Rogue River Twitch

We recently took a trip down the Rogue River with Helfrich Outfitters.  As always, they show their clients a good time.  This is our first day putting in just above Graves Creek near Galice, OR.

After lunch that day we were treated to a show of helicopters dipping water out of the river from in front of and behind our boats.  All the camp sites along the south bank were closed due to wild fire.  We actually saw one area that was still smoldering and one log with flames coming from it.  It was still pretty smoky in that area and we really noticed it while trying to sleep in our cabin that night at Black Bar Lodge.

We didn't stop at Zane Grey's cabin.  It is a neat place to see, but it had all been wrapped in tin foil to help protect it from the fires.  We were able to see a glimpse of it from the river.

Along the way we got to stop and explore Rogue River Ranch.  (I can't believe it, because of the government shut down I can't even link to the page.)  It is a historic ranch that was established in the 1880's during the gold rush.  You can take a self guided tour through the house, tack shed, and blacksmith shop.  The grounds have a caretaker who lives there and keeps the place in beautiful condition.  There is a large field where people can even camp for the night.  I guess it's a good thing we were there when we were, it's probably all locked up now.

I think this set of rapids is called Blossom Bar.  To me there was no obvious route through these boulders and I was very thankful to be with such experienced guides.  It's kind of hard to see because of the rock behind it, but that big boulder behind and to the right of that boat has a big hole worn through it, I think it's called C rock.

We did a lot of fishing.  The first day we tried to catch salmon, but they weren't hungry so we switched to fly fishing for half pounders.  These fish have a rather unique life cycle, I added a link that gives a brief but nice explanation.  We used wet flies and a technique called the "Rogue River Twitch."  It was fun and thanks to lessons from the guides my cast was getting pretty good by the third day.  Turns out that half pounders love vitamin D.  This is Vitamin D:

The guy who developed this particular fly pattern named it Vitamin D.  I thought it was pretty as far as flies go, too bad the ones that get in our houses and annoy us aren't as attractive.

And this is one of the half pounders I caught and brought home.

It was a good trip with no phones, no radio, and no TV except at the last lodge.  The weather was beautiful, but it did get cold and windy on the third day.  I think this photo was during a sun break that day.  Oh, we also enjoyed the company of a family from Eugene that was in our group.  They were a nice bunch who enjoyed fishing and laughter.  

Other than getting back into canning (in the middle of the night, thanks to shift work), that's about the extent of my summer fun this year.