Some fishing reports . . .

Dr. Mark Palmer, CCFF longtime member and experienced fly fisher, is shown below with his first hatchery summer steelhead taken on the Siletz with his trusty spey rod this past weekend. "Dr. Mark," as we know him, is the family dentist to a number of us and, with his wife, Gerry, is often drifts eastern Oregon rivers enjoying trout and bass fishing.

For more info on fly fishing for steelhead, be sure to be at our meeting in august.

Alan

When Phil Reed's wife, Pam, said "Retirement Party", I thought she said "Fishing Party", so when I missed the affair at Longview Hills, I had to extend profuse and very apologetic excuses for ending up in the wrong place!

The opportunity to go with my cousin, John, to Diamond Lake, just north of Crater Lake, popped up and getting recalcitrant boat trailer lights sucked up my whole Saturday getting ready for a Sunday AM departure. It was a good drive up and skies turned very blue over the Cascades. Met John, with his RV at Diamond LK and proceeded into the fishing. Started with trolling worms and about a 100yds from the dock, picked up our first FAT Rainbow. We moved around the lake finding a couple more, then went up the North end in 19-35' of water and John nailed a 20in 3,5-4lb, biggest he'd every caught. Most people still-fished with power bait/worms, but it didn't matter what technique people used, it seemed everyone caught some fish. I caught a couple more, but couldn't match John.

Of course June in the Cascades is MOSQUITO month and we about used up all our DEET keeping them at bay in the campground - there weren't many on the lake, but EVERYTHING ELSE was hatching out there and we were surrounded by small clouds of various bugs throughout the day - a veritable fly fisherman's paradise. After a light dinner of barbequed ribs, and some other mild libations we hit the water the next morning and toured the lake, stopping from time to time where various boat gaggles formed up. We picked up a few more fish, then hit the North End one more time. This time it was my turn to pull in a 19in 3lb bow - a real treat. Late Monday the wind kicked up and it continued on into Tue AM, so the fishing really slowed. We packed up and headed of the mountain around noon - me back to Florence and John over to LaPine. We fished a great deal together as kids, so this was a special trip to refresh some of those "fading" memories and nail a couple big fish to expand on for future visits.

Brian

Bill Furgason and I joined Phil Reed yesterday morning at 5:00 am to fish the Siletz. We put the boat in at Mill Park in Siletz and floated down to Jack Morgan Park, a drift of approximately 12 miles. It was a day when every cast was perfect....no lines were tangled...not gear was lost and there was no rain to dampen our spirits....and everybody knows that fishermen don't lie. The water was low, 4', and clear and we never saw another boat on the river although we saw a few trailers after our drift. There appeared to be no fish in the river as most of Phil's favorite holes turned up empty. However, approximately 30 minutes before the end of our drift a nice steelhead attacked a pink and purple jig on my line. Unfortunately after netting the fish it grew an adipose fin. There was a large gash on it's right side from an encounter with a seal and Phil predicted that it would not last very long after spawning. All in all it was a nice day on the river with good company, great salsa and chips prepared by Bill, and a lot of lessons learned from Phil. Now if I can only remember them.

Frank

This from Linda Reed-June 14th (no photos):

3 of my Northern Idaho family members met me in Hammond for our first attempt at catching a sturgeon under Ryan's new boat and expert guidance Saturday at 6:30 AM.

Typical chilly coastal morning but the skies looked great with the sun coming out bright. Minimal wind was blowing. it looked real promising for the day.

We pretty much worked the same areas as the other guys did before us over near Washington, west side of bridge. Naturally, the wind picked up as the day went on and Ryan had 2 sea anchors out to hold us steady mid day.

We didn't see any fish being caught and we had 4 rods out and each had a small bite/nibble but no sturgeon to hook into. Anchovies were the bait for the day. As you know, sturgeon bite so softly one has to focus on their rod tip constantly or perhaps miss a strong bite and their hooking opportunity is gone. A few good bites sadly were not picked up on by some aboard, since the beautiful weather and good humorous "back and forth" with zingers dominated our boat all day. So many laughs by all. We didn't land any fish but we sure had a fun time together and laughter dominated our boat.

Bottom line we were "skunked" but the trip was a great outing and restful for all despite not catching a sturgeon. Relaxation and fun aboard meant a lot to a memorable day in Astoria with Ryan.

I'll attach a few of my pics to give you the flavor aboard "the Good Ship Lollypop" that day, (just being smart alecky for a laugh). LOL Our day was nothing but joviality and comradeship aboard Ryan craft and he was a good captain with a sense of humor too. Despite all the jokes and wisecracks we fished hard really and the Gods just weren't with us that day. We left Sunday and the drizzle and clouds were back again for the next customers.

We will join Ryan this fall locally for a salmon try for sure!

Thanks Ryan for a good day on the water.

The Reed Clan