Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, June 11, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Return of the
night eel
Major Lee Moorhouse/Contributed photo
Billy Barnhart’s camp on a bluff above the lower Umatilla River, around 1903, showing “eels” drying on wooden poles.
Pacific lamprey have
endured the effects
of dam-building
DENNIS
DAUBLE
THE NATURAL WORLD
I
t is a breezy day in late May and I am
knee deep in the Umatilla River. Flows
dropped enough following a recent
surge of snowmelt and rainfall to allow for
safe wading. Cliff swallows carve a graceful
path through the air as they pick mothlike
caddisfl ies from the water’s surface. The
honey-sweet odor of wispy cottonwood
bloom fl oods the air. Water cascading from
upstream rapids masks the sound of nearby
freeway traffi c.
I stand still as a post where a patch of
loose gravel has collected atop ancient lava
fl ow and watch a pair of Pacifi c lamprey
wriggle in gentle current. Named the “night
eel” because of their nocturnal behavior and
serpentine shape, lamprey lack the back-
bone of true eels that spawn in the Sar-
gasso Sea. Without paired fi ns to maneuver
and an air bladder to stay buoyant, they are
more challenged than an ’49 Ford on a Los
Angeles freeway. What lamprey do possess,
though, is the ability to navigate rock-faced
falls using their sucking mouth to grab hold
and fl exible tail to corkscrew up and over.
Adult lampreys migrate from the
Pacifi c Ocean from May to September
and “hold over” in mainstem reser-
voirs of the Columbia and Snake Rivers
before spawning the following year. Their
appearance in Blue Mountain streams
coincides with the spring migration of
chinook salmon, welcome bloom of arrow-
leaf balsamroot, and the joyful song
of meadowlark.
See, Eels/Page B2
The Associated Press, File
Pacifi c lamprey attach to rock cliff s prior to corkscrewing up and over falls
impassable to other fi sh.
A boatload of embarrassing moments
If you’ve ever
owned a boat,
you’ll have at least
one good story
GARY
LEWIS
ON THE TRAIL
I
f you ever shake hands
with my dad, you will
comment on his grip.
He got it milking cows, and
it has saved his life more
than once. One time while
fi shing the Cowlitz River
with friends, it was time
for my dad to get out of the
boat and fi sh from shore.
Our guide assured me and
dad it was a safe place to
climb out, despite the river
being at fl ood stage.
I protested three times,
but the captain was so sure,
dad jumped out and went
in up to his neck. The river
was near raging and dad’s
legs were sucked under
the boat. Fortunately, dad
had a good grip. He kept
a tight hold on the side of
the boat with one hand
and that’s what kept him
from being swept under the
boat and out into the main
current where he would
have drowned.
Anyone who has
owned a boat has an
embarrassing story.
Several of the boats I
have owned were embar-
rassing just sitting in the
driveway. Here is a list of
boating mistakes people
make every day.
We hit the dock too hard.
Watch an experienced cap-
tain drive a boat up next to
a dock and cut the engine,
using the wind and cur-
rent to glide right in. It’s a
thing of beauty. But 50%
of the time, the current and
the wind are against you
and it’s a thing of entertain-
ment. For anyone watching.
The hardest boat I ever
drove was a twin-engine
houseboat. In fact, fellow
outdoor scribe Terry Sheely
and I took turns on that
trip. But it was my job to
get it into the mouth of
the tiny harbor. The wind
was blowing 20-miles-per
and the boat acted like
a big sail. I barely kept
it off the rocks while
everyone watched.
We misjudge the
weather. Once on Crane
Prairie Reservoir south-
west of Bend, we launched
a canoe on the west
shore and paddled out.
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
Things can go wrong, even on the best boats. It pays to carry a long
tow line and a couple of paddles. Longer paddles would have been
better. One of the best things the prospective boat owner can do is
take a boating course. In Oregon, it’s required to operate powerboats
with engines bigger than 10-horsepower. The BoatUS Foundation
off ers a free online course.
By the time we were in
the standing timber, the
wind was howling and the
whitecaps were up. Water
was coming in over the
sides. We blew to shore
and I ended up walking
halfway around the lake to
get the vehicle.
We misjudge the depth.
I’ve done it out in the
middle of the Columbia.
It’s a good way to meet
your fellow boaters. And
get them to tow you off a
mud fl at.
We forget to secure
the boat. There is a lot
going on at a boat ramp.
Remember to strap that
boat to the trailer or to the
top of the vehicle. Once,
I used the wrong kind of
straps. You should ask my
wife about picking up her
kayak off the highway.
We use the wrong fuel.
It’s easy to get the wrong
fuel in the tank. This hap-
pened to me in a borrowed
boat. We had bad fi shing
to start, but the fellowship
was good. The conversation
stalled when the motor quit
working. That was on the
far side of the lake. It was a
long limp back to the dock
with the trolling motor,
with frequent pauses to let
the battery juice come back
up enough to turn the prop.
Our politicians have sad-
dled us with burning corn
(which used to be consid-
ered food) in our engines.
The federal mandate
requires a conversion to eth-
anol. More than 90% of the
fuel available at pumps is
E10, which doesn’t work
well in marine systems. Buy
the wrong fuel and your face
is going to be red. Average
cost for repairs caused by
poor fuel is $1,000.
We use the wrong life-
jacket. If you have a boat,
keep child-size jackets on
board. A child in a life-
jacket that is too big is in
just as much danger as if
they didn’t have one.
We fall out. One of the
most common things we
do around boats is fall out
of them. A marine patrol
offi cer once told me most
drowning victims have
their zippers down when
their bodies are recovered.
If you’re going to drown, at
least do it zipped up.
Once I saw a couple of
gray-haired guys with a
spanking new Hewes Craft.
They were backed almost
down to the water, trying
to shove her off the trailer
from dry land into the
river. They never thought to
watch someone else launch
a boat or ask for advice.
It was great fun to
watch. Eventually they fi g-
ured out the trailer was sup-
posed to go in the water so
the boat would fl oat off .
Speaking of the boat
ramp. ... This is one of
the best places to collect
your own embarrassing
moments. Once I backed
another guy’s trailer off the
ramp and hung a tire on the
concrete, letting the air out
of said tire. Red face.
You can collect a boat-
load of other people’s
embarrassing memories.
Trust me, it’s more fun
to tell their stories than
your own.
█
Gary Lewis is the author of Fishing
Central Oregon and Oregon Lake
Maps and Fishing Guide and other
titles. To contact Gary, visit www.
garylewisoutdoors.com