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September 7, 2025September 6, 2025

Summer Ends in a Cloud of Smoke

Didn’t really get out much this week. We remain sandwiched between two project fires and spent most of the week engulfed in smoke.

The opening, when it presented itself, was taken with a trip to the Crooked. Yeah . . . we’ve been there a lot lately, but it’s dry fly season and that tailwater has been very active.

Fuller’s Teasel (bull thistle) frames a lush riparian

Last year my brother-in-law passed and among his possessions was an old Sage Graphite II 9-foot 5-weight fly rod.

A very nice rod, but with one problem. It was missing the tip section. Not broken, which is common, but not in the rod case and nowhere to be found.

Sage rods are, in theory, lifetime warrantied. So I figured why not give that a try. I mean with only three fourths of the rod it wasn’t going to fish like that.

Long story short . . . Sage was unable to repair the old rod, but they did replace it with a new one . . . my choice. I opted for a 9-foot 4-weight, an ideal dry fly trout rod. It arrived this week and was immediately put into service.

Post-meal preening by another successful fisher.

Now there are negative points to late summer in Central Oregon; heat and wildfire smoke top that list. But on the positive side, the dry fly fishing is peak.

The Crooked River is a tailwater (flows out from a dam), a type of water that’s fished most of the year sub-surface.

Bull Thistles are regular obstacles along the stream edge.

Anytime of year, some type of aquatic insect is moving around and an imitation of that bug will catch fish.

In early spring and late summer, the aquatic insects hatch (present on top of the water) in greater numbers. You can have success with a dry fly any time, but during a hatch it gets crazy.

A Eurasian-collared Dove floats in for a landing

Dry flys require a more precise presentation than sub-surface fishing. However, the payoff is seeing the strike . . . often missing the strike . . . but it puts you more directly into the process.

It’s a lot of fun. The last few weeks have afforded us some great dry fly days on the water.

The signs of fall are around us. Days will be cooling off and we’ll soon move onto the Deschutes River to cast for Steelhead.

For now, we’re enjoying morning coffees on the Crooked and plying Small Black Sedges to hungry Redband Trout.

August 31, 2025August 30, 2025

Eye of a Storm

The week started with a wildfire burning east of Redmond and headed for Sisters, with another one burning north near Oakridge.

Both of these conflagrations managed to spread plumes of smoke over the area . . . well, actually it was fickle wind patterns.

Dry fly presentation over a morning hatch on the Crooked River

In the middle of these smoke-filled days, there was a trip to the Crooked River. Opportunity pushed Prineville outside an “unhealthy” AQI (Air Quality Index) shading on the weather map.

Apple Weather and Watch Duty get regular scans on our phones . . . tracking wildfire activity and air quality.

The Crooked is a welcome respite from thick smoke-filled air and fishing was good too. It is the height of summer season and the lush vegetation, juniper trees and snags are busy with bird activity.

A young Osprey is getting better at hunting, eating, and keeping the gang of Magpies at bay. The Magpies really are a marauding gang. At any point a dozen of them swarm over the trees.

Off to grab another of his 3 to 5 fish per day diet

With just a skreech from one, a few more come flying. They menace the Osprey but don’t really do much damage . . . if you don’t count making meal time stressful.

Our day begins before the sun hits the water. All morning I’ll fish over the caddis or mayfly hatch.

By noon activity on the river’s surface has tapered off. By now it’s getting hot, even in the shade, so we pack up and head home.

Tip napping in the shade of an old juniper tree

The Apps suggest that smoke will wane in the next couple of weeks, so that’s good news.

We’ll wait till the Labor Day crowds thin before venturing back out.

August 24, 2025August 29, 2025

Seasonal Shift

Summer seems to be rushing away. We’ve been heading out early and seeking shade by late morning. Now, the cool of the morning lasts longer and we linger along the river until past noon. Very soon it will be fall.

One of the harbingers of fall is stone fruit.

When the produce aisle peaches actually give off their sweet heady aroma, the skin of a plum gives to the touch, and apple varieties triple, then summer is near its end.

A late summer storm starts to engulf Mt. Hood.

We’ll make several trips to the hillsides above Hood River before the end of October. Each visit is rewarded with a new variety of tree ripened fruit.

Stone fruits mark summer’s close. Apple and pear varieties will reach a peak toward the end of September, trailing off by Halloween, and at that point winter looms.

Some varieties require extra protection from birds.

On this trip we were treated to a glorious display of weather patterns. Clouds, rain storms and patches of sun encircled us.

From a vantage point on a sage steppe above the Columbia River, all you have to do is change your angle of view to get a different sky.

We started the day with rain and moved in and out of storms all the way north.

However, by the time we were at Kiyokawa Family Orchard it was under sunny skies.

A half dozen varieties of peaches were set out in boxes. There were some early apple types, as well as a couple of different early pears.

Tables holding thumb sized plums in various shades of purple rounded out the offerings.

A sample of orchard offerings kept cool for the drive home.

We had no problem filling our cooler, even with the limited early season offerings.

This is only the start of our trips to collect orchard treasures and take note of the seasonal shift.

August 17, 2025August 16, 2025

Summer’s Refuge

High Desert morning looking south from Sunriver

The heat of summer has settled in so our daytrips have shifted to early morning departures.

The high desert cools overnight and offers a chilly morning . . . light sweater cool. This is true even when we hit ninety plus afternoons.

The sun was just cresting over Fort Rock as we passed on our way to Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge.

The Pacific Flyway has already started to show signs of winter migration. The distinctive honks of Canada Geese have been overhead often during the last few weeks.

Summer Lake is a 45 minute drive, so with an early start we got a good bit of birding in and were home before the oppressive heat of the afternoon settled in.

This trip we encountered an unusually large number of Ibis . . . flocks of them.

Mostly they bolted from the canal ahead of our car, but occasionally we caught one wading a pond or picking its way among the reeds.

Looking southwest from the refuge towards Summer Lake

Winter’s heavy snows seem to have benefited the refuge. Even this late in the summer the marsh grasses, cattails and reeds are still brilliant green.

This lush growth on ponds edge is contrasted by sunburnt field grasses that extend up the edges of Winter Ridge.

Black Birds stake claims with song and a physical presence.

Black Birds, Red Winged and Yellow Headed, are in typical large numbers and quite vocal. The other species we found in large groups were Killdeer.

Which as you might remember are similar to Snowy Plovers . . . of which we saw one.

There weren’t any other people there, birding or camping. We had the large expanse of Summer Lake to ourselves.

We enjoyed the solitude and being able to park wherever we liked.

Tip keeps watch as Jack gathers sound files for the video

Just before noon we spotted a couple of cars coming in as we made our way out. A good time was had by all.

August 10, 2025August 9, 2025

Cascade Lakes Loop

A series of mountain lakes, trail heads and the headwaters of the Deschutes River are paralleled by a road.

The Cascade Lakes Highway runs from Highway 158 (Willamette Pass road), north along the eastern slope of the Cascade Range, skirts the western edge of Mount Bachelor, before dropping into Bend, Oregon.

Clouds cling to the peak of Mt. Bachleor

We drive this route nearly every season, but from late November to Mid-May snow closes the highway.

By the middle of summer, the traffic is thick, especially on the Bend and Bachelor end of the road. However, a mid-week trek is usually light on tourists, bikers and hikers.

A mountain marsh on the edge of Sparks lake

Sparks Lake is an iconic photo location and for good reason.

There is a massive wetland framed by rocky crevices of Bachelor and dotted with seasonal wildflowers, as well as wildlife.

August flora is primarily tiny little blossoms tucked in the dense green marsh grasses.

As for wildlife this stop, we caught sight of a flock of Canada Geese resting where lake and marsh meet.

The best sighting was of tiny frogs, hundreds of hopping reptiles, no bigger than your thumbnail.

They made navigating the boggy marsh an adventure. Let me just say . . . these little guys weren’t the only thing hopping.

Of course the most common stop for us on this road is one of the many access points to the Upper Deschutes River. This day our favorite turnout was open.