BROWN REED TROUT!
Life has been somewhat eventful as of late. A new job, lots of cool new projects (still ongoing) at my old job, and Dee up and moving to Montana on me.
I decided some time ago to start learning some of this fly tying, fly fishing stuff that I keep reading about, so I mentioned to Denny that I was thinking of starting to learn to tie flies. The response I got was nothing short of overwhelming to say the least. Time however has been an enemy (with everything that has been going on). I may have all the materials and implements of destruction, but no free time to actually learn.
So, I did the next best thing. I noted the Central Washington Fish In (CWFI) was coming up, and I decided to bite the bullet, buy some equipment and go over to central Washington to meet a couple of you. I wasn’t expecting much, but a couple days of no obligations and just being able to hang was a powerful draw.
So I told my better half, that I was off to play with the boys for a day or two, and she enthusiastically supported my mini vacation alone. I think my attitude had begun to deteriorate with the last couple of months schedule and all. In any case getting me out of her hair for 2 days was a vacation for her I’m sure.
I woke up early in the morning, packed the cooler, and my minivan and headed east via I90. With my android phone from T-Mobile spouting directions at me, I figured this would be a fun and easy trip. So off and over the Cascade Mountains I went. All went well until I crossed the summit and was passing the reservoir that we nicknamed Stump Lake. For some reason Google’s Navigate app on my phone wanted me to turn left into the granite walls on the other side of the free way. Fortunately, being smarter than the average bear (barely) I decided to turn off the silly voice box, and drove in relative peace and quiet until I passed over the Columbia River. Getting close to the expected exit I decided to pull into the view point and turn on the Navigator.
OK, so a little explanation here. I don’t like snakes, nope, not at all. Needless to say *I* didn’t get out of my vehicle to admire this spectacular view. Not really what I needed to see starting off my vacation.
It’s a pity too because this overlook has a small hill with some steel sculptures on it, and other brave souls were walking down the path from this area. But NOPE I have more sense than that. No courage mind you but lots of sense (aka cowardice?).
Well, a few minutes of setting my destination into my phone, and off I went again, the phone telling me where to go the whole way to Ephrata. Once there I called Denny on his cell phone, and he told me he was at the end of the stream. I got myself a Sprite from the Burger King, and headed to the end of the waters. I chose the wrong end of course, and had to backtrack to the area that Denny had set up camp.
I set up my cot INSIDE my van (let’s see them nasty rattlers get me there) and decided to spend the night. Denny inspected my gear, gave it a nod of approval, and soon afterward Z arrived to say hello. I still needed a couple things, and Z offered to go with me to the local fly fishing store to insure I was set up correctly. Then after buying a few necessities, we went to the main camp site to learn how to lawn cast.
I got the basics from Z, drank a couple O’Doules (I’m a raging non-alcoholic these days), and thoroughly enjoyed myself before heading back to the camp site for a quick run at trying out my new found skill, dinner and a good night’s rest. Now keep in mind that the camp site is across the road and a short distance from the water. You have to take a path past lots of sage brush and rocks. Rattlesnake heaven in short, add that to the fact that while drinking O’Doules the topic of seeing snakes on this trip came up, and we had at least one positive sighting. My eyes did more darting from side to side than a Cylon in overdrive.
The next morning Denny and his camping buddy Ken poured some coffee and we headed down to the water. The day before Denny gave me a few extra pointers and I was feeling a lot more confident in my ability to get the fly out and onto the water.
Denny made the whole thing look easy and you could look into the water and see monster fish lazily swim by your vantage point to look up at you and laugh at us novice casters. They did lots of laughing at me for sure. I had a ball however, and in my first fishing experience I am happy to say that I caught lots (and lots) of brown reed trout.
These brown reed trout, as seen in the picture above were very plentiful and more than eager to eat your (well, OK, MY) flies. But I caught an awful lot of them, and they put up a heck of a fight. Brown Reed Trout; It’s not every day you get the chance to name a new species of fish you know.
In the end, I got to meet some nice people, caught lot’s of reeds (ahem Trout), didn’t catch any fish, and didn’t get bit, or even see a snake (Yay! I’d hate to have had to donate my gear to the snake population; it’s not overly expensive, but not cheap either). Fishing the other waters with the FAOL members at the main camp site would have been fun, but I had 3 hours to travel home, and an issue of FAOL to get put up, so I headed home a little early. If you’ve never done a fish in, I recommend it. You can meet a lot of really good people, get some sage advice, drink a little of your favorite poison, and in general relax, and recharge.
My only regret was that I only had a day and a half to unwind. Next time, I think it’ll be a bit longer. Till then all I can say is “Tight lines”. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find a brown reed trout at the end of that line too. We can only hope.
--Ron--