Life in Central Oregon affords us the luxury of day trips to a large selection of scenic places. Occasionally we’ll hit a pub or restaurant, but more often these trips are accompanied by a packed lunch and sometimes dinner.
The one constant in all our adventures is a cuppa camp coffee … or two. Sometimes we cook a meal but regardless the size of the offering we always put the kettle on the stove.
We’ve had the same picnic kit for nearly 40 years. At it’s heart is an old “Frostline kit” with a small nylon utensil bag both gifts from Jack’s older sister. In here is a small ‘billy’ can, tea pot, two bowls, a couple sets of eating utensils, a sharp knife and a white gas stove.
Gear has gotten upgraded over the years. We still have a vintage Svea 123 Bronze stove, but our current cooker is MSR’s PocketRocket canister stove, it is a much quicker set up. Yeah, there is a S-bucks on every corner but our steamy hot mug served up with a view is unlike anything you find outside a chain latte store’s window, It is hard to equal.
The go to recipe on these cool winter outings is equal portions cocoa mix and Trader Joe’s instant coffee stirred into a mug of water fresh off the boil.
November is turning into a really great month, weather wise. We’ve had sun and mild day temperatures for the last few weeks. Mornings are frosty but by 10 am the sun has taken the chill off.
As I was rigging up the nymph leaders, I noticed that JQ was taking a great deal of interest in a juniper near the stream’s edge. There was a Black Caddis Hatch and the tree’s branches were alive with the tent winged bugs.
You can enjoy a good book when there is no hatch. Or, you can employ a wet fly technique of which there are many. The current method we are attempting is 
“… The fly line is hanging under the tip of the rod and its end often does not even touch the water. “
Many fish were hooked. A dozen were actually ‘caught,’ and our education in short line nymphing has started. Along with how to manage line, rod and flies, we also got great pointers on casting, as well as how to read the water.
This river has long been a favorite place to park our van and fish the tail waters of Bowman dam. The river is known for its Redband Trout population (a subspecies of Rainbow trout). There are a fair number of fish in this river, though most are smaller sized. That said, it’s a much friendlier wade than the Lower Deschutes. Which was particularly true on this day.
Weather wise it has been a very odd start to our spring. There was the late winter snow fall. Then…this week, within one single day, it started with snow, ended with warm sunshine, and included thunder and lightning with freezing pellets.
The Crooked is a very fishable stream, easy enough to wade and small enough to get to any spot a fish might be holding. There are quite a few people on the river, but you rarely bump into anyone and at most see another fisher up or down stream a few hundred yards.
