B2
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, September 4, 2021
Celebrating the
wonder of trout
DENNIS
DAUBLE
THE NATURAL WORLD
The morning chill hinted of
autumn. An abrupt change of season
seemed unlikely, however, after two
weeks of 100-degree temperatures.
Yesterday’s brief rainfall — the fi rst
in over two months — settled the
dust, but failed to bring relief to a
drought-suff ering landscape.
I stand on the side porch of our
family’s cabin and watch a pair of
rufous hummingbirds take turns
sipping from a bright red feeder.
Activity has dropped off since
early July when as many as eight
birds battled for position on a daily
basis. “Sugar water is their cock-
tail,” Mom once said. “They mostly
eat insects.”
A light breeze pushes the linger-
ing odor of smoke up the canyon
and rustles dried stalks of mullein
weed that line the fence. Shadows
form as the sun rises slowly over the
Umatilla River. A white cabbage
butterfl y, fl ight muscles suffi ciently
warmed to achieve launch mode,
fl utters in a sunlit opening. Quail
twitter deep in the brush where I
scattered bird seed yesterday.
This weekend marks a fifth
trip in two months dedicated to
rebuilding the bunkhouse. The
aged structure took in three feet
of water during the great fl ood of
February 2019, but cleanup was put
on hold while we worked to restore
the main cabin. Three sections of
the bunkhouse fl oor were cut out,
mud-soaked insulation removed
for disposal, and old-growth Doug-
las-fi r fl ooring replaced to make the
structure habitable for our grand-
children and the occasional over-
night visitor.
Today will be dedicated to fi sh-
ing, though. All work and no play
makes for a dull boy and the boy
inside this 70-year-old man desper-
ately wants to feel cool water swirl
around his ankles while he tosses
fl ies at wild trout. This new normal
of mandated social distance, mask-
ing in public places, and combat-
ive politics need not compromise
the amount of time a person spends
fishing. However, current “hoot
owl” regulations require I get off
the water by 2 p.m.
With the dusty gravel road to the
Forks Campground closed, I park
my truck downstream of Corpora-
tion Guard, weave through a thicket
of ripe elderberry and senescent
ocean spray, avoid fresh bear scat
and a patch of stinging nettle, high
step through an empty overfl ow
channel, and climb over downed
cottonwood to reach the river.
A long, wide, flat stretch of
water greets. Boulders the size of
washtubs remain turned on edge
after epic flood waters ravished
the river channel and associated
riparian corridor. Once great holes,
where swift current crested against
impassable bedrock walls, bull trout
lurked, and school-age children
swam, are fi lled shallow with loose
cobble and gravel.
Further downstream, a senti-
nel line of boulders forces the river
toward an undercut bank with over-
hanging alder. A small branched log
creates a back eddy. I wade across a
riffl e not so swift nor slick to require
a wading stick and crouch low with
the sun at my back. An exploratory
cast to the tongue of the pool yields
the aggressive splash of a hungry
trout. A second cast leads to hook-
ing a pan-size trout I turn loose.
Three more trout, ranging from
7 to 10 inches long, rise to the fl y
before I exit the pool. The largest
one, half of the daily two-trout limit
in these waters, is slipped into the
right mesh pocket of my fl y vest for
97-year old Mom. Her caregiver
will fry it up for dinner.
When nearby pocket pools fail
to yield even a 5-inch trout I hike
upstream over sun-bleached rocks
to a turbulent run in the shade of
moss-covered bedrock. My No.
10 Royal Stimulator smacks the
surface like a grasshopper that
failed to pull off a six-point land-
ing and is immediately taken down.
Some strikes require quick refl exes.
This one goes in the no-brainer
category. It turns out to be the larg-
est and most vivid trout of the day.
Dark speckles across the width
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Native redband trout are feisty and eagerly rise to a fl y in the middle of the day.
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Ripe elderberries are available for
making jelly or for black bears to
gobble down.
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Where good holding water exists, a pan-size trout or two can be found.
of its broad fl anks; crimson stripe
along the lateral line; gill plates a
blush of rose. I snap a picture as
it rests gasping in the shallows,
nudge it gently with the toe of my
wading sandal, and watch it shoot
like a rocket to the safety of deep
water.
Holding water remains sparse. It
may be years before this and other
Blue Mountain streams return
to their former glory. But where
adequate depth and cover exists,
trout are found. Large pools hold
juvenile spring chinook salmon,
as evidenced by a gold fl ash made
when they grab at my fl y. Deep-
er-bodied than trout of the same
length, this year’s hatch of baby
salmon will remain until spring
snowmelt and associated rising fl ow
hastens their journey to the Colum-
bia River and eventually the Pacifi c
Ocean. A larger fl y is favored so as
to not hook these 3-inch foretellers
of a 12-pound adult.
More than one trout nosed my fl y
and did not return. Others ignored
off erings when a tiny ball of algae
clung to the head of the fl y. You
could say they were hungry, but not
desperate. Small stream fl y fi sh-
ing is rarely a case of match-the-
hatch or observing the nature of a
rise form. You start with a pattern
that has worked well in the past and
use it until it no longer attracts, gets
chewed up, or is lost because of an
errant cast.
Journal notes show 32 trout
hooked and released in two hours of
fi shing. On a fi ne summer morning
with no other angler in sight. With-
out a care in the world. I guess that’s
why I revel in the wonder of trout.
———
Dennis Dauble is a retired
fi shery scientist, outdoor writer,
presenter and educator who lives
in Richland, Washington. For
more stories about outdoor adven-
ture, including fi sh and fi shing in
area waters, see DennisDauble-
Books.com.
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