Winter Whale Watch Week starts Dec 26th

Oregon Parks & Recreation are launching "Winter Whale Watch Week" on Dec 26th. According to the Web site: "Gray whales migrate past the Oregon coast during two special times of the year. The southbound migration peaks just around the winter holiday season and the northbound migration has one of its two peaks near the end of March."


An AP report says whale sightings have been running at record levels in 2007.

RIP: Klootchy Creek Giant -- Oregon Sitka blows down

My pal BP has a great post about the giant Oregon Sitka Spruce that blew down in the storms last weekend:

This is one of the oldest living things in Oregon, and one of the biggest trees in the state as well. The tree was coming to the end of its natural life cycle, and showed signs of wear long before this storm finally snapped its trunk.

Here are a couple of other great blog posts about The Klootchy Creek Giant:

Travels With A Muse got to spend some time with the tree last month and took some photos before it fell. And The Grumpy Forester has an amazing retrospective on the Klootchy Creek Giant.

Tidal extremes on the Oregon Coast this weekend

Several news outlets report that the Oregon Coast will have extremely high and low tides this weeekend. Coupled with great weather and calm seas, it should be an excellent time to go beach combing. But watch out for sneaker waves, which can be more deadly during these extreme tidal conditions. Also be on the lookout for giant floating logs that were lifted in the high tide. Nature is going to be rearranging the beach furniture.

Protect Oregon's sea floor

Robin Hartmann of the Oregon Ocean Shores Coalition makes the case to protect Oregon's ocean floor in today's Regisiter-Guard:

Our sea floor is the unsung hero of Oregon’s land base. Extending three miles off our coast, it is covered with communities of plants and animals that require and deserve protection, even though these special areas aren’t visible from the shore.

Oregon Coast: Stormwatchers beware of sneaker waves

The winter storm season is upon us and the Oregon Coast is an awesome place to watch the raging Pacific Ocean. But sneaker waves can pose a threat to stormwatchers. Beach Connection offers a set of tips to avoid getting washed out to sea:

Sneaker waves are common and often catch people off guard while standing onshore. You can't see them and they are impossible to predict. These occur when smaller waves pile up on top each other to form one large wave – sometimes twice as large as the previous sets. Also, they can carry large pieces of debris with them such as logs, which present a whole set of other dangers.

Fly fishing the Oregon Coast: The pinnacle of Quixotic pursuit

Over the weekend, Alex, Wild Bill and I attempted fly fishing the Oregon Coast for groundfish. The weather seemed calm, the cabezon and ling were supposed to be in close and well, why not? If Ken Hanley can write about Fly Fishing Afoot in the Surf Zone, then there's a chance. Then again, I don't think there are any photos of anyone actually holding a toothy bottom dweller caught on the fly in the entire book... There is definitely $9 worth of info in this book, so I'd say buy it. But the author makes no bones about telling you, you gotta be crazy to do this -- especially when there are so many other fishing opportunities around.

From MattStansberry

We headed out to the Dublin House motel, a motel in Yachats, OR that bills itself as a fly fishing headquarters for the Oregon Coast. The Dublin House owners really need to spend more money on inventory and staff that know something about fly fishing if they plan on advertising themselves as a fly shop. Don't get me wrong, I like the fly shop idea and I like the fact that they underwrite NPR programming (which is where I heard about them), but they need to stock more than some dusty fly fishing decorations. I'm being a little harsh here, but gas is $3 a gallon in Oregon and if they would have answered their phone when I called, I might not have made the drive to Yachats.

From MattStansberry

We opted to fish the rocky points jutting out from Neptune State Scenic viewpoint. I can tell you that these were the most difficult fishing conditions I've ever experienced. The jetties were ultra burly lava rock covered in razor sharp barnacles. The waves were churning up debris, spraying up between the rocks, throwing slack into my fly line. And then there was the wind. The wind killed us. We spent about an hour or so flailing into the wind. Long enough to realize I'm out of my league -- long enough for Alex to break a toe. But still a good time.

We made a break inland to fly fish for late season winter steelhead --a pursuit only marginally more sane.

Oregon Feature Photo: Oregon fishing

Oregon fishing, originally uploaded by honjooshi58.

Christopher, aka honjooshi58 took this photo on a beach south of Tillamook. "I saw a guy fishing. Thought it would make a good picture, took the shot," he said. The light is just amazing.

Coastal Cutthroat bonanza on the fly

I headed west this afternoon to fish a coastal stream (which will remain unnamed), looking for steelhead. It's a river I've been scouting for a little while, waiting to get my license.

I was using my standby, black, size 10 beadhead woolybugger. It wasn't doing much, so I put on a tiny orange nymph float. Soon after, I figured it out -- fish were hitting my orange float.

From MattStansberry

I switched out to an egg pattern and started catching cuttrhoats on an egg and indicator rig. The first few were tiny, but as I worked upstream to bigger pools I started catching bigger fish in the 14" range.

As it got dark I switched back to my woolybugger so the fish could see it. They started getting more aggressive and taking it on the swing.

They weren't giant winter steelhead, but you know, after catching about 15 of them I lost count.

Coastal Oregon hikes wrap up

Coastal hikes in brief: After camping at Cape Lookout last weekend we made our way south to Cape Kiwanda -- home of Haystack Rock. We headed out from the parking area into a tire-track rutted beach. But it was fifty degrees and sunny, so I tried not to let it get me down. But then I looked up to my right and saw these massive, nasty condos going up.

From MattStansberry

They’re calling them “fractional ownership cottages” in a huge multi-page ad in Oregon Coast magazine this month. From my standpoint, it blights an Oregon landmark -- and whatever Pacific City’s economic developers thinks they’re getting out of the deal, it’s probably not worth it.

From MattStansberry

Despite the nasty McMansions sprawling above us, we moved on to climb the cape for a better view of Haystack Rock. And I can say that after you climbed up the sandstone cliff and looked out over the coast, you could almost forget about Kiwanda Lodge looming behind you.

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

After that we headed to the Devils Punchbowl. The hike down to the beach was closed, most likely because a storm had ripped the staircase leading down to the beach from its moorings. We ignored the signs and climbed down anyway.

From MattStansberry

We thought we were being pretty adventurous, until a big family with little kids made it down without the stairs just fine right after us.

From MattStansberry

The tide was too high to get into the “punchbowl” but I did get pretty close and took a fuzzy picture of some harlequin ducks.

From MattStansberry

Sunday was a big day for surfers -- we saw them at every stop.

More dead sea lions on Oregon beaches

Leave those dead/dying sea lions alone, say experts from Oregon State University in an Associated Press report from today's Seattle Times. More of these animals are washing up on Oregon beaches than usual, thanks to an increased sea lion population, gun shot wounds from angry fishermen and a bacteria called Leptospirosis that is potentially harmful to humans. The disease has shown up in roughly 1/3 of the dead animals.

Fishermen are blamed for a significant amount of sea lion deaths because sea lions steal hooked salmon. Last November I almost tripped over a dying sea lion that had been shot in the back while I was walking along the Sixes River at Cape Blanco. See below:

From MattStansberry

For more info, check out the Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

Sweet Creek: Coastal rivers and waterfalls in Oregon

Yesterday Bill Laroux from the Eugene Chapter Trout Unlimited and I went on a steelhead scouting trip to Sweet Creek, a coastal river near Mapleton, OR. This small Siuslaw tributary didn't seem to be holding any fish at the time, maybe next month. The falls were really big and some signage along the trail said that spawning steelhead jump the falls to get upriver. Hard to imagine. Here are some photos.

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

Carter Dunes January hike

KP and I took a hike on the coast, trying to avoid icy roads up in the mountains. Brice Creek/Bohemia Mountain was too slippery to get even close yesterday. The Carter Dunes hike was pretty , coming out of the Taylor Lake trailhead to catch the Carter Lake trail. Too much water on the trail to actually get to the beach from the dunes. I was checking out the steelhead creeks above Florence and it looks like the best spot to park to access China Creek and Big Creek would be Muriel O. Ponsler Wayside and walk upstream.

PICS:

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry