Nov - Dec 2004 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

8/9/2019 Nov - Dec 2004 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

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To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North Americas Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds

THE TROUT LINETualati n Valley Chapter News

Nov ember/ December 2004 Editor: David Illig

NEW Chapter Meetings are held at t heLUCKY LABRADOR on the secondWednesday of each m onth at 7:00 pm wit h a socialget-together and the for mal m eeti ng at 7:30 unlessotherwise noted in the newsletter or website. LuckyLabrador, Mul tn omah Vi ll age, 7675 SW Capitol Hw y .Portland, (503) 244-2537

Board of Dir ector s Meeti ngs held j ust prior t o ourmonthly Chapter meeting at 5:30pm at the Lucky Lab.

Wedn esday , Nov ember 10New Zealand Tr out Fishi ng on aBudget w it h Sue Mor r ison. Sue recentlymoved fr om Seattl e to Wenatchee to be closer to t herivers and lakes she li kes to f ish most. Luckily t he movealso worked out well wit h her new job wi th an outd oorsporting goods company. But it 's not the first t ime she'smoved somewhere to f ish. She spent several months inNew Zealand and the program she's going to pr esent t o uswill focus on planning a self -guided tri p t o some of NewZealand's best tr out fi shing destin ations f or bargain rates.

Wednesday December 8Holi day Par ty -Mem ber Sli deShow / Fly Share/ Sw ap. 6pm Start !

Details are being finalized and will be announced at the

next meeti ng and on the Web sit e. But members shouldstart l ooking now f or several photos/ slides of recentfishing adventures they'd like to share with the chapter.Also, bring several of your favorite flies to swap or sharewit h other members. (for those afr aid of cooki ng there isno pot luck th is t im e. Check f or details on the WEB orf rom a Board member.)

President s Column Kev in ConnollySummer is gone and t he rain i s here. It s a good ti me tolook back and see what we have done over t he past f ewmon ths. Fir st, we have changed m eeting locati ons f romthe church to the Lucky Labrador in Multnomah Village.The feedback Im gett ing is very positive, mu ch of t his isdue to t he availabil it y of piz za and beer. Second i s theint roduction of our web page, www.tvtroutunlimited.comIf you have not taken a minute to check it out, please doyoull f ind chapter inform ation, fishing reports, contactinformation and many useful links to improve you fishinexperience. Id l ike t o thank Josh (TU member) for doingall th e work it looks great. Thi rd, we had some excell eoutings at South Twin Lake, Gold Lake, Fall River, East

Lake, Fall River and the Crooked River. These outingscould not happen wit hout the dedicati on and extra eff ortAndy Andrews puts in. Forth, is t he conti nual inf ormatiofl ow f rom David Illi g, the newslett er editor and SethIsenberg, our email guru. Fifth, Hank Hosfield has puttogether some very i nteresting pr ograms for us everymont h enabling us t o gain i nsight i nto l ocati ons, tactics,equipment and deepen our knowledge of local fishingopportunities.

What Im saying is it s the eff orts of people in our chaptwho love fishing, the outdoors and are not afraid to stepup and put f orth some extra ef fort for the benefi t of all.That being said, w e need som e help our chapter, inpartnership with the Clackamas chapter will be having a

banquet in March, 2005 to raise fun ds to support ourconservati on and educati on eff ort s. We are not asking f oyour fi rst-born, just some tim e to help us get t his off theground and have a successful, enjoyable event. Contactme at 503-246-0665 to see how you can part icipate.

I have a confession to m ake earl ier in the year I wr otethat t he Will iamson River is one of m y fi shingdestinations. Well, I ran out of t im e and di d not m ake it.Call me a Slacker, but it will have to wait until next yea

I hope everyone took some ti me to get out and enjoy t hemany wonderfu l places we have to f ish. Kevin

Edi tors Elect ion Recomm endat ionsThis is one of t he most i mport ant electi ons of our t im esAlt hough you m ay have many i ssues that you care aboutthought I would share my suggestions f or t rout, salmon,steelhead, environmental issues. These suggestions andrecomm endati ons are solely those of th e Editor andshould not be seen as those of our Board, Off icers, TroutUnlim it ed or anybody else although they may agree wit hme some of t he ti me. And a majorit y of t he fi sh agree wi

me Davi d I l l ig
http://www.tvtroutunlimited.com./http://www.tvtroutunlimited.com./


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Bush/ Kerr y . The environm ental issues, fi shingconcerns, salmon i ssues, forest, and str eam pr otectionissues, pollution control. etc., really leave you with fewoptions. Kerry in the White House will do more to protectthese places and things you value among these categoriesthan will the Bush team. He will do more to make sure youhave the prot ecti ons and values of these resources as doyour children and their chi ldren. Not j ust i f you are amillionaire. The Bush Presidency does not have a goodenvironmental record. It is a terrible record. They supportneither clean str eams, healt hy f ish r uns nor a healt hyenvir onm ent . They do not have a m ind set of beingstewards of t he land and ri vers. Rivers and lands are onlyto be used f or economic gain unt il they are gone. Anexample is their so-called Salmon Plan. They do not seemto believe in sustainability. This shouldnt be a Republicanposition but i t is a Bush republic positi on. Kerry is theclear choice to help and pr otect our f isheries and st reamenvironments. Many of our environmental issues aregoing to be in critical phases during the next four years.Many decision s wil l have perm anent , for ever, im pacts.Extinct is extinct. Thats true whether you are fishing hereor even in Iraq. VOT E YES FOR KERRY.

Alt hough both m ajor parties are too beholding t o majorcorporati ons, the Democrats seem to have a morebalanced position on both jobs and the environment atthis tim e.

Senator Wyden is t he best choi ce for the Senate here eventhough Im stil l angry with him for supporting a badMedicare bill. Davi d Wu, Darlene Hooley, and EarlBlumenauer are needed in t he House t o eit her counter t heBush White House or to supp ort Kerrys Whit e House inprotecti ng the environment and the salm on runs. YES FORWYDEN, WU, HOOLEY, A ND BLUMENAUER

And Im hoping Nick Fish ult im ately tu rns into t he caliber

of a Presidenti al candi date so Im recomm ending a votefor him. YES ON FISH .

YES on 34. Measure 34 balances timber production onour state forests wi th protecti ons for clean dri nkin g water,f ish and wil dli f e, and recreation . Here are some keypoin ts of the measure: 34 Restores a nati ve old -growthforest on half of the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests,guided by the recomm endati ons of an independentscience t eam 34 Ensur es revenue to local count ies bymanaging the remaining 50%of the for est f or sustainableti mber producti on. Creates new f amil y wage jobs and anapprenticeship program in restoration f orestryHold s local schools harmless to any potent ial loss ofrevenue. Measure 34 restores balance to our state f orests

by protecting remaining rainforest and clean water whilesafeguarding school f undi ng and jobs. Join TualatinRiverkeepers in vot ing YES ON 34 .

VERY NO ON 37. Measure 37, the so-call ed Takin gMeasure, is a way to destroy land use planni ng andenvironmental protections. It is very damaging to ourstate if passed. It says that governm ent al acti ons thatim pact your p ropert y have to be paid f or by t hegovernm ent agency. If you arent allowed t o buil d a hotelon your property then the government has to cover yourloss you suff ered by not build ing that hotel, even on t he

river i n t hat sensiti ve wet l and. Guess what, governm entwont be telli ng many people not t o build a hotel, willthey? The government wont be protecting farm land soit s not covered wi th houses. It is a measure that basicallsays I should be able to do anything I want wit h m y landno matt er t he im pact. Take a look at Texas cit ies and yowill see much of t his in acti on. There is lit tl e or no landuse planning. Free enterprise does not pr otect ourenvir onm ent or our f ish or our r ivers. Yes, we need wiseand balanced land use planning. This aint it. This is avery dangerous m easure because it soun ds so good on thsurface but is actually very destructive and far reaching.There is NO money to cover it s cost if passed. Citi es,counti es, etc woul d either go bankr upt or have to alm osttotally give up protecti on of our living space. Again thereare better balancing measures between economics and thenvir onm ent . Good analysis and wise problem solvi ng isbett er solut ion t han such a heavy handed, blunt andfool ish m easure. Most agri cult ural i nt erests are againstthis measure because it puts farm land at risk . VOTEVERY NO, AND M ORE NO ON 37 IF YOU VA LUE THEENVIRONMENT AND PROTECTION OF OUR BEAUTIFUSTATE. There are better solutions that protect jobs andhousing needs.

Measure 35, caps on pain and suffering in medicalmalpr actice sui ts. Thi s may seem to on ly be on medicalmalp ractice but I woul d suggest vot ing against it becausof i ts im proper f ocus and m isdirecti on. If passed it woulalso tend t o lead toward caps on other corporate areas onegli gence and reckl essness that are impr oper. In m ycareer I wor k m y buns off defending doct ors, nurses andhospitals, and pr otecti ng the clients of med mal i nsuranccompanies in l awsuits. However, when some doctor hasbeen f ound t o be negli gent or reckless by a ju ry, I do notbelieve it is our p osition t o lim it what can be awarded f opain and suff ering wit hout knowi ng the details of t hecase. Remember, this measure applies only to where

negligence or recklessness has already been found by ajury . Who are we, compared t o t hose who heard t he case,to say t hat somebody damaged can onl y receive $500,00in pain and suffering? What is the pain and suffering?Im agine if you or your child were made quadriplegic by anegli gent m edical act. Would $500,000 seem enough torepresent the pain and suf f ering over the next 20-40years? If somebody you l oved were burned in a negligentor recklessly caused fir e over 90 per cent of their bodyand terribl y disfi gured would $500k f or pain and suff erinbe enough? The measure as written has noth ing to dowit h reducing f rivolous lawsuits which I w ould love to sereduced. If they are worried about huge excessive awardswhy not m ake the cap a signifi cant number but j ust stopthe huge awards? Then we would be talk ing about

somethi ng like $5 or 10 mi lli on caps to lim it those fewlarge verdicts. There are solutions that will reducef r ivo lous lawsuits. This doesnt. There are solutions thatwill protect good doctors and allow practice of di ff icultspecialti es. There are solut ions whi ch will reduceinsurance premium s for doctors. This type of measureisnt it . Remember, it says that th e ju ry already believesthere was negligence. There are solutions which allowinj ured people to be taken care of. Of ten ti mes chil dren othe poor have li tt le or no economic damages to r ecover.Who says pain and suf f erin g isnt r eal, signif icant, andworthy of monetary balancing by those who were


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2.. Pick several f ibers f rom a Guinea hen hackle andti e in as the tail.

3.. Throw down a wrap or t wo of black ostrich herl.Secure.

4.. Tie in the oval ti nsel, t he and t he black f loss.5.. Lay down f loss wraps about 1/ 3 of the way up the

body.6.. Tie in a black saddle hackle wit h one side of t he

hackle stri pped (keeps hackle li ght).7.. Dub t he fr ont 2/ 3 of t he body with black seal and

wind the black hackle forward. Secure.Important - leave enough room at the head of thef ly f or peacock and thr ead head!

8.. Wrap oval ti nsel up t o end of seal and ti e off.Tinsel should be wrapped so that it sits ri ght nextt o the black hackle. (some ti ers wrap the ti nselfi rst, then th e hackle. Find what works f or you).

9.. Pick out t rapped hack fibers.10.. Tie in a Guinea hen f eather t hat has been st ripped

on one side. and wrap one to one and a half ti mesas collar. Tie off .

11.. Measure and t ie in t he pheasant t ail f iber wing.Secure wi th th read.

12.. Tie in peacock herl and m ake 3 or 4 wraps and

secure wit h t hread.13.. Tie off a small neat head, whip finish and lacquer.

I am currently using Sally's "Nails so Hard" on mysteelhead patt erns. 2 or 3 coat s makes f or a niceglossy head and it doesn't seem to absorbmoi stur e li ke some lacquers (causes cloudin g). Orfor a more durable head, try a small dab of epoxy.

The DP is a stealth pattern with a hint of color (hot-butt).The dark body and wing are unobtrusive yet the materialswiggle and wave in t he current. Thi s pattern has beenvery good f or m e over t he last f ew years. I have enj oyedf ishi ng it recent ly on a small li ghtweight Spey rod. Give ita 'swing" or two, I'm pretty sure it will soon find a niche

in your steelhead f ly box. Alex

Fly Tyers Corner Dick Rohrbaugh

Over the years t yers have accumulated a l ot of creati veideas. In tyin g, li ke everything else, experience is alwaysthe best t eacher. Here are a new set of t ips t o tr y th e nexttim e you tie.

MaterialsThi s tim e of year the big hatch is the baeti s. Emergencesare by f ar the best on cloudy, rainy (or snowy) days and

usually occur in t he mi ddle of the day. Here on theMadison (from where I am writing this) the hatches aretr uly astoundi ng. There are days when the ri ver is lit erallycarpeted with hatching insects.

Because the fall baetis are the second brood of the season(the first brood hatches in the spring) they are muchsmaller than their earl ier cousins. Most are size 20 or 22.If you are among those whose eyesight makes tyi ng onf li es ti ed on size 22 hooks a bit of a chall enge, considertying your baetis patterns on the big eye hooks sold byOrvis. In small sizes Orvi s puts (for examp le) a size 16eye on a siz e 20 hook. It makes no dif f erence in t he way

your f li es will fi sh, but it sure makes tyi ng a new one on probably wi th cold f ingers a whole lot easier.

TechniquesAs wint er com es on many people drif t San Juan worm salong the edges of t he Deschut es. It can be a veryef f ecti ve techniq ue. Whil e few patt erns are easier t o ti ethan the San Juan worm , not all tyers reali ze how toachieve the nicely t apered ends on t he chenil le used f orth is patt ern. Noth ing could be simp ler. Get a cigarett elighter and simply singe each end of the chenille after yohave ti ed it in. The result wi ll be a nice taper j ust li ke thones you see in the pictures.

Tools and Equi pm entDo you use hackle pliers for wrappin g hackl e? On largerfeathers they actually get in the way, but on t he smallstuf f they can be a real help. There are many types ofhackle pliers sold in the fl y shops and m any of them worreasonably well . Some stil l swear by th e old Engli sh stylepliers though i n m y view they never work ed wort h a darnand oft en ended up j ust br eaki ng the hackle stem. Asimp le and inexpensive soluti on i s to go t o Radio Shackand buy test clips f or a couple of bucks. Some fly shops

also carry th em. They hold at least as well as the oldEngli sh pl iers and do not break t he stems nearly as easil

You can go one bett er i f you dr ape a small pi ece of rubbeband over the plastic end of the test clip and cinch itdown wit h a few wraps of t ying thr ead and a li tt le headcement. That way it pr ovides a soft seat for t he smallwire clip to land on and makes the hold on the featherthat m uch bett er.

TU Fishing Outin gsCheck w it h Off icers and Board m embers for any outi ng

in November and December

Not Ev ery Big Fish Tale Is a Lie.By Hank Hosfi eld

Over t he years I had heard t he fly shop f olk s up atWelches talk about big brook t rout at Clear Lake. Thatkind of talk excit es me. That ki nd of t alk even got me tostalk the marshy drainage of Clear Creek (f lowi ng east ouof Clear Lake) one late fall day some years ago in hopes ofi nding somethi ng like confi rm ation of these rumoredfi sh. All I can confirm is that the marsh there is verymarshy, and t hat Im not very good at sneaki ng up on

anything--especially n ot som ething as wil y as a brooktr out that has lived long enough to get as big as thesebrook t rout were rum ored to be. Since then in severaltrips to the lake I have hooked few brook trout, andnothing bigger th an 15 inches. That's nothing to writ ehome about. What would constit ute a big brook trout ?Lets start at 20 inches. That's the kind of fi sh you seebut m uch less often catch at Hosmer Lake. BrookT routth is siz e are also f ound i n pl aces li ke Crane Prairi e andWickiup . Theres probably a f ew other Cascade lakes t hathave some big brook trout, but not in any abundance.Most brook trout lakes have lots of 9-12 specimens, wita few fish available up to 16. Ive caught l ots of br ook


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tr out between 12-17 inches, and I'm a big fan of thesefi sh. Tim othy Lake has lots of t hese critt ers, and Iveactually seen a 20" brook tr out taken t here once, and l astyear a net sample in Tim oth y turn ed up a 9-pounder! ButTim othy i s a big, deep l ake wit h m ore water t han a flyangler could ever hope to cover and very little opportunityto hook something lik e that.

Nearby Clear Lake is diff erent. At f ull pool it' s not morethan 20 feet deep in most places. It s rarely at ful l pool,and wit h th e recent d ry win ters, it' s been lower than usual.It nearly dries up. No, that's not right. It doesnt dry up;it becomes a mu dfl at. But i n that mu ddy bottom i s a hugepopulation of nymphs, mostly m ayfl ies and m idges,making Clear Lake one of t he bett er f ly fi shing lakes in thearea, with some of the better fed trout on the west side ofthe Cascades. It also has a bunch of crayf ish, and it issuspected t hat th ese big brook t rout make their li vingscarf ing down th ese lake lobsters. But Ive had no successyet fishing crawdad patterns here outside of a couple hardpulls.

Then again, Ive never really fished for brook trout atClear Lake under opt im um conditions, lik e during the fall,

when the water is low and the brook trout are extrahungry and staging for heading down the creek to spawn.Why not? Because the f all is f ul l of so many other greatfi shing opportunit ies th at its hard to m ake a case for areservoir thats drawn down to its ugli est m ud stage tobatt le the constant heavy winds that wi ll q uickly bl ow youand your f loat t ube a mile down t he lake in whicheverdirection is always least convenient in an effort to catchfi sh that probably arent even th ere. And m y fi shingf ri ends usuall y have even less enthusiasm for t he place, orthe lure of mythical brook trout.

Eric Th ompson and I recent ly had no pl ans to f ish ClearLake, but ended up t here at my insi stence aft er t he bitecrapped out earlier than the usual 3pmsiesta at TimothyLake. I dont k now why anyone bothers to f ish there atnight or early i n the morning. If you're on the water atTim othy between 10am and 2pm , you've got t he best of

that place. Sometimes youre rewarded for st aying later,but not of ten enough. Luckil y Eric had fished Tim othyenough this sum mer to come around to m y way ofthinking and not protest when I suggested we bug out forClear Lake. We had already had a good f ew hours hook ingmostly wi ld rainbows at Timot hy, including a fi sh I lostnear my rod ti p t hat Im certain woul d have been t hebiggest fish Ive ever landed at Timothy by a coupleinches. In f act , I had enjoyed a stell ar day and would havebeen happy t o head hom e early i f Eri c hadnt been up f orfol lowi ng my mad brook trou t quest to Clear Lake. Eri cs

only reservati on was some posti ng about Clear Lake onWestFly that reported the fishing was good but the fishwere smaller.

We should have been more concerned about the waterlevel. When we got there we found not much lake left inthe lake. The boat l aunch was high and dry 50 yards f romthe nearest water. We had a muddy hi ke down to t he lakewith our tubes, and when we got in the lake we couldn'tf ind any water deeper than 16 inches. I ki cked westtoward what I hoped would be deeper water, looki ng for ariver channel or anythi ng resembl ing holding water. Itwas a long kick. Surprisin gly, wind was not much of a

factor . Eric had gone in another direction and foundnothing di ff erent. He fin ally decided hed try a few castsOn his second he got a 19 rainbow. Hi s spir it s rose. Ikept kicki ng for deeper water. I f inally f ound some closeto 24 inches deep and also got int o some nice rainbows.By the time Id landed four 15-16 rainbows Eric hadfound nothing else at his end of the lake and given intomy u rging that he joi n m e up the lake, where a few f ishwere beginni ng t o ri se.

Dont ask me why we both had started wit h in termediateli nes. Who would have thought t he whole lake was lessthan 30 inches deep? You could walk across it i f you cankeep from sinki ng away into t he quick mu d. Actually,most of the lake bottom is unif orml y fl at and carpetedwit h weeds. Eri c was constant ly clearin g grass of f h issealbugger. For some reason (Im att ribu ti ng the long sefur dubbing that acted like a weed guard over my hookpoint ) I wasnt gett ing snagged up as oft en as he was, buwe both came to our senses and changed t o f loati ng li neSti ll , there was vir tually no hatch to speak of. Who knowwhat t hose f ew risi ng fi sh were taking. There was anassortment of wasps and terrestrials strewn about thatthey might be taking, so I fi gured any big dry fl y would

get th eir att ent ion. I was wrong. They were f eeding onmi dges. I watched a couple big f ish gobble mi dges wit hia f oot of my elk h air caddi s. So I gave in and ti ed on a#18 Grif fi ths gnat and tossed it 50 feet to t he spot wherthe last big fish rose.

I dont kn ow how long it sat there. It was probably lessthan two seconds, but my sense of time was so distortedby froz en moments of anti cipati on, I cant be sure. Ibarely had time to remove slack line before the big fishtook me under. At least I thought it was the big fi sh.Only just a moment after I hooked up a very big f ish rosagain wit hin a f oot of where I had cast, making m ewonder what I had hooked. But a coupl e heavyheadshakes quickly confirmed that I had something bigand it was burr owing into t he weeds. And whi le I wasbattling my fish, Eric yelled that he had something goodon. I could see fr om t he tail angrily breaking t he surf acethat I had a big brook trout that would t est my 5X tippetBut it didnt t urn out t o be an epic fi ght. Within fi vemi nutes I had eased it into m y net. It f ill ed my net.

I excitedly k icked over to Eric where he was taking apicture of the 17" brook t rout he has just landed in hopeof gett ing a picture of m y 20-inch brookie. Finally, Idhave eyewitness and photographic proof of truly big brootr out in Clear Lake. The fol ks at the Fly Fishing Shopweren't t ell ing tall t ales. Al l of a sudden I beli eved lik eonl y som eone who has seen a UFO (Unbeli evable Fish

Observati on) can believe. And so did Eric. Whil e it wasnnearly as big as the 24 br ook t rout that Patti Barnesreported t hat one of her custom ers landed at Clear Lakethi s summ er, or pushing seven poun ds lik e lake legendcatches, it did m easure out at 20 inches on my f loat t ubeapron and f elt lik e it was four pounds going on five, whicqualifi es it i n any biologists book as a big brook tr out.But I must conf ess that Im a litt le disappoint ed that inthe best phot o that came out it doesnt look quit e as bigas it felt in m y big paws.


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tr ip, t he weather gods smil ed on us, th e sun burn edthrough the clouds, the bug hatches came off and fishwere f eeding everywhere. The probl em then became howto get t he fi sh to noti ce your fl y with many naturals onthe water. At one poin t, t here were th ree hatchesi

in t he air at once. The Lesser Green Drake, the WesternLead Wing and some other mayfly I couldnt identify, allfi ll ed the air at one ti me. Str etches of t he ri ver thatseemed dry m oments before now h ad four to six fi shfeeding on t he surf ace at one tim e, and t hey were largefi sh. Its a famili ar story wi th t he Fall River: hot, thancold, than hot again.

All I need i s the occasional f eisty Crane Bow f rom the Fallto k eep m e comin g back t o a river t hat I bonded withmany years ago. Andy

Hom e Waters Proj ect

Admittedly, the Home Waters project fell on us veryquickly. This was a renovati on of l and and str eams in theMetoli us River System owned by Deschut es Land Tr ust.Due to a tim e frame established by t he land t rust and t heTU state council, th e program was slamm ed togeth er veryquick ly. We stil l managed to have representation f romevery acti ve TU chapter in th e state of Oregon part icipatein the program. The overall proj ect invol ves im provingmigration of sockeye salm on f rom the ocean to Sutt leLake, their natural m igration r oute.

Start ing on Fri day, there was an envir onmentalim provement in t he clearing of Lake Creek. Saturd ay wasforest management around Lake Creek. I'd say that

photos are missing from the stream improvement becauseI di d not arrive unti l Friday night at 11:00 P.M. due towork ! O.K. enough of that! Saturday evening I fed the 30- parti cipants wi th the help of some of the wives who hadreturned for a tour of t he town of Sisters. I would say thedinner (provi ded by TU) was very successfu l and t heevening around t he campf ir e was appreciated by all inattendance.

In t he fut ure (2005), we hope to give more noti ce to TUmembers of t his event and would appreciate having a lisof volunteers int erested in t his proj ect in advance. 2005wil l see proj ects on the Metol ius and t he Crooked Riverarea and pl ease lets us know if you have interest in

joining us f or these projects. Andy Andrews

Andy and his helpers f ed over 30 volu nteers steak,chicken, corn on t he cob, appeti zers, and dessert . Therewas also an array of adult beverages f or those int erestedVolunt eers were fr om The Tualatin Vall ey, Clackamas,Bend (new chap ter), Grants Pass and Eugene chapters. Inother wor ds, all active chapters in Oregon had memberspresent


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Tools of the Tr ade. Er ic Th ompson

It was a Saturday in the early 1990s and we were in a poormood. My comput er cable foreman and I were sitt ing inan auditorium fi lled with construction contractors, all notvery eagerly spending all day at the state-requiredCont inu ing Ed class. We were ti red from the previous

week. Running a business can do that to a person. Therewere approxim ately 140 m iddle-aged m en and preciselytwo wom en present, m ost all of whom were grum blingabout keeping governm ent out of our businesses. Wewere there because the State of Oregon at that t im e was inthe swing of licensing virtually every trade that hadanythi ng to do wit h constr ucti on. There were fencemakers, nur serym en, cat-skinners, electr ici ans, solarheati ng experts, home im provement people, and j ustabout every other ilk t hat could be rounded up. At l eastthi s class ful f ill ed an elective portion for our li cense, andwe had made the choice to be in it inst ead of at a worseclass. Thi s parti cular subject was ti tl ed Accounti ngProcedures in t he Constr ucti on Business. It d ealt wit h

profi t and loss, constructi on li ens, contr act l abor vs.employee, safety issues, and anything to do with makingmoney.

The reason I am mentioning all this is because theteacher (a construct ion guy who w as bigger and or nerierand had been around longer t han everybody else) raised avery m emorable questi on t hat, yes, does have to do wi thf ishi ng. He asked the class: O.K., What i s the ONE mostim port ant tool of your tr ade? There were about 20dif f erent answers. One guy said hi s D-9 (A monster-sized bulldoz er). Anot her said his backhoe. Others saidthi ngs lik e saws, laser l evels, j ackhammers, pile dr ivers,tunnel-borers, nail guns, fiber opt ic spli cers, aircompressors, and just about every other contraptioninvented since hum anoids got opposable thumbs. Nope;all wrong, we were tol d; It s your cell phone. (Cellphones were fairly uncommon at that time. Why on earthwould anybody want to be called when th ey are working?)He then comm enced t o tell us about comm unications wit hyour t hree most i mport ant clients, your vendors, andemployees. It was a good point , actuall y a lesson onreturn ing calls and being available to t hose who are goingto be paying you lots of dough..

Whats does all thi s tool-talk have to d o with f ishing?Well, the question is, what is our ONE most important

tool ? Lots of people mi ght say it ems like their rod, reel,boat, li ne, f ishing-license, or phone. Int ernet-types migheven say their compu ter or GPS. I would submi t t hat it i syour Jeep (Jeep i s a regist ered tr ademark o f ChryslerCorporati on. Management m akes no claims t hat Jeeps aany better or worse than any other truck, but just callseveryt hin g a Jeep.). Anyway, li ving here in the cit y,wit hout a decent vehicle, you woul d stand no chance ofeven gett ing your line in t he water. All that f ancy fi shinggear would j ust sit around in your garage until youdecided t o donate it f or the Upcomin g Trout Unl imi tedfun draising auction on th e tw elf th of M arch.I greatl y despise the trend in our countr y to j ust t hrowevery imp erfect item int o the landfi ll. I believe in th elong-life theory, that you can make an item lastindefini tely just by putti ng some maint enance int o it. Ionce had an empl oyee who was a member of an autoracing team. He treated his own personal vehicle li ke itwas a member of t he fami ly. At l unch break you couldfind him out polishing his pickup t ruck, or ordering somspecial license plate holder that looked li ke a chain. Hetold me that Unless the engine itself starts to f ail, youshould m aintain a car forever. Everythi ng except t heengine can be economically replaced.

With that t heory in m ind, I want t o conclude by giving yoa few exampl es of past probl ems t hat I h ave had to solvewit h detective-like dedication. Since these were so hard tdiagnose, they are titled in Mystery format:

The Lit igation-Prone Lousy Lif tgate. Thi s is where theli f tgate opens very slowl y and not all the way. This causepeople to always bump their head on it, get injured, andbe in a bad mood . Solut ion: Thi s probl em took somebasic common sense and foresight, which I couldnt findin m y tool chest. First I tri ed a sti ck to hold t he gate up,which di dnt wo rk . Then replaced the shock absorberstru ts li ke I shoul d have in t he fi rst pl ace. Problem SolveThe Snow Tir es that were Scared of Snow. These were

just regular snow tires wit h lots of tr ead, but no studs. Iwas always having to get out and put chains on. Solut ionReplace them wi th the new Bliz zak (Managementpurports that there are other brands available that aregood, too) sti cky-rubber type ti res. These are excell ent inice, snow, and rain, and dont t ear up the roads. No morskidding.

The Hot I tem of t he Non-heating Heater. Thi s is wherethe actual heater works, but the fan doesnt blow any hotair. It s sort of l ik e having a fi shing rod but no line.Solut ion: Replace the th ree-posit ion swit ch that tur ns onthe fan. Cold f isherm en now warm .

The Absolut ely Blood-Curl ing Case of t he CrankyCranker. Oh, th is has been th e greatest of all m ysteriestaking more than two years to solve. It w ent li ke this:About once a week, t he engine wouldn t st art, usuallywhen lots of people were watching. Thi s is not a healthyproblem for a f isherperson who goes int o remot e countrThe batt ery had plenty of power and the engine wouldcrank over fi ne. It j ust wouldnt start. I would do a roll-start and get it to the mechanic, who would say, Startsfi ne for m e. Just bring it back when it wont start. Thatbe $25 for looking. Ummm , O.K. Finally, I took it to thlocal Beaverton Jeep dealer (Yes, yes there are other Jeepdealers besides them) and said: Keep it here unt il it won


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start and then fi x it. Af ter two weeks it was stil l amyst ery, so th ey t ight ened every electr ical wir e andharness they could f ind. They also replaced a thing call edthe Crank-Posit ion Sensor. When I got it back it f ir edri ght up every t im e. Every tim e, that is, unti l one yearlater when it started doing it again. This ti me, lik e aSteelhead fi sherman who lost a big f ish because of a badknot , I had learned my lesson. I went right to th e Crank-Posit ion Sensor. It had gotten wet wit h ant if reeze. Icleaned it in alcohol and have not had a probl em since.Case closed.

Using my Drive-It-Till-It-Drops theory, Ive managed tokeep the Jeep out of t he landf il l. Hey, Ive only put about2000 hours into solving all these mechanical conundrums.Eric.

What Will Happen to Nor thw est SalmonAf ter the Election? An Ev ening w ith Dav idMontgomery Salmon Research er, Adv ocateand A uthor . Sun day Nov ember 7, 6-8pmGovernor Hot el Library Room

What wil l happen t o our endangered Pacif ic Salmon aft erthe votes are counted thi s November? No one knows forsure, but David Mont gomery has a prett y good idea.Mont gomery, a Prof essor of Geomorphol ogy at t heUniversity of Washington, knows more about the salmonthan most of us know about our own famili es. He hasextensively st udied the history of these fi sh, their role inhuman civili zation, and what lies ahead for their f utur e.Montgomery understands why the salmon aredisappearin g. Most of all , he has a well -thought -out,viable plan to bri ng back t hese majesti c fi sh f rom t hebrink of extinction.

As a Native Fish Society member, you have the rareopportuni ty t o hear Mont gomery di scuss the futu re ofPacifi c Salmon at t he Governor Hot el on Sunday,November 7. That's j ust f ive days af ter Election Day, th eoutcome of which hold s potential to dramatically im pactour nati ve fi sh. Montgomery's presentation prom ises tobe timely, insightf ul and far m ore valuable than any post-election m edia coverage about th ese f ish if t here is anycoverage at all. It 's an issue you care about, and thi s isyour opportunit y to hear about it in depth, from a truesalm on expert .

Mont gomery's knowl edge of th e salmon i s expressed inhis book , "King of Fish: The Thousand Year Run ofSalmon ." In it , he looks closely at how human greed,disdain for nature and l ack of environm ental poli cy havedecim ated the once abundant salm on. He also off ers hi sunique recommendations on how to bring back thesemajestic fi sh. Anyone wit h an interest in preservin gsalm on f or fu tur e generations will fi nd Montgomery's planfascinating.

The presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by aquestion-and-answer period. Af terward, Mont gomery wil lbe sell ing and signing his book. Before and aft er his t alkyou will have time to enjoy classic North west hospit alit y:hors d'oeuvres from Jake's Gril l, Nort hwest wines, a silent

aucti on all in t he fi reside warmth of the Library Room aPort land's acclaim ed Governor H otel. Hors d'oeuvres anwine are compl imentary wit h your admi ssion, which i s$20 if you pre-register or $25 at th e door. Your ti cketpri ce is t ax deducti ble, and all proceeds benefit the Nati vFish Society's conservation and restoration efforts forsalm on and steelhead in t he Northwest.

Seati ng i slimited! RegisterNOW to r eserveyour space!Call Native FishSociety at (503)977-3133 t opurchase yourtickets.

AlaskaFishingStan Smith

I have a fr iendwho has a fishcamp on t he Naknek ri ver near Bri stol Bay. It is Raii nbowBend Lodge & he is Tom Baumgardner. My br oth er-in-lawDavid Culver & I went up f or Coho season & Tom invi tedus back to help him close the camp f or t he wint er. In t hemeanti me the Naknek f ill ed up wi th Hum pies. The 1stcouple of days we were there Tom sti ll had guests so wecouldn't close the camp but we did f ish & all we caughtwas Hump ies. Af ter t he 2nd day it got to be a drag soTom hooked us up wit h a fri end of his who has a fl oatplane. The fol lowing day he f lew us int o a remote areacalled Ugasik. Wefl ew over t hearea we were

going to fish & Icould not believemy eyes, therewere so manyfi sh in the river!From where welanded we had t owade the river &walk t o the areawhere the fishwere. It t ookabout an hour &a half . All I cantell you is that it

was the mostremarkable dayof my 'f ishing'lif e. I'm guessing about a 60 f ish day! If t he club i sint erested I can bore them for a long tim e with t he story.See you at the next meetin g. Keeping ti ght li nes.Stan Smith

UPCOMING Newslett er Mater ialSend t o David Ill ig. . Di ll [email protected] 296 9050
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Tualati n Val ley Tr out Unl im itedNovember / December

2004

Oficers

President: Kev in Connolly 860 6355Kevin connoll [email protected]

r easurer: Rod Lundberg91-5308 rp lu ndberg@hotm ail.com

oard of Directors:

ank Hosfi eld28-6553 hank h@im agina.com

ri c Thom pson 297-0718

angli nger [email protected]

ick [email protected] 636-3877

Al ex Bark um e - 642-7024 alexbark um [email protected]

Andy Andrews [email protected] 646-2375

Erl e Norm an 293-6006 caddis2000@hotmail .c

Membership Chair

Jerry Heppell jheppell@telepor t

639-9408

Seth Isenberg 293-32 [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Documents

Nov - Dec 2004 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited