Another fishing day.........

Last Friday it was suppose to rain so I got up and was working at home. I kept looking off to the west and could not see any clouds that would signal rain. Lorelei got up and said...."hey why don't we go fishing". Well I had to think about it for nearly two seconds and then said OK!
There are some salmon running in a river close to home so we chose not to make the drive over to the coast and instead drove about 15 miles to the east. There is a very small boat ramp on the Yamhill River in Dayton. We arrived at around noon and prepared the boat. Now even though this river is much closer to our house, the boat ride to get where the fish are is much longer. It's about a 5 mile run down this small river to get to the confluence with the Willamette river. That is where we figured to find the best concentration of fish. The five mile run must be made cautiously because of the many logs and snags in the water. We were cruising along enjoying the boat ride when I spied something along the bank. We got closer and we saw this. Lorelei got a nice picture of the critter.

I think it is a mink and it's the first one we have seen. We continued on down, enjoying the beautiful fall colors munching on our sandwiches that Lorelei packed for lunch.

When we reached the mouth of the Yamhill where it dumps into the Willamette we immediately saw fish jumping. The pinkish colored coho salmon were everywhere! We fished in vain for nearly 5 hours without a bite.



We fished until nearly dark and by the time we reached the launch ramp it was dark and cold. We had a very nice day on the water. We saw some Great Blue Heron, Kingfishers, Osprey and other birds.
Well.....someday we will catch a fish that we can bring home. Until then....no one can say that we haven't tried!

Glynn Jr.

Another great day at the coast.....

Lorelei and I, in our seemingly never ending quest to bring home a salmon, went over to the coast again on Wed. The salmon had all moved up river. I did manage to hook and land a native coho which you all know by now must be returned to the river. We did, also catch a few crabs which we brought home and eagerly devoured last night for dinner. We took some time to relax and explore the estuary. It was a beautiful day with temps in the upper 60's, maybe even 70! Lorelei sat in the front of the boat and got some great pictures! We had an awesome day and didn't get back home until well after dark.

An old root ball in the estuary.

A pair of Mallards take flight.

A Cormorant with a long take-off.

Who are you looking at?

Thanks for looking!
Glynn Jr.

More salmon fishing.....

So last Wed. Lorelei and I head over to the Salmon River again hoping to bring home dinner. What a beautiful day on the coast! Temp was in the 70's. We didn't get a salmon but we had a great day on the water. We fished until our arms ached. Lorelei again did not want to leave. She is a trooper!

Glynn Jr.

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.