ManoaMatt
-
manoa matt
- Posts: 3442
- Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:28 pm
- Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider 1800
- Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Re: ManoaMatt
I had a great vacation/birthday while in Oregon. The wife and I flew into Portland on Saturday morning and met up with my parents shortly before driving straight to your house. (One of my favorite things is meeting forum members while I travel, usually to deliver Fiat parts.) We then continued on to just outside of Eugene where my parents had arrived and parked their 27ft Airstream tailer the night before. We camped on the Middle fork of the Willamette river. The campsite was perfect, with a nice little trout stream flowing in front of it. Just sitting there at night under the stars listening to the sound of the water rush by as we roasted marshmellows over the fire was so relaxing, the beer helped too.
The weather was great, in the 80's most of the time but it got cold at night. 50 at night is freezing when you live in Hawaii. Every morning I would wake up in the trailer under a warm wool blanket and think to myself "Those poor people in tents outside, they must have been cold." We stayed at that campsite till Wednesday and fished some of the tributaries of the Willamette, and the headwaters of the resivior. We caught a couple of small (8"-12") rainbow trout, but the fishing was not so good. My dad said that it was like that in all the places they visited so far. It didn't matter because the weather was nice, we were out there and having fun. I'm glad I got to enjoy the time fishing along side my dad.
Tuesday the 22nd was my birthday (the big 30). I woke up early and got out fishing before everyone else was up. It was a cold morning and the wind was whipping through the river valley. With the wind, fly casting was a bit difficult, my hands were getting cold, and I was getting frustrated, but I was determined to catch a fish that morning. As the sun poked over the mountains and shone down on the river it got a little warmer. As I walked upstream towards the camp I decided to cross the river and try to fish from the other side. I don't know why we didn't see it before, but there was a whole other branch of the river over there. By this time my parents and wife were up and watching me fish. As I got over to the other branch of the river they lost sight of me. That's when I saw this kitchen table size rock. The first cast landed in the water in front of the rock, I let the fly drift around the rock to the back where the fish would be, no luck. The second cast I put right smack in the sweet spot behind the rock. As soon as that fly hit the water "BANG" I had one on and started the fight. I was out of site from my family and I wanted them to see this. I played the fish in the water and acted like it was pulling me downstream as it fought (the fish was not that big: 14"), the rocks were slipery and on several occasions it did actually pull me downstream. As I came into their view I decided I better land this sucker before he gets away. I didn't bring a landing net and it had been a while since the last time I was flyfishing so I decided to bring him in close and pick up the line. I picked up the line so they could see the fish and just as it was about 2 feet out of the water he flipped off.
I was so pumped up from the excitement and the fight, that I didn't care he got away, I was going to put him back anyway. That put a smile on my face that lasted the whole day. It was the last fish I caught on the trip even though we also fished the McKenzie and the Clackamass which were big rivers compared to the Willamette streams. The flys you gave us realy helped out, the fish I caught that morning was with one of the flys (Grey hackle peacock with a red tail).
With mother and wife in tow, we had to see some sights as fishing is not their forte. We stoped by a fish hatchery one day and saw the little trout and salmon fish and a couple HUGE sturgon. We decided to camp the last night in Estacada about 30 minutes outside of Portland so the trip to the airport in the morning would be easy. Driving up from Eugene to Estacada we took some backroads to see the local flavor. There was the most beautiful quaint little town on 211 or 213 that we stopped in and decided to walk around to see all the old 20's and 30's houses and stop at some shops. That night we stayed at a camp site in Estacada that had power, electricity, flush toilets, and hot showers. Before taking a hot shower my wife and I decided to cool off and take a little dip in one of the pools of the Clackamass river. When I say cool off I mean 40 degree water, its invigorating to say the least, and definite shrinkage. The hot showers were nice but the shower head was something out of Guantanamo water torture as it was just one powerfull concentrated stream. I remarked to my dad, "These are what they use to wash the elephants with at the zoo" I feel sorry for any 5 year old that has to take a shower there as it would have blown them against the far wall.
That night we dicided to have the blackberry pie that my mom and wife baked for my birthday the day before. My parents picked 2 quarts of blackberrys in Washington a few weeks before. Oregon also has its fair share of blackberrys, The best part of fishing would be when your line gets tangled in a tree or bush behind you. You go to untangle it seemingly frustrated until you see you are surrounded by fresh blackberrys. You pick a couple and pop them in your mouth, untangeling your fly line after that is pretty relaxing.
From Portland, my wife flew to DC to attend a friend's wedding while staying with my sister, while I flew to Cincinnati/northern Kentucky where my parents live. I was to attend the wedding of my high school buddy, but his fiance got cold feet shortly after sending out the invitations. It was a bit of a downer but needless to say us "Good Ol' Kentucky boys" were determined to have a good time, and we usually do. The whole weekend was beer, burbon, bars and BBQ....I'm still hurting!
All in all it was an excellent and very relaxing vacation. Most of the time we go home and have to shop here or go see this person or whatever. Oregon was beautifull, the trout streams picturesque, the people were the nicest we ever met (thanks Bryan), and the blackberrys plump and sweet. I can't wait to go back!
Matt
The weather was great, in the 80's most of the time but it got cold at night. 50 at night is freezing when you live in Hawaii. Every morning I would wake up in the trailer under a warm wool blanket and think to myself "Those poor people in tents outside, they must have been cold." We stayed at that campsite till Wednesday and fished some of the tributaries of the Willamette, and the headwaters of the resivior. We caught a couple of small (8"-12") rainbow trout, but the fishing was not so good. My dad said that it was like that in all the places they visited so far. It didn't matter because the weather was nice, we were out there and having fun. I'm glad I got to enjoy the time fishing along side my dad.
Tuesday the 22nd was my birthday (the big 30). I woke up early and got out fishing before everyone else was up. It was a cold morning and the wind was whipping through the river valley. With the wind, fly casting was a bit difficult, my hands were getting cold, and I was getting frustrated, but I was determined to catch a fish that morning. As the sun poked over the mountains and shone down on the river it got a little warmer. As I walked upstream towards the camp I decided to cross the river and try to fish from the other side. I don't know why we didn't see it before, but there was a whole other branch of the river over there. By this time my parents and wife were up and watching me fish. As I got over to the other branch of the river they lost sight of me. That's when I saw this kitchen table size rock. The first cast landed in the water in front of the rock, I let the fly drift around the rock to the back where the fish would be, no luck. The second cast I put right smack in the sweet spot behind the rock. As soon as that fly hit the water "BANG" I had one on and started the fight. I was out of site from my family and I wanted them to see this. I played the fish in the water and acted like it was pulling me downstream as it fought (the fish was not that big: 14"), the rocks were slipery and on several occasions it did actually pull me downstream. As I came into their view I decided I better land this sucker before he gets away. I didn't bring a landing net and it had been a while since the last time I was flyfishing so I decided to bring him in close and pick up the line. I picked up the line so they could see the fish and just as it was about 2 feet out of the water he flipped off.
I was so pumped up from the excitement and the fight, that I didn't care he got away, I was going to put him back anyway. That put a smile on my face that lasted the whole day. It was the last fish I caught on the trip even though we also fished the McKenzie and the Clackamass which were big rivers compared to the Willamette streams. The flys you gave us realy helped out, the fish I caught that morning was with one of the flys (Grey hackle peacock with a red tail).
With mother and wife in tow, we had to see some sights as fishing is not their forte. We stoped by a fish hatchery one day and saw the little trout and salmon fish and a couple HUGE sturgon. We decided to camp the last night in Estacada about 30 minutes outside of Portland so the trip to the airport in the morning would be easy. Driving up from Eugene to Estacada we took some backroads to see the local flavor. There was the most beautiful quaint little town on 211 or 213 that we stopped in and decided to walk around to see all the old 20's and 30's houses and stop at some shops. That night we stayed at a camp site in Estacada that had power, electricity, flush toilets, and hot showers. Before taking a hot shower my wife and I decided to cool off and take a little dip in one of the pools of the Clackamass river. When I say cool off I mean 40 degree water, its invigorating to say the least, and definite shrinkage. The hot showers were nice but the shower head was something out of Guantanamo water torture as it was just one powerfull concentrated stream. I remarked to my dad, "These are what they use to wash the elephants with at the zoo" I feel sorry for any 5 year old that has to take a shower there as it would have blown them against the far wall.
That night we dicided to have the blackberry pie that my mom and wife baked for my birthday the day before. My parents picked 2 quarts of blackberrys in Washington a few weeks before. Oregon also has its fair share of blackberrys, The best part of fishing would be when your line gets tangled in a tree or bush behind you. You go to untangle it seemingly frustrated until you see you are surrounded by fresh blackberrys. You pick a couple and pop them in your mouth, untangeling your fly line after that is pretty relaxing.
From Portland, my wife flew to DC to attend a friend's wedding while staying with my sister, while I flew to Cincinnati/northern Kentucky where my parents live. I was to attend the wedding of my high school buddy, but his fiance got cold feet shortly after sending out the invitations. It was a bit of a downer but needless to say us "Good Ol' Kentucky boys" were determined to have a good time, and we usually do. The whole weekend was beer, burbon, bars and BBQ....I'm still hurting!
All in all it was an excellent and very relaxing vacation. Most of the time we go home and have to shop here or go see this person or whatever. Oregon was beautifull, the trout streams picturesque, the people were the nicest we ever met (thanks Bryan), and the blackberrys plump and sweet. I can't wait to go back!
Matt