Today was the first day that I have waded our backyard with a fly rod in hand since last October 31. I was quite amazed at how much the riverbed/stream flow had changed since last fall. The work that BPA/CTUIR had done last August was still very much in tack.
The dynamics of the river's flow was very different, not just in the area of the Tribal work zone, but through the entire stretch of river I fished today.Right after taking the above riverscape picture, I turned around to start fishing, and had an owl fly off the river shore and landed in a tree overlooking the river and me.
I took a few pictures of him as he was making screeching owly night sounds, and twisting his head looking in all directions. I will have to say that this guy was a very nice owl specimen as he stood about 18"-20" tall on the tree branch gazing at me. A very handsome bird.The best part of the stroll upriver this afternoon was there were plenty of redband trout/steelhead smolts that were taking dry flies as the water temperature was a perfect 58°. While wet wading I stayed very busy catching and releasing fish for about 2 ½-3 hours, the air temperature was about 82° so the whole affair was very comfortable. Here is a picture of my last hookup of the day (with a #10 Orange Stimulator attached). After the hook release I headed back to the ranch, needless to say with a smile on my face.
Today I found that the river was much easier to fish (footing wise) than last fall. There is now a river rock/gravel bar that has formed right down the center of the river from our east pasture fence and runs about 200+ yards upriver.
I found it very easy fishing in this run at the base of the bluff's wall; caught maybe three dozen nice pan size trout in this stretch of water. Today I had no encounters with salmon or smolts. A very pleasant afternoon.When fishing over wild trout and steelhead, I am a firm believer... "that he who fights and swims away, gets to fight another day".
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This past week has been a busy one. Sunday we worked with horses and our little horse Rosey. Rosey is now thirteen weeks old, and continues to grow like a weed. We got video of Rosey this weekend and I will post to blog when I get back to CLO's DSL system.
Here are some shot of Kittee and Rosey working together...
SHAI AL BEY's bath- 2:00 minSaturday, Starlog 072608
We made a morning ride up Cache Hollow Road with Leila and her horse Duke. It was a most pleasant ride as we went out about 4 miles to the overlook of Couse Creek Canyon. Here we sit on horseback and have a vista that allows us to watch the hawks flying through the canyon below us. On a clear day we can see forever, from this perspective.
Friday, Kittee and I spent most of the day in Pendleton as Kittee was doing some catchup work after a week of trials, then she and I went out to look at a Paint mare, for breeding to Rusty (not).
Thursday, Starlog 072408
The roofers and siding guys came today...
we are now in the process of rejuvenating our home's exterior with new metal roofing and vinyl siding. All of this make-over was spurred by the January 4th storm that devastated our area.Tuesday, Starlog 072208
I was heading out to work with the horses, bring Goldie and Rusty back together again for a re-mating session,
set the irrigation... a usual day around the ranch, when I notice some whooping & hollering at the Kelly corral. Looking in that direction I noticed 4 or 5 white hats, and one that was very much taller (appeared to be a person on horseback). I drove down to the corral area and found the Pat Kelly crew about to go to work on branding calves. I asked if I could join in and take some pictures of the event, Pat said sure...
Branding veal, just doesn't add the same fragrance to the air as BBQ-smoking well aged beef.
After most of the branding was done, I came back to the house and burned a couple of CD of the morning's cattle ranching activities and gave them to the fellas.
By this time of day it was close to noon and I noticed that Goldie really didn't want much to do with Rusty, so we feel that she has settled in and turning pregnant.
Later Tuesday afternoon/evening Jennifer came out finished working on the area jumping standards, set them up, and proceeded to warm up Phoebee and begin her jumping training. Quite an equestrienne that Jennifer is.
For the Record... I am planning to put together a catalog - stills and videos - of Jennifer and Phoebee's jumping progress.
To be continued... as we just may see these two in London at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Whelp, that is kinda the recap of this last week's activities around the ranch.
Please feel free to come join us when you can, here in the "real west".
Please revisit this blog posting to watch our Rosey -YouTube- videos in the near future.
a week in the life--- Dale
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