Category: General

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Fishing the Dry Fly

Even the Magpies seek some shade

At least one excursion a week is focused on fishing. From May to August those pursuits are primarily in search of dry flyfishing opportunities. 

We started flyfishing on the North Fork of the Flathead River, casting Royal Wulff patterns to West Slope Cutthroat Trout. Catching a fish off the surface of a river is, to me, the most fun.

Morning sun on the river

These last couple of months we’ve been chasing the Caddisfly hatches on the Crooked River.

Starting around Mother’s Day and extending to early July, there are a series of these emergences nearly daily. Just before and during the hatch, fishing is optimal.

The biggest challenge with Caddisflies is they hatch, shuck out of pupal skin, and fly off to the bushes at dawn and dusk.

On the Crooked dusk in July is hot and windy  .  .  .  kind of miserable and not the best fishing conditions. But on the high desert mornings are typically much cooler and calmer. 

All these insects are a boon to the birds, as well as the fish

We’ve been very successful leaving the house about 6:30 (yes after sunrise, so not technically dawn) and being on the river about an hour later. This has connected us with some really successful fishing.

By the time the afternoon wind picks up, we’ve had nearly four hours on the water and are ready to have a cold one and call it a day.

We’re not going to stop spending mornings on the Crooked, but as we move into July and August the target species shifts to Small Mouth Bass on the John Day River, and then the futile pursuit of Summer Steelhead on the Lower Deschutes. 

We’ll take you along on those journeys as well.

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Last of the Litter

Boo enjoying the winter evening his way.

Almost 20 years ago, as we started to move out of the house in Troutdale, a small black cat started hanging out in our front yard. Turned out  .  .  .  that cat was pregnant.

She and her 4 kittens joined us and our pack of 3 dogs in a 5th wheel camper, as we built a new home on a hill in Sandy, Oregon.

The canine half of the pack

The cat we called Greta, her kittens, Lewis, Clark, Ariel and Boo were primarily house cats.

Extra toe meant better chair scratching.

Their presence is still visible on most of our furniture.

Boo, 2007-2026, R.I.P.

This week we bid farewell to the last of Greta’s litter  .  .  .  Boo.

Greta couldn’t have been much more than a year old when we rescued her from the street.

The closeness in age of mother and kittens amounted to a series of aging pet vet visits over the last couple of years.

That came to a close this week. 

Not really feeling like more of a blog post.

 

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Winter’s end or False Spring?

 

Catching up

We just walked in the door from Tip’s daily. There’s a winter storm warning in effect. However, the sun was out and it’s 50º. We’re beginning to think that we’ve seen all the winter there’s going to be.

Its the middle of March and while winter has returned in the past, that doesn’t seem likely this year.

Of course now we’ve jinxed it. Long range forecast calls for warmer than normal temperatures in the Northwest. So it’s a false spring or maybe the change of seasons?

Beautiful March day on the Crooked River

Any un-seasonal weather just means we get outside. A majority of the week was taken up with errands and finishing unfinished projects. But we picked the nicest of days and headed up to the Crooked.

Recharging on the river has become integral to our sanity. We’d expected to just enjoy the water and a picnic lunch. But the river had other things in mind.

There was increased water fowl population. We suspect they are getting ready to nest. And while JQ was capturing images, fish started to feed on the surface.

Geese often drag a foot as they paddle

It’s rare to fish over a surface hatch in winter months so we took advantage of the moment.

Fishing over a winter hatch

The sun warmed the air around us, but the water was really cold. That said, we got an hour of really good fishing before needing to warm up.

Doesn’t look like a March day

The week ahead offers more mild temperatures so even with cloudy skies we’ll have opportunity to do some more exploring, now that most of our winter chores are completed.

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New Year Resolutions?

It’s been a rather busy year around here.

As usual we are going to take a few weeks break from posting. Recharge and clean up. We’ll be back around the end of January.

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday break and ready to meet a new year.  Thanks for your support in 2025.  JQ & js

Print Recipe

Cocoa Drop Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 1 3/4 cup AP flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup shortening at room temp
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans chopped

Brown Butter Icing

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2 cups powdered sugar keep ¼ cup in reserve
  • 2 Tbls heavy cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  • Sift together dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together shortening, sugar and the egg.
  • Add in buttermilk and vanilla. Mix until combined and smooth.
  • Add the dry ingredients, 1/3 at a time, to the liquid and mix until combined before adding next third.
  • Stir in chopped nuts and refrigerate dough for one hour.
  • Preheat oven to 400º
  • Using a cookie scoop, place balls of chilled dough on to parchment lined baking sheets. 
    2 tablespoon measures (30g) will yield about 24 2” cookies.  1 tablespoon measures will give you 1 ½ inch cookies and yield about 45.

Brown Butter Icing

  • Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat, stirring regularly until it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and continue stirring until it turns a golden brown color.
    Remove from heat and pour over 1 ¾ cup of powdered sugar in a medium bowl.
  • Add in cream and vanilla. Whisk until you have a thick, spreadable icing. You can add the reserved sugar to help get the proper consistency.