Western Pond Turtle sighting, fly fishing on the Willamette River

I've spent the last two days fly fishing on the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. Friday night we checked out the area near Oakridge, fishing a park on the south side of the river that produced a couple weeks ago. No luck here, we headed back to the bridge and crossed the other side. A couple goons were throwing rocks into a pool we wanted to fish. They didn't like the look of us and moved on. Still nothing though, and we went back to our original plan where we'd caught some fish before. Lots of different caddis coming off, not a bite.

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

Today, Todd and Ben (AKA B-real the Norwegian) headed out to the nearby confluence of the North Fork and Middle Fork of the Willamette, near Westfir. The rain was rolling in cold and the water was high, but we managed to fish most of the day. I caught the nicest looking wild redband I've ever seen (no photos -- out of battery today) and got a few more bites. In fact, we left quite a few feeding fish in the pool, but the guys were getting wet and cold and were ready to go.

From MattStansberry

While I was on the river yesterday I stumbled onto a Western Pond Turtle, a species listed as endangered in Washington and threatened in Oregon. According to the Oregon Zoo, the biggest threat to the species is the non-native bullfrog and largemouth bass. Both prey on juvenile turtles.

The Oregon Zoo, ODFW and the Lower Willamette Turtle Project are hosting a Western Pond Turtle workshop on April 20th at the Oregon Zoo.