Fishing....fishing.....and more fishing....

Sunday before last the Pennington's and the Upshaw's got together.Corina was going off to college in a couple of days and we were invited over to do some fishing at their pond. Lorelei took the next few pictures.

Below: Corina with a bluegill she caught on a hand line.

Adam and Pam drove over from Portland to join the fun. Below Pam holds a nice largemouth bass while Adam and Cody look on.

Cody pulled in a nice Crappie!

Below: Jon and Corina work together on another largemouth.

We had a great day with wonderful family and friends. Everyone caught fish. Adam took a couple of the bass home to eat. The Upshaw's insisted that we stay for dinner. It really was a nice day.

So then last Thursday I suggested to Lorelei that we go salmon fishing. I had a reliable report that the salmon were in, so we headed for the coast. The forecast was for rain, so we bundled up and headed out. It wasn't long before Lorelei had a salmon on the line. It jumped and ran and jumped some more. I told her it was probably foul hooked and then a few seconds later it was off. Lorelei was bummed but I reminded her that if it was foul hooked we would have had to release it. Now I should have stopped and explained every possible scenario for needing to release a salmon that you catch. Not doing this was going to bite me this day. See until this day Lorelei had not hooked, fought, landed and brought home to eat a salmon totally on her own.

So about an hour later Lorelei's rod bends over and her reel starts screaming. It's a beautiful chrome bright salmon, fresh from the ocean. As it swims by the boat I can see it's legally hooked in the mouth. Lorelei fights the fish all on her own. She did great!

As I scoop the shiny salmon into the net, Lorelei's hands are shaking and she is almost in tears of delight. As I look closer at the fish, I realize that it is a native Coho. Now I know the drill well and without thinking I say something like "well we have to throw this one back". Lorelei says something like "I know you are just kidding". One look at her face and I realized that she really did think I was kidding. When she realized that in fact I was not kidding I thought maybe she was going to throw me back and keep the salmon.

Below, Lorelei musters a smile before returning her salmon to the river.

About 15 minutes later, Lorelei hooked another salmon! This one was a big one, well over 20 pounds. She battled it until her arms ached. Since it was so big, I just knew it had to be a Chinook and legal to keep. We finally netted the huge fish.........and yes you probably guessed by now, it was the largest native Coho I have ever seen! Now if you have ever been in a small boat next to a 100 lb. bundle of dynamite with a fuse that is about to be lit, then you know how I felt at that moment.
To say the least, Lorelei was not happy about returning her two salmon to the river. Fish were jumping everywhere and she was determined to catch a legal one. She fished until I finally had to insist that we head for the boat ramp as the tide was going out and I was beginning to worry that we may not have enough water to make it back to the ramp.

We head back to the river this morning to try again.

Then on Saturday our friends Bobbi and Ron were here from California. Jon, Ron and I went over to the Upshaw's pond for some more fishing!

Below: Ron with a nice bass.

And Jon with another hog!

 

I sure am missing cross country this year but as you can see, fishing here in Oregon in the fall is really nice and it's something we have not done much of the past few years.

Take care all. Drop us a note. We love to hear from you.

You can see all of the Sept. pictures HERE

Glynn Jr.

Back to school........

So it's the last day of summer. Our summer here in the Northwest was very mild. We did not have a day over 100 degrees. The farmers and grape growers are suffering from lack of sunshine. We have enjoyed the mild temps although our garden and orchard have not put out the fruit and vegetables as in years past.

Jon's girlfriend Corina leaves for college today. She is going to a school in the Seattle area. Her and Jon have been very close these past few months. Corina and her whole family are great people and we will miss her while she is away.

Cody is back in school. He really doesn't enjoy public school much but he is making the best of it. Most of his teachers we have known for years and they really enjoy having Cody in their class. Cody will be doing band and chess club this year but he is not sure about track. We will see.
Below, Cody on a trip to the river with his hot dog roasting invention.

Lorelei is subbing in the school system again this year and she has worked quite a bit the past few weeks.
Below, Lorelei down by the river with Queenie.

Jon starts classes next week and he also landed a job at the new local grocery store in Amity!

As for me, stuff is hectic with work and I am really missing being around the cross country team this year. But all in all we are doing well. Fall is my favorite time of year. The salmon will be filling the rivers soon and there is wood to cut and brush piles to burn. Not to mention I am WAY behind on my preventive maintenance for everything mechanized!


Glynn Jr.

Vacation 2010 San Juan Islands Washington State

Vacation 2010! After missing the last two years at our favorite vacation spot, we decided to head for the San Juan Islands in Northern Washington State. The trip started out a little rough. When we got up to finish loading the truck, the dome lights were flashing inside the vehicle. Uh oh….I know we didn’t have the doors open much the day before and I knew that it had been almost 6 years since we replaced the battery. It was on my list to do before winter.

Well now we had a problem. I knew we couldn’t go the entire trip worrying about the battery so we stopped on the way and got a new one. Once we got to the ferry and got in line, Jon and I pulled out the tools and changed it out.

Once we got to the rental house, we were unloading all the stuff and we seemed to be missing a bag of food? Very curious…..well it so happened there was too much food to fit into the ice chest and other usual containers so, some was put into a bag that looked just like a garbage bag. Yep, you guessed it. Someone, who shall remain nameless grabbed two bags of trash that needed to go out, when in reality there was only one bag of trash and one bag of food!

The weather was awesome, in the 60’s and 70’s every day with just a sprinkle of rain one day. We hiked and biked and drove all around Orcas Island. In fact on an Island that is no more than 20 miles across we logged over 200 miles on the truck.

The next problem came when we launched the boat for a day on the water to crab and fish. The little outboard started acting up again and seemed it was again starving for fuel. Bummer, we made the best of it and were able to motor around once I learned the trick to keeping the motor running. But the wind was blowing and the ocean was kicking up and the crabbing wasn’t very good so we chose to call it a day and put the boat back on the trailer.

We had a wonderful week and took lots of pictures, ate way too much and just goofed off! One day I took Cody and Lorelei on a hike to Turtle Back Mountain. I thought by looking on the map it was a mile or so up to the top and I wanted to find some vistas to photograph. So Cody and Lorelei willingly followed with no water or food thinking it would be a short hike…….well that’s the last time they will listen to me! It was just a little farther than I thought. We started the hike around 10:00 am and we got back to the truck at 2:00 p.m.! Oops……. We were tired and hungry and thirsty….so we headed into town for a late lunch.

We also had fun getting off the island. We convinced Lorelei that if we got up early and packed everything up we could make the 12:00 noon ferry. Jon and I surmised that if we got to the ferry landing by 10:30 a.m . we should have no trouble even though the pamphlet put out by the Washington State Ferry system says to get there 2 hours ahead of time. They always tell you that but hey, we know better right…. Well…….we pulled up at 10:35 to a LINE of vehicles and as we came up to the lady in charge she says “pull forward there for the 2:30 ferry” AHHHHH……so here it is that we are in line for the ferry that leaves in 4 HOURS.

So we sat and talked, we walked around, we ate lunch, we walked around and then we got on the ferry. We pulled into our house at 9:30 p.m. The truck had actually been driven 317 miles and it took 11 hours to do it. As we sat in line we heard that it wasn’t long before the 2:30 was full and they were starting to line cars up for the 5:00 ferry. Wow, I am glad we didn’t have to wait for that one.

Ok so the things my family learned on vacation.

1: Don’t rely on me to properly maintain the vehicle.

2: Don’t rely on me to properly maintain the outboard motor.

3: Don’t follow me on a hike.

4: Don’t listen to me when it’s time to calculate the ferry schedule.

Plus....I no longer have to take out the trash!

The group at Rosario Resort
Jon, Corina, me, Cody

Cody goes in for the  close up.

 View from atop Mt. Constitution at sunset with the full moon rising. Looking southeast towards the mainland.

 Molly the resident seal hanging out near the docks at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Waiting to catch the ferry at Friday Harbor. Cody, Lorelei, Corina, Jon

 Lorelei trying out the island transportation.

We took the boat up to Mountain Lake one day and had a great time.

A view from the "Turtle Back Mountain Hike"

Sunrise from Turtle Back Mountain

If you want to see more pictures from the trip, click HERE

Glynn Jr.