Last night I headed down to Armitage to try my luck wading the lower McKenzie River for some late afternoon trout. The day had warmed up nice, especially compared to the day before, so I expected the trout to have the feedbag on. No dice. We got there around 5-ish, walked downstream to the little gravel island and a tail out. It looked PERFECT, but nothing was happening. Not much in the way of bugs either. Sporadic little caddis coming off, some really weird thin mayflies too, but nothing major. Fish were rising though, maybe to some sort of trico spinner? I didn't get a bite. T-O-Double-D caught a couple fish before Wild Bill and I got there, but we never saw one on the line. The evening temperature drop might have put them off a little. Good news all in all: You can wade Armitage and there are fish there.
There is word on the street of crazy-early summer steelhead below Dexter. I can't believe it, but will if I start hooking them in the town run.
Wild Bill is out this week, chasing roosterfish in Baja.
The Kid (pictured below) is coming in from NYC to decompress. We'll probably drift from Salt Creek to Black Canyon in our inflatable kayaks, unless somebody thinks that would be suicidal. Seriously. I've run them all summer, but never in high water. I'm asking for advice. Meantime, I'll check out my
Soggy Sneakers guide.
2 comments:
Suicidal, no.
Well-advised? Maye not so much.
I don't care much for high water paddling unless I'm in an aluminum Grumman or WW raft. The drift boats out there, of course, have added another option, but inflatables just seem like your asking for a submerged limb or boulder to puncture you or your boat. I just read about someone who drowned after going out in the flood water out here in the Northeast.
The odds aren't in your favor.
That being said, you'll probably be fine!
BTW, isn't the Kid's fish snagged, right below the dorsal? Is that a naughty way to catch 'em?
;)
Glad you're getting out there. My early season striper fishing on the Cape Canal on Saturday was a similar skunk, though I did see over a hundred common loons and half as many hooded mergansers -- big doings for a birdgeek.
Heh... I'm actually going to buy a pair of PFDs to ease my mind.
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