Crooked River – Page 8

July 25, 2021July 24, 2021

Relief from summer’s heat

In the high desert, even during a normal summer, the grasses have dried by mid-June. This year the forests and saged plains are tinder dry.

But on a river’s edge there is still an abundance of lush green growth.

This summer the heat of the day hits mid-morning and we’ve been fortunate to avoid most of the smoke and haze. So this week we headed to the river and the shade along its edge.

Now typically I’m focused on the insect life when wading a stream.

However, Jacqueline turned her attention, and camera, to the grasses lining the stream. It turns out there is a trove of tiny winged critters tucked into the leaves and stems.

We spotted wasps of different shapes and sizes, as well as some less lethal insects among the plants.

There were purple blossoms on nearly every stem which might have been the main attraction.

Tip didn’t seem to notice as he made numerous trips to the water from our shaded seating area.

Of course I concentrated on the bugs skipping across the water’s surface … trying to blend in and lure a fish to strike. The day’s heat is always degrees cooler along a river. Not sure how much longer the wildfire’s haze will be directed away from us, so we take advantage of any clear day.

June 27, 2021June 26, 2021

The Hatch

Our fishing adventures are not season dependent. We’re on the stream all times of the year. However, there are some aspects of fishing early summer that add to the enjoyment. Prolific bug hatches bring dry fly fishing and that is the best.

Now there are aquatic insects constantly crawling, or swimming, regardless of season, weather, or temperature.

As temperatures rise, insect activity increases. In summer the hatches are more frequent often bigger bugs and peak dry fly season is here.

Sometimes all it takes it one size smaller.

The zenith, in our area, is the Salmon Fly a large stone fly hatch on the Deschutes river. Closer to home is the “mother’s day caddis” a prolific hatch at the end of May (thus the name).

This event brings the Crooked River out of winter’s quiet crowd-less days and into a near fishing derby atmosphere. Venture up there on a weekend to find every pull-out and camp site is filled with rod vault festooned trucks. The river is littered with wader covered bodies thrashing flylines on the water.

We share the stream with osprey, though it seems they are the better fisher.

We manage to avoid most of this nonsense by hitting the stream mid-week, though there are still above average crowds. In a few weeks the Crooked’s banks will quiet down, but for most of June it’s game on.

Wading staff waits on the next move upstream.

There is clearly sport found in swinging nymphs and cold weather isn’t the limiting factor. Fish are always feeding and fisherman find success in sub-surface presentations. The biggest catches are typically taken on nymphs or streamers drifted through feeding lanes.

Tip has become a “river dog.” He is quite adept at reading the water and finding just the right spot to wade in for a drink.

That said, there is nothing that compares to fishing over a hatch. Floating an imitation along the top of the water, waiting on a flash of silver, the reaction to hook set, and the rod bending to the fight. It’s just more exciting to take fish on a dry fly. Thus we are here, sharing the river with too many hatch seekers and shrieking with joy even at the strikes we miss.

April 25, 2021April 24, 2021

River Fishers

Osprey with freshly caught Redband Trout

We make regular trips to the Crooked River, so as a reader of this blog you get to hear about this spot frequently. There’s repetition to these visits, but we attempt to post about the parts that are different.

This week we shared our picnic spot with an Osprey. Well to be clear, he was on the opposite side of the stream but that is still very close. The old juniper snag he perched in stood on the river’s bank maybe 60 or 70 feet away … close.

We set the camera up on a tripod and attached our Sony 600mm lens.

When first seeing this snag I thought … “what a great spot for an osprey.” Then we heard a screech!

On a couple of occasions he would swoop off down river and eventually return with a fish tucked up to his breast, land neatly on an exposed branch and calmly tear flesh from the carcass. On this day he was having much better luck finding fish than I was.

They are very capable fishers, being successful in 4 of 5 attempts. The Osprey is particularly well adapted for catching fish. They have reversible outer toes, sharp spicules on the underside of the toes, closable nostrils to keep out water during dives, and backwards-facing scales on the talons which act as barbs to help hold its catch.

Basically the odds are against the fish. William Shakespeare, in Croriolanus refers to a medieval belief that fish were mesmerized by the bird and turn their bellies up.

I think he’ll be to Rome

As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it

By sovereignty of nature.

Eagles, a larger bird, are known to attack Osprey hoping to get them to drop the catch.

We witnessed an eagle osprey encounter but it didn’t seem to result in the eagle getting anything more than the run around. Osprey are very agile fliers.

Canada Geese with goslings still covered in down

Stream banks, the riparian, host a wide variety of creatures and it just takes quiet moments of observation to open a trove of plant, animal and insect life.

The water feeds more than hay fields miles down river or the aquatic life contained in the flow. Every trip to the river is a unique experience … and we love it.

February 21, 2021February 20, 2021

This way or that way

Every road trip starts pretty much the same way.

A lunch gets packed, extra clothing layers are added to a tote, water bottles along with coffee/tea tumblers are filled. Then gear and dog get loaded into the Subaru and we’re off. In winter this is often right at first light giving us the whole day to explore.

Sometimes you have a specific destination in mind, but even when that is the case, the route taken can be altered. The longer you travel an area the more often you find yourself on the back roads. Two lane county roads pass through better landscapes with a lot less hassle from other traffic.

Morning skies are a stunning mix of clouds and azure blue. We head north, then veer east towards Smith Rock. As luck would have it we arrive in time to see the sun light up the rock face.

We have a rule we hold to on nearly every road trip.

Don’t return on the same route. This is a bit more difficult, though not impossible in the mountains. When you’re traveling the high desert there are almost too many routes to choose from.

This road looks promising. Loaded with supplies of coffee, donuts, and gas, we follow this route for awhile, then eventually pull out the map to get our bearings.

This post initially started as a conversation about how it seemed all roads lead to the Crooked River. This is only partially true.

What is true … with the aid of good maps you can find alternate routes to treasured destinations from nearly anywhere. And the beauty of these alternate routes is finding totally new places to explore in and around favorite spots.

November 8, 2020November 7, 2020

A Quiet Day

This week, with constant din on social media and political static on email we thought it would be good to take a break. Phones were turned off and we headed to a favorite stream bank.

The days are cooler but not cold and there is the threat of ‘first snow’ in the forecast. But the Crooked River offered a quiet pause before dropping back into the media storm.