Where's the fish??

 

Been having some really tough fishing on my home water, the Middle Fork of the Willamette.  Steelhead counts over Willamette falls has been about half of prior years which doesn't help.  I am a bit of a hypocrite as one who advocates for wild fish, but the convenience of chasing these hatchery summer runs near home is too hard to resist. 

Thankfully, being out on the river and enjoying God's creation is always enough for me, especially since my repeated trips to my local ditch has yet to yield a rise or grab, much less a bent rod this season.

I've been splitting my time between fishing foam skaters during low light periods and in riffly runs and fishing lead eyed Samurais to get a bit deeper when light is on the water.

Enjoying a sunny day on the water with friends Tony Torrence and Craig Coover.

Lately, I haven't been happy unless my fly reels come from England so I've been selling off my disc reels to be able to purchase vintage clickers like this JW Young seen above.  A 3 7/8 Hardy Perfect is also on it's way in the mail thanks to the Speypages classifieds.  It's been a time of "retooling" my fly reel aresenal.  At least I'm enjoying new toys while the steelhead are considerate enough not to interrupt my meditation and casting practice!