B2
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Fishing:
Continued from Page B1
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Riverside’s Miriam Landeros leads the 100-meter hurdles on Thursday, April 14, 2022, in Boardman at the Co-
lumbia River Invitational.
SPORTS SHOTS
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Marco Landeros long jumps on Thursday, April 14,
2022, in Boardman at the Columbia River Invitational.
Two Echo/Stanfield outfielders converge on a long fly
ball Tuesday, April 12, 2022, while playing Mac-Hi in
Echo. The Cougars defeated Mac-Hi Pioneers in a dou-
bleheader 9-4 and 10-3.
energytrust.org
boneheaded mistake of leaning
my Sage streamer rod against the
passenger side of the truck upon
returning from the lake. Upon
arriving home, I realized the rod
case was empty. I had left the
rod standing against the truck,
hidden from view, as I packed
up and drove away, leaving it for
some lucky angler to later stum-
ble upon.
Selecting a remotely compara-
ble backup among the tubes and
sleeves scattered about the cabi-
net proved challenging. Wiggling
a rod from the stack was like
plucking the wrong block from
the Jenga tower. Rod tubes
toppled out as I scrambled to
keep them from hitting the floor.
How many rods is too many, I
pondered?
The elephant in the room was
my emotional attachment to the
collection. I had handbuilt almost
all of them, and each was unique.
There was the midnight-blue
Batson two-weight with a deer
antler reel seat built for Appala-
chian brook trout.
Then there was a black cher-
ry-finished switch rod with cock
pheasant feather inlays that has
landed all of my steelhead on the
fly.
There was the tenkara rod
I use for salmon that landed a
legitimate 28-inch pink salmon
buck in southeast Alaska in 2019.
And those aren’t even the book
ends. How is one expected to part
with functional art that carries a
backstory like that?
Deciding upon an old Amer-
ican Tackle five-weight and a
six-weight switch rod, I moved
on to the fly selection to find a
similar situation. Voluminous
boxes and fly types that once
were organized to a particular
structure had fallen into disarray.
Boxes were dispersed among the
various backpacks and duffels
devoted to field time and travel.
Nymphs and streamers were
the only flies I needed for this
particular trip, but which of four
streamer boxes held the small
laser-dubbed bugger-type flies
I sought, and where in the hell
was it?
Grabbing each bag and
emptying its contents on the
couch littered blue, green and
white foam boxes, gray plas-
tic flip-sided boxes, giant “meat
lockers” packed with blue,
orange and purple “intruders”
capable of spooking a shark, and
the one aluminum box of metic-
ulously separated nymphs. At
least the nymphs are kept with
some order, but the lid of that
box was stuffed with various
dry fly patterns. Grabbing the
nymph box and small foam box
of streamers provided enough
ammunition to be dangerous, so I
moved on to the reel selection.
Throwing the lid open on
the reel case revealed a dozen
reels to fit the rods of all sizes.
I was looking specifically for
the big Ross reel with full-sink-
ing line for the switch-rod and
an Okuma with the floating line
for the five-weight. “Where is
that Okuma reel with the white
line?” I thought, before realizing
that reel was attached to the Sage
rod that found a new home last
year. An Orvis Battenkill with
a weight-forward floating line
would be the replacement.
The Ross was an easy find
as the sinking line was striped
blue and orange, but I could not
specifically recall the other line
and reel I was seeking. The deep
green line was another sink-
ing line. The bright orange lines
were for a three-weight or the
shooting heads for steelhead fish-
ing. The bright green line was a
double-taper floating five-weight
that would not cut it on the lake.
Finally, I recalled the reel was
actually on a different rod in
another case, but was an easy
find since the case was too big to
fit in the cabinet.
With the most important gear
gathered, my attention turned
to the various other necessities
like leader wallets, split-shot,
the multi-tool, snacks, fishing
license and camera and accesso-
ries. Luckily, I had only one set
of waders and boots to match up.
A week following the epic
outing for feisty spring trout,
my truck was loaded for a trip to
Goodwill. A single fly rod found
its way into the cab — a 14-foot,
nine-weight spey rod that I had
owned for a decade and never
used. A modest “downsizing,”
and temporary at that.
I could use another 10-foot,
five-weight to replace that Sage, I
thought, when pulling away from
Goodwill. After all, I had made
room in the cabinet.
———
Brad Trumbo is a fish and wild-
life biologist and outdoor writer in
Waitsburg, Washington. For tips and
tales of outdoor pursuits and conser-
vation, visit www.bradtrumbo.com.