History repeats itself, only a little cheaper this time.

In the early 80's my Mother, two sisters and one Brother -in-law came to Oregon to visit. Wanting to show them a good time I inquired of a friend about the possibility of some place to take them on the Rogue River to fish for Salmon. The Rogue is famous, and I was sure that it would please them if nothing else to catch some Trout. To cut to the chase the Salmon were running hot and heavy, and I caught three with an old "Fenwick" fishing Rod. The fish were big enough that I ended up breaking the rod bringing the last one in. Before the summer was over I had bought a Drift boat, motor and all the accoutrement's needed to fish for Salmon. The only problem with all that besides the expense was that no one else knew how to row and survive on the Rogue, so I was always on the oars. I think in the time that I had the boat I only caught one Salmon, since I was always rowing. I figure those Salmon were worth somewhere in the neighborhood of about 1.5 K per fish.

I have fought the urge to buy a Kayak ever since I moved here. Truth is that there are few places where even a kayak is of use here in the Desert.

I don't think that I made very much if any of the fact that the migrant Ducks that come in here bring with them some kind of parasite that burrows under the skin and itches like crazy. The first night after my first fishing trip was pretty interesting, and now even after all that time, my legs are still pretty sensitive, and are perfectly willing to itch like crazy with any errant touch.

I first thought about getting some big girl pantyhose to wear the next time I needed to fish. Of course some of the people that I mentioned this to, were quite happy to make fun of me. However once again I had an "itch" for a Kayak again.

I checked Amazon- 1-2 month delivery time, Cabela's didn't have one in stock. So I checked Craig's list. Nothing but touring Kayaks there, but there was a nice old town Canoe there for $250.00. I called the guy and told him that I would take it and would come into town and pick it up in two days.

On the day that we were going into town the guy called my cell phone and told me that he had sold it to another guy. I hope his mother is proud of how her little boy turned out!

I had to go into Sportsman's Warehouse any way and what do you know, the Kayak that I had been looking for was there. What the hell, I've been a good little boy, I deserve a little spoiling every now and then.

So Karen and I drag it home on top of the Subaru, and she suggested that I try it out in the pool. I was lucky and the only witness to my coming humiliation was the dogs, and I have them securely sworn to secrecy. Let me say that getting into a Kayak in deep water can be tricky and damn they are heavy when full of water.

So today dawned full of smoke from the fires in Nevada and Calif. so flying was out of the question, so I guess the only reasonable thing to do was go fishing again.

The Kayak handled quite well, and moved with little effort on my part. A bit too well, so an anchor is next. It was really the wrong time to go fishing, but I did manage to hook three fish, with one of them jumping sky high and throwing the hook.

It was nice to see that there was a nice covey of Chuckars using the pond.

Dave, Reuben and Elsie were moving a bunch of Cows back to the ranch past the pond. I came back in to chat with them for a bit, and decided that two fish was enough for the first time. The cost for the Kayak is going down. These two fish only cost $300. bucks each.

There has been a bit of discussion as to what these fish are. Red Band - Bull Trout. This one had a bit of color under its gills as well as a little blush to it gill cover. I really do not know what it is, but I do know that they taste good and fight like crazy.

Fishing in the Desert

I have a tendency to hole up when it is real hot or real cold. Soon it becomes a habit, and in no time I am sitting on my butt a lot more than I am happy with. Yeah we walk each morning, and I do manage to go flying when the winds and weather is just right, but still, I should be more active.

I decided today that I was going to go fishing for the first time this year. I haven't been down on the river yet, for one reason or another. Mostly the water was too high until just recently. Then I keep forgetting to call the landowner the night before to ask permission. Again just sheer laziness. I did roll the plane out for a flight to check last nights light show. We had thought that there was a small fire on the Desert between us and the Whitehorse, but I could find no sign of one. I was surprised to find at least three of the playa ponds were full of water from the recent storms.

I went into the shop and drug out a float tube that we had bought years ago, and used perhaps twice, filled it with air, went digging through my fishing supplies trying to find something that would work for trout. I am more set up for Bass and Catfish, but I was hoping that either plastic worms or some spinners would pull me through.

The big problem with the pond that we went to is that it is almost covered with weeds, the aquatic kind. I knew that there would be no way to fish from the bank. I still had a pair of swim fins that I had bought more than 20 years ago, and really never used either.

A ten mile drive across the desert brought us to the pond. It had dried up several years ago and really not refilled before the last couple of years. The BLM stocks year around ponds with Lahontan Trout which can live in warmer waters.  Prior to its drying up, it held some really nice trout. I was really sad when it dried up. Now I had heard that the Trout were back and of catchable size.

The outside temps were running near 100, and I found all kinds of excuses to sit in my chair. Finally shame got me moving. Karen and the Dogs however were ready for some diversion.

Upon arrival, the dogs and I went around the pond to check things out. There was a long narrow area that Trout or fish seemed to be rising for something edible. As I figured there was no way to get a fish in past the weed beds even if I could catch one. I went back and got all my stuff, stripped down to my tidy whities and started trying to put my flippers on while sitting in the tube. Not happening, so I got out, put the flippers on and managed to get into the tube without killing myself, or falling into the water.

I first tried the plastic worm, and didn't get any indication that any thing out there was interested. I tied on a really small black Mepps spinner, and started casting to  where I thought there was a clear patch of water. On about the third cast, I got a hit, but missed it. More casts in that area finally yielded a hard hit. After carefully fighting the fish, I managed to pull into the tube with me a truly magnificent Trout about 18 inches long and about 6 inches deep. I managed to land four of the nicest Trout I have seen in a long time. I could have taken one more, but four of these cuties was enough for at least three meals for Karen and I.

I was so confident of my chances for success that I had made no provision for transporting any fish home. Karen had packed some stuff in one of those cloth shopping bags, so we dumped all that out and put the fish in it.

Just the other day Karen had mentioned that she wished she had some Trout to eat. I dug out some Catfish and Bass that I had caught last year and we had them for dinner. They were good, deep fried in sourdough beer batter, but still not Trout.

Well today we made up for it and had two of these babies. I liked the others , but the Trout tasted as only two hours from water to frying pan can get.

Revisiting Cow Lakes Lava Flow

Some years ago I made a video of a flight over the Cow Lakes Lava Flow. The camera that I had at the time was only able to record at 480 kbs and the video is grainy. I wanted to do it again with the 1080 Vimeo Camera that I now have.

https://vimeo.com/226399752        password -  owyheeflyer

I increased the air in my tundra tires to 5 lbs. At three pounds it was like trying to land a Pogo Stick. The last video landing I made with them at three pounds had a total of nine different landings on one attempt. I was very glad that I did as I made two landing while I was over there.

We decided to forgo our morning walk today and that gave me a chance to get out a lot earlier than what has become normal. That is good since the later in the morning the higher the wind. I would normally tell you that coffee has no real effect on me other than an occasional bad taste in my mouth, but something was missing this morning. I of course made coffee as soon as I got up, but did all my chores, rolled out and preflighted the plane, setting my coffee on the floor of the plane without ever having taken a sip of it. I taxiied up the hill and stopped to warm the engine. I started looking for the remote to the camera, and couldn't find it. I turned around in a cloud of dust, and started back to the hanger. I called Karen on the radio to bring it out to me. She informed me that the last time she had seen it was around my neck this morning. I found it! Oh well, any body could have made that mistake, right?

The engine reached operating temps, and I took off heading North. As I flew I checked my remote and found that I had forgotten to turn on the video camera. :-/ No problem! I decided to land at the BLM strip at Burns Jct and turn it on. At that point I should have turned around and went back to bed, but didn't. Perhaps I should have taken the time to drink a cup before I left? Oh well, Pobodys Nerfect, right?

After all that, I did "straighten up and flew right". It was a bit slow at ground level and bumpy as well, so I climbed up to about 5000 and the air smoothed and I had a bit of tailwind. There was quite a bit of haze in the sky from a fire in Northern Nevada, and for the first part I was flying right into the sun.

The only wildlife I saw other than Ducks and Geese was three Deer right at the lava flow.

When I got on the other side of the Lava flow I came up to the Jordan Craters Road, and decided that my butt was beginning to cramp. I lined up on the road and set it down. The tires was much better and even though the road was pretty well washboard, the landing was smooth. I didn't realize how much washboard there was until the plane got down to about walking speed, then I could feel it.

After stretching a bit I lifted off and began my return home.

The strip at Burns Jct.

Scott's Butte

 Drifted in Volcano vent

Earlier lava flow

Cow Lakes Lava Flow

Time for a stretch

mouth of the vent

Filled in vent

Pillars of Rome

Antelope Reservoir

Its been a bit of a struggle to find a reason to go flying this year. I have been every place within my range of area that I can go without refueling at least 20 or more times. So when the weather is so unsettled and the flight window is so small, I generally rationalize the wisdom of staying on the ground. We've had temps over 100 now for several weeks. It has been working on my subconscious for some time that I might be getting old, but I think it just might be laziness.

The windows for quality smooth flight have been really short all spring. We have had little short spells that seem just fine, but when I get into the sky up above the sheltering ridges that surround us, it can be compared to a tumble dryer. The plane can take it, I just don't seem to want it bad enough to make the effort.

I did decide that I wanted to look at Antelope Reservoir a little better than I have so far. We have had a stellar water year, probably the best since our arrival in this area. Yesterday was that day.

 https://vimeo.com/225632176      password-     owyheeflyer

I normally don't take a regular camera with me on most of my flights. Thinking that the video would be enough. I have taken some screen shots off the video as I am editing it, but the size is pretty small. Yesterday I decided to experiment with the camera feature of my Vimeo recorder. It is reputed to be able to take pictures while recording, so I decided to see what they were like. I am a bit underwhelmed, but it was easier.

I had thought to be able to interweave them into my video to enhance the story line, but the video is too long as it is, so here is the next best option.