lots of artwork. The entire town was turned out to show all visitors a great time. The main street of town was lined with drift boats on display. ClackaCraft was proud to be the boat chosen for the Festival's main raffle item in their fund raiser for fish improvement projects.

Friday night there was a wonderful banquet at the Ennis Homestead, a beautiful resort in the heart of Ennis. On Saturday evening we fished for a couple of hours on Ennis Lake. Our host was Ray Plante, one of the most enthusiastic anglers I've ever met. Fish dimpled the surface of the lake, but most were beyond casting range. Ray landed a nice brown, and I had a solid pull, minus the solid hook-up.

Sunday morning found us among a group bound to float the Bear Trap Canyon on the Madison River. There are two or three sets of big rapids in the canyon, so we were in whitewater rafts. Our group consisted of Eric Shores, Madison River guide, Gary Beebe, Wyoming and Idaho guide and our boat dealer in Victor, Idaho, Ray Plante, Susan Ramares who works for BLM, Bruce, and me.

"The Kitchen Sink" is the big rapids in the Bear Trap. It is formidable. Ray decided he preferred to run the rapids without a passenger in his raft, so I walked around and shot photos of everyone going through. Before we arrived at the rapids we had all been catching some nice trout. We got both browns and rainbows. Dry flies provided good action and so did a rig set up with two nymphs and a strike indicator. Before we reached the take-out some 20 + inch fish had been landed.

The Jackson Hole One Fly

For the past four or five years ClackaCraft has had a team in the Jackson Hole One Fly. The One Fly is a great event that raises money to fund river and fish restoration projects. You can take a look at all of the projects that have been taken on by going to the One Fly web site at www.jhonefly.org.

The first day of the competition I fished the South Fork of the Snake below Palisades dam. My guide was Tim Trafton, and he worked hard to get us some fish. My fly choice was a white streamer that was tied by Scott Sanchez. I had some nice fish strike the fly, but I was only able to land one, an 18 inch brown.

On Sunday I floated on the Snake from Moose to Wilson. Jim Reetz from Jack Dennis Outdoors was the guide on this float. We were hoping to see a good afternoon hatch, but it only happened sporadically. My choice of fly pattern was pretty well off base too. I picked a medium size rubber leg dry fly and the fish didn't really like it. I got a lot of refusals. My boat partner, Dan Plummer, used a Parachute Adams and piled up over 300 points.

Team ClackaCraft placed 35th out of 40, one or two places better than last year. Although we would like to have placed higher, the important thing is to support an event that increases awareness of the resource and works to protect it. Everyone who works in the sport fishing industry depends on a healthy resource.

Give Marty a call at: (503) 655-9532

You can also call Idaho Falls at (800) 394-1345.