Spring 2015
Wow. Again? I'll tell ya, there's something about writing here anymore that isn't my main focus. I think it's this new location and having a place to work on / play with. But that's neither here nor there.
This spring has gone by quick and it certainly hasn't been easy for me. I can't remember being quite that down in the dumps in a looong time. BUT, I haven't been idle. Morel season kept me busy for a while, but I'm still having a heck of a time finding a spot up here. I finally had my best day (so far) by running down to my old haunts near CDA.
Overall, I have one gallon dried so far. Honestly not as much as I'd like so I'm hoping for some kind of late season score here pretty quick.
I did take one solo trip to the Selway to look for them and really all I found was rain, a lot of rain. BUT, I came out with a small bag full of them. It was going to be a longer trip but I cut it down to two nights since I burned most of my wood by that time due to the cold weather and WET conditions.
After that, I did join Butch on another trip down there to check out a burn that ate up a couple thousand acres last summer. Not 10 minutes out of the pickup I heard him talking to someone and so wandered over to investigate. Turns out it was a FS law dog who proceeded to inform us that we needed a free permit to pick mushrooms. "Oh" I said, "do you have any on you?" He said no and that we would have to go to the District office to get one, but it was Saturday and they were closed. "Uhm, really? You can cite us but we don't have any way to BECOME legal?" Then, I guess since we were cooperating, he said there was someone down there for just this purpose and we should go talk to her and get a permit. So we did after he almost stepped on a morel..."don't pick it or I'll have to confiscate it and cite you!" Are you effing kidding me??
Well, we went to the office and, of course, the database was down so the gal couldn't get us our free permit to pick mushrooms. *sigh* Overall it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Not to mention we drove all that way only to get shut down. But, I was talking to a buddy who was walking around in there and he said he walked over five miles and got only two bags...the commercial pickers were just swarming over the area. One guy told us that there was one guy using a headlamp and working at night as well!!
Anywho...
I spent part of the spring building / digging up a new garden, building tools to use in it, and then put up fences around both of them just the other weekend.
And, just last week Butch and I drove down to Vancouver, WA to see his son Matt and do some salmon fishing! We went with a guide / friend of Matt's who was, a little intense. We met him on the river at five in the morning and the very first thing he said was, "Are we on the boat yet?" Wow. (By the way, that's a 3 a.m. wake up call...I pretty much didn't sleep that night so I was exhausted!) We loaded on the boat and went upriver to a place where only bank fishing was allowed. What folks did was set up on the shore, then rig three lines from three, 3-way swivels on the main line, and the whole shebang weighted down with a rock. The guy driving the boat would take this setup out in the middle of the Columbia while you free-spooled on the shore, he'd drop the rock, you'd take up slack and wait. The idea was that you would get a hit, grab the rod and run back up the bank to break that rock off (which was tied on with a lighter line than the main line) and then hopefully you still had a fish on.
Well, I know that all sound terribly simple (ha!) but it turned out there's some finesse involved that none of us had. The guys next to us limited out, but we had a heck up a time even getting a fish to stay on the hook! We fished for 12 hours, had about 30 hits, and no fish landed between Butch, Matt, and I. At one point our "guide" grabbed a rod and managed to catch a fish...so that was nice for him. Then his friend managed to get one. At one point the guys below us ran over my line, so while we're trying to deal with that tangle, I had a fish take one of the baits but since we were tangled up it got off!! Then a little later, me and this other fella had lines crossed and one of my baits was taken by a sturgeon (according to the guide.) It felt like a log dragging me into the river! That finally broke the 40 lb braided line we had on there and I lost about 450 feet of line!
Matt hooked up with a sturgeon that he and I saw breach out in the middle of the river...it was at least nine feet long and wore him out! They almost got it to shore, but then it slipped the hook. That was pretty fun for a while!
Anywho, it was an interesting trip. The guide ended up giving me his fish, so that was nice, but I still wanted to catch my first salmon myself. I don't have too many photos as we were pretty busy the whole time staring at the rods waiting for a hit.
It was a tough way to fish, I think next time I'll try and go with someone who's trolling! Needless to say, we all slept like rocks that night!
Well, that brings us to now. This weekend Sarah and I are going to plant the garden...it'll be nice to have that done for a while. I will continue my war on dandelions and hopefully get my boat in the water a time or two!
This spring has gone by quick and it certainly hasn't been easy for me. I can't remember being quite that down in the dumps in a looong time. BUT, I haven't been idle. Morel season kept me busy for a while, but I'm still having a heck of a time finding a spot up here. I finally had my best day (so far) by running down to my old haunts near CDA.
Overall, I have one gallon dried so far. Honestly not as much as I'd like so I'm hoping for some kind of late season score here pretty quick.
I did take one solo trip to the Selway to look for them and really all I found was rain, a lot of rain. BUT, I came out with a small bag full of them. It was going to be a longer trip but I cut it down to two nights since I burned most of my wood by that time due to the cold weather and WET conditions.
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| This was the nicest one I found |
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| Nice little spot |
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| This was an intriguing view from the tent...I had a hard time catching it correctly on a photo |
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| Did I mention it was raining? |
After that, I did join Butch on another trip down there to check out a burn that ate up a couple thousand acres last summer. Not 10 minutes out of the pickup I heard him talking to someone and so wandered over to investigate. Turns out it was a FS law dog who proceeded to inform us that we needed a free permit to pick mushrooms. "Oh" I said, "do you have any on you?" He said no and that we would have to go to the District office to get one, but it was Saturday and they were closed. "Uhm, really? You can cite us but we don't have any way to BECOME legal?" Then, I guess since we were cooperating, he said there was someone down there for just this purpose and we should go talk to her and get a permit. So we did after he almost stepped on a morel..."don't pick it or I'll have to confiscate it and cite you!" Are you effing kidding me??
Well, we went to the office and, of course, the database was down so the gal couldn't get us our free permit to pick mushrooms. *sigh* Overall it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Not to mention we drove all that way only to get shut down. But, I was talking to a buddy who was walking around in there and he said he walked over five miles and got only two bags...the commercial pickers were just swarming over the area. One guy told us that there was one guy using a headlamp and working at night as well!!
Anywho...
I spent part of the spring building / digging up a new garden, building tools to use in it, and then put up fences around both of them just the other weekend.
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| I put together a trellis for the zucchini and cucumbers...trying to maximize space...they kind of took over the garden last year. |
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| Earlier I had built a cold frame...I'm going to try and keep something growing into the fall on the south side of the house. |
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| In the meantime, it helped me start some peas (in the pots), kale, and chard |
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| I put this fence up solo...that's six foot rabbit / deer fence...that was a PAIN. (I had to brace all of the posts since I didn't cement them in, when tightening the wire they leaned in.) |
And, just last week Butch and I drove down to Vancouver, WA to see his son Matt and do some salmon fishing! We went with a guide / friend of Matt's who was, a little intense. We met him on the river at five in the morning and the very first thing he said was, "Are we on the boat yet?" Wow. (By the way, that's a 3 a.m. wake up call...I pretty much didn't sleep that night so I was exhausted!) We loaded on the boat and went upriver to a place where only bank fishing was allowed. What folks did was set up on the shore, then rig three lines from three, 3-way swivels on the main line, and the whole shebang weighted down with a rock. The guy driving the boat would take this setup out in the middle of the Columbia while you free-spooled on the shore, he'd drop the rock, you'd take up slack and wait. The idea was that you would get a hit, grab the rod and run back up the bank to break that rock off (which was tied on with a lighter line than the main line) and then hopefully you still had a fish on.
Well, I know that all sound terribly simple (ha!) but it turned out there's some finesse involved that none of us had. The guys next to us limited out, but we had a heck up a time even getting a fish to stay on the hook! We fished for 12 hours, had about 30 hits, and no fish landed between Butch, Matt, and I. At one point our "guide" grabbed a rod and managed to catch a fish...so that was nice for him. Then his friend managed to get one. At one point the guys below us ran over my line, so while we're trying to deal with that tangle, I had a fish take one of the baits but since we were tangled up it got off!! Then a little later, me and this other fella had lines crossed and one of my baits was taken by a sturgeon (according to the guide.) It felt like a log dragging me into the river! That finally broke the 40 lb braided line we had on there and I lost about 450 feet of line!
Matt hooked up with a sturgeon that he and I saw breach out in the middle of the river...it was at least nine feet long and wore him out! They almost got it to shore, but then it slipped the hook. That was pretty fun for a while!
Anywho, it was an interesting trip. The guide ended up giving me his fish, so that was nice, but I still wanted to catch my first salmon myself. I don't have too many photos as we were pretty busy the whole time staring at the rods waiting for a hit.
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| Our transportation and guide. Notice the rod bent over...the lines had to be kept whistling tight! |
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| There was a bit of this that happened |
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| Matt and Butch rigging rocks for weights. By the way, notice the rocks we had to try and run on...those things were just waiting to twist your ankle. |
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| Odd to see the size of some of the boats going by! This is deceptive, but that's a huge yacht! |
It was a tough way to fish, I think next time I'll try and go with someone who's trolling! Needless to say, we all slept like rocks that night!
Well, that brings us to now. This weekend Sarah and I are going to plant the garden...it'll be nice to have that done for a while. I will continue my war on dandelions and hopefully get my boat in the water a time or two!
posted by geotracker12 at 10:35 AM
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