Marty's Drift July 2007

July 2007

The month of June brought some interesting activities for me this year. I started the month hiking in the Salmonberry River. The landscape of the Salmonberry is changing due to increased timber harvest. The North Fork of the Salmonberry is especially being hard hit. Private timberland owners have done some devastating cutting along the stream. The North Fork has been the most highly productive part of the Salmonberry watershed for its wild winter steelhead. Now that much of the North Fork has no riparian shade, I expect the water temperatures to rise and the habitat to become inhospitable for juvenile steelhead. This most likely will result in fewer adult steelhead. It’s another example of how our wild steelhead are being pushed closer to extinction.

In early June a group of us placed HOBO Temps in the Salmonberry. They will monitor the summertime water temperatures. From 1993 through 1997 and again in 2004 we collected water temperature data as a part of our STEP (Salmon Trout Enhancement Project) for Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. Our data this year will be compared to the baseline data we collected previously. I’m quite sure it will show high water temperatures, and perhaps a violation of the Clean Water Act.

On June 8, 9, and 10 I was at the McKenzie Angler (www.mckenzieangler.com) doing boat demos. In the three days about 10 people test rowed the boats on the McKenzie River. Saturday, even though there was a steady drizzle all day, we had a nice Bar-B-Q.

Later in June I was able to do some spring Chinook and summer steelhead fishing on the Nestucca River. On June 13 th Joyce and I loaded Buster and Yukon into the boat and started off from First Bridge. My plan was to fish with divers and bait, but there was so much algae in the water that method was impossible. Instead we got out our trout rods and decided we would fish for native cutthroat.

There weren’t a lot of cutts around but we were catching a few and having fun. We stopped at a nice looking run and I out of the boat with the dogs while Joyce was doing something with her tackle. I was using my 3-weight, 17 year old Orvis rod with a size 8 Muddler. I was shocked when the fish hit. “That’s a big cutthroat,” I said to Joyce.

“That’s no cutthroat,” was her reply. Then she started accusing me of stealing the good water. I guess she wasn’t really mad, ‘cause she did a good job of netting the fish, an eight pound summer steelhead.

On June 30 we had our company picnic. It was a good day for a picnic, sunny, but not too hot. We ate, and then we started a softball game. We didn’t have enough for two full teams so we played a loose kind of “work up” game. Everybody was able to play all the positions and everyone claimed they had a good time, even if they were a little sore the next day.

I got a great pair of sandals in June. They are made by Korkers, and I really like them. I’m really impressed by their comfort and the way they wear in wading situations. If you are considering a pair of sandals for the summer, check out these Korkers, www.korkers.com.