Tag: Video

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A Bug Hunt

With any hobby there are varying levels of involvement. We tend to be involved. So when it comes to fly fishing, aquatic entomology is part of the process.

Streams are much more alive with insect activity subsurface than you might expect. The best way to know what fish are eating is to sieve up some information … literally.

Three types of insects make up a majority of food sources, caddis, mayfly and stoneflys. The best imitation for an aquatic invertebrate is part latin name and part fisher folklore. Mostly you’re looking at size and color. Information obtained from the sample tray is taken to the tying bench and applied to a standard pattern.

It’s not clear if all this leads to more fish. The immersive nature is part of the fun. Plus you get to see lots of interesting creatures. Lately we’ve been pointing the macro lens at the collection tray and the videos are otherworldly, but a bug hunt is also part of the fun.

 

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Cascade Loop

Blazed by early explorers like John Fremont, a mostly two-lane road winds south out of Bend onto the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains. This nearly 100 mile stretch started out as a dirt trail linking the city to a southern route over those rugged peaks. It’s those peaks that draw most of the traffic these days.

We regularly access the upper Deschutes River and Davis Lake along a stretch of FS 47, Cascade Lakes Scenic Highway. Though at least once a year we make the loop from the southern edge of Bend to it’s junction at Highway 58 because it’s a really beautiful drive.

South from Bend you climb to the base of Mt Bachelor. A major section of the highway is closed until late May but by mid-June it’s lined with wildflowers and snow capped peaks. There are many places to pull off and explore but we never just pass the meadow on the western edge of Sparks Lake.

Soda Creek Campground caught our attention this trip. Only ten sites but all with views across the meadow.

We will very likely be back for an overnight, to hopefully catch some wild life that venture onto the grassy flats that the creek meanders through.

From June to September the lakes and their resort beaches are filled with swimmers, kayaks, even powerboats … places we mostly avoid in the summer. We do however frequent a couple of turnoffs between Lava Lake and Crane Prairie Reservoir. A crystal clear stream, headwaters of the Deschutes River cuts a channel through the pines and offers great picnic sites.

 

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Thunder and rain

Summer camping got into full swing this week. We are doing short one and two day trips to fine tune the systems in our Eurovan camper. We will eventually do longer trips but for now we are working out kinks.

On a recent Crooked River trip we were treated to an afternoon summer storm. Watched it roll over the canyon walls and in about 30 minutes it was gone.

It took the muggy warm day and left us with a very pleasant evening. Fishing wasn’t all that good but we did get caught up on our reading.

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Caddis hatch on the Crooked

First summerlike day and we headed to the Crooked River. It started as a Euro Nymphing practice session. The river was kind of high and turbid so we didn’t really expect much action. But the cooler was full, the kindles loaded up … so we were ready for anything.

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.

Didn’t see much surface feeding, so I continued with the wet fly rig. This was moderately successful. But what got my attention was all the rises just downstream.

I headed back to the car and got out a dry fly rig. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching six to ten inch Red Band Trout.

 

 

 

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Cattle Drive

Oregon’s roads present us with so much more than a means to an end. Each turn presents new vistas, viewpoints, historical markers, even whole roads designated scenic byways. This day it was a cattle drive.

 

A Fort Rock area rancher was moving his herd to new pasture using Highway 31 west of Summer Lake. The wait was much more entertaining than a construction zone. Complete with cowboys on horses and cattle dogs. 

We pulled to the side of the road, rolled down the windows and uncapped our lenses. Except for the blacktop you might have been sitting on the sage prairie two hundred years ago. Then 20 minutes later we are back on our way to Summer Lake and another roadside treasure.