The independent., December 03, 1997, Page 2, Image 2

Page 2
The INDEPENDENT, December 3, 1997
Tho
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays of each
month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge
Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper.
Editors and Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen, (503)
429-9410.
Many good things
are happening here
It’s easy to get focused on life’s problems and lose
track of the good things that are happening—and
some very good things are happening in Vernonia.
Bridge Street, for a long time just a dirty, depressing
business district, is seeing definite improvement.
Physical improvements include the new front on Lew’s
Place; new windows, roof and more to the building
known to oldtimers as the Lusby Building, where the
Hair Parlour is located; some remodeling and a new
interior at Vernonia Auto Parts, in addition to new paint
on the exterior; work underway on the Bridge Street
Mall, formerly Sam’s; new siding, trim, windows and
paint here at The INDEPENDENT.
Other improvements may not be as obvious, but
there are some new businesses that should do well, By David M. Jones
including Triple S Service, Treharne Cafe & Deli, Izaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter
Leonetti’s Pizza & Grill, New China Restaurant,
The white water of the Deschutes River bub­
Jeanette’s Collectibles, and several in the mall.
bled behind me over some rocks that I had
After so many years of listening bemoan the lack of fished through with some sinking flies to try to
a good meeting room, it’s really quite pleasant to get down into the fish holding lies behind the
watch progress on the Vernonia Head Start building, rocks. I could see my fishing partner, Jeff, well
which will have a community room. Add to that the very downstream of me. I had let him fish through the
run first, as my Uncle Dick had for me a year ago
real opportunity to refurbish (and improve) the Scout on this central Oregon steelhead stream. I was
Cabin in Hawkins Park for additional activities, and making double and even triple casts before I
plans to start on a new city hall in 1998; it’s quite made my downstream step, to rest the run a lit­
remarkable when you look back to even five years tle, but mostly to practice with my Spey fly rod,
which is still “new” to me as far as my proficien­
ago.
cy.
A bridge and trail connecting Anderson Park to
Spey fly rods are longer than single-handed
Vernonia Lake are still possibilities, too, though real rods and two hands are used to cast them.
estate transactions must be completed to make it a These long rods have been in use in Europe for
reality. Combined with repairs and completion of the decades but are just now catching on in the
Banks-Vernonia Linear Trail, it would be a great recre­ States. Spey rods were developed on the river
Spey in Scotland and are a great boon for cast­
ational asset for the community.
ing in the wind or when there are trees or bush­
To help all of this along, Vernonia has received a es behind the caster, as there are on most good
small grant to spruce up the downtown but, more streams. The particular rod I use is fourteen feet
importantly, has received a larger grant to start work­ long and this length allows the fisherman to pick
up a great deal of line prior to the leader and fly
ing on a downtown development plan.
in front of the fisherman as he faces the stream
Another improvement will take place next summer, and then to wave the rod in half of a figure eight
when Adams Avenue will be redone. It won’t be simply motion and cast the line out into the stream.
putting a layer of asphalt on the existing street, but When done properly, the fly never goes behind
making improvements in the storm drainage system the caster toward the shore, so hang-ups in the
and repaving the street. A grant from the Small Cities brush are less frequent, in theory anyway. The
reality with my casting is that I often brought the
program will help with the costs of the job.
line back too far on my pickup and it would land
The school district is also showing a lot of progress. upstream of me, often way upstream.
The new school board has taken steps that will help
I had changed from the weighted flies which
the educational program along; the technology com­ the Spey casts very well to a popular fly called
mittee has taken advantage of the work done after the the green butted skunk, and was fishing down
through the run as the sun started to peek above
flood and is developing a sound program that will allow
the hills downstream of me. I remembered my
the district to take advantage of the systems that are uncle had told me that summer steelhead will go
available.
off the bite with sun on the water of the
Back to the Head Start building; it’s primary purpose Deschutes so I got a little nervous about our
will serve many children and help them get off to a bet­ chances of hooking a fish. The run I was fishing
in was one Uncle Dick had gotten his grandson
ter start in school.
There is also a lot of new housing in Vernonia. Some
of it is expensive and some of it is moderate in cost. All
of it indicates a community that is confident enough to
invest in its own future.
Now, we can seriously start working on bringing
more jobs into Vernonia. The future is in our hands.
• » I
« t
into for his first steelhead the prior year and he
was using Dick Han’s pattern called “Or Purp”
(red feather tail, purple chenille with three or four
wraps of tinsel through it and a white calf tail
wing tied on a #4 Jim Teeny hook). Dick thinks
the fact that there is no beard or hackle on the
fly lets it sink a little better and that helps make
it moro effective. With these thoughts, and feel­
ings of disloyalty to my mentor, I cut off the
green buted stinky fly and tied on a fresh copy of
“Or Purp”. The fly was approaching the hang
down portion of my swing on my third cast when
the Spey rod tried to jump out of my hand. Fish
on!
My shouts brought Jeff running upstream with
the camera to record the first steelhead on the
Spey rod and another hook up for “Ol’ Purp”.
Thanks Uncle Dick!
At first I thought the fish wasn’t very strong,
since some of my Deschutes fish have taken me
into my backing three times. Then I remembered
that the Spey fly line is a 120-foot double taper
which is a good deal longer than a conventional
fly line, so a run that took me into the backing
once was still a good one. Sure pumped me up
anyway.
On bringing the fish to hand it proved to be a
beautiful native steelhead with the purple fly
wedged in the corner of it’s jaw. A quick twist
with the pliers dislodged the barbless hook and I
gently cradled the fish with one hand gripping
the wrist of the tail and another supporting, but
not squeezing underneath its belly. A number of
pictures were taken of the steelhead as it was
held with its nose into the life-giving, cool current
until it was strong enough to swim off.
Tip time. This could save your eyes! Wear
glasses whenever you fish and especially when
you fly fish. If you don’t have prescription glass­
es buy clear safety glasses to wear when you
are not wearing your sunglasses. Some kind of
UV tint protection or coating would also be a
good idea. I had a very experienced fisherman
tell me about one of the times he didn’t wear his
glasses, although he knew better. It was a
cloudy, cold day and he didn’t want to bother
with the glasses. His line hung up and he was
jerking on it when it came loose and the weight
went into his eye. The only good part of this tale
is that he had reconstructive surgery on the eye
and can now see out of it.
Tip #2 is to wear a hat with a brim to protect
your ears from hooks. Baseball caps do not
work even when put on backwards. This is not
the style of piercing that even the most fashion
conscious fisherperson would want. Hooks hurt.
I know that for a fact because my dad hung one
of his favorite lures in my ear when we were
coho fishing, back when I was young and there
were still silver salmon in our streams.
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