Down on the Ranch, Fishing the Yakima, Snakes, Bats, Mormon Handcart Expedition etc

My wife and I took two of our grandchildren to spend a couple of days at Ensign Ranch, just off the I90 near Cle Elum, WA.  We had booked a cabin which came complete with beds, wood burning stove, fridge freezer and microwave. It was all lovely and rustic and it beats being under canvas (especially as the weather was cool and showery)!

 

The cabin also came with a friendly bat which granddad caught in his hand and let loose unharmed.

 First activity was horse riding which Erin was really looking forward to, but which she had to warm to.

The 360-acre Ranch is a facility of our church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is run by a team of volunteers who serve there for a year or two.  Some are retired folk like us, others are young and trendy!  My wife Rosalind and I are considering volunteering to serve there and so we got invited to have dinner with the current volunteers.  The church has these type of facilities so the youth, young adults and families have somewhere safe to go to learn about and enjoy the great outdoors.  The facility is available for folk who are not members of the church to use, provided they are prepared to abide by the same standards the members keep.

 

 

It truly is a pretty wild environment this snake was spotted by my grandson, if anyone knows what it is I would be interested to hear from you.

 

Running down one side of the ranch is the beautiful Yakima River, and yes I did squeeze in a couple of fishing sessions.  The intermittent rain meant there was a lot of water coming down and the cold meant there were no significant insect hatches.  However, I did catch some little fellers fishing an upstream dry fly.

 

One of the special things the members of my church do is celebrate the Mormon Pioneer treks by staging their own with their youth.  Whilst we were there the ranch was descended on by members of the church from West Richland.  Everyone dresses in appropriate costumes, and groups of youth are formed into families with a couple in charge, then the families are formed into companies.  Each family has it's own authentic handcart and they set out for a 3-day trek.  Each company included a doctor and there was a chap with a warning flag on a quad bike out front.  I think there were about 300 people on the trek.

Everyone is very friendly and they all look the part. This group told me all about the event and were kind enough to line up for me.

 The whole thing is extremely well organized and each family poses for a photograph before they set off.  I don't think the rifles were real???

 

 Here they have just set off and as you can see the ladies help the men pulling the handcarts.

This cart has been equipped with a roof to keep all their food and camping kit dry.

 

A day later quite by chance we bumped into one of the trekker companies again. They might have looked a bit damp and dirty but they were in great spirits as the following video clip shows.

 

 

 Then we jumped in the car and headed back up the I90 to Redmond, glad that we did not have to walk!

 

 

FLY FISHING DIARY REVEALS ALL!

Years ago I was lucky enough to come across three copies of a wonderful fishing diary at a “jumble” sale.  Having flicked through a few pages I immediately bought all three copies.  Two copies have been given as presents but I still have my own cherished copy. 

Muriel Foster’s Fishing Diary covering a period from 1913 to 1949.  Fishing diaries are often kept by keen fishers, but Muriel Foster’s diary will interest even folk who have never walked the sparkling banks of a stream or brook.   Amongst the detailed accounts of locations, flies used and fish caught are wonderful illustrations of everything enjoyed in that environment all meticulously set out.  The good news is that you can still get it on Amazon. Here are some typical scanned pages:-

As I reached the end of 2012 I realised that I had almost filled my fishing diary started in 2005.  Then it had replaced my fishing diary started in 1992.  Whilst the discipline of writing up whole fishing expeditions, as well as odd days on the bank is a little demanding, I feel the benefits are worth it.  I see the advantages as follows:-

·         Years later you can read about a particular trip (one that you may have forgotten) and still get enjoyment out of the rekindled memory.

·         You can remind yourself of what was successful and what didn’t work on particular waters.

·         You can remember the friends you made and the special fish you caught.

·         You can rediscover names, places and hotels you had forgotten.

·         Above all, if you are lucky you can avoid making the same mistake twice (like forgetting to take your wading jacket when you are flying halfway around the world)!

Here is an extract from my fishing diary dated July 2009:-

“Found an interesting tackle shop at Carnation (WA, USA), it was in a pale yellow house opposite the entrance to the Mac Donald Memorial Park and camp ground.  Later I met the owner on the pebble beach at the confluence of the Snoqualmie River and the Tolt River at the back of the camp ground.  He told me that when the sun was high in the sky the ospreys sit in the trees above the river waiting for migrating salmon and steelheads to pause whilst they made up their minds as to which river to take.  It is an ambush!”

Junction of the Snoqualmie and the Tolt.  Ospreys sit in the trees on the left.

Here is another dated October 2011:-

“It was pouring with rain on the west side (WA, USA) so I drove east through the spectacular mountains to Ellensburg and then down the legendary Canyon Road wonderful high desert scenery with the road tracking the Yakima River.  Stopped at Red’s Fly Shop, collected some flies (tiny gold head nymphs) and advice.  I blanked probably because I fished the easy to reach stretches that are over-fished.  A few days later, Shayne at Church, told me he fished a bit further upstream using a dry with a suspended nymph and caught lots.

The Canyon stretch of the Yakima.

Last year on a chalk stream (river Wylye in Wiltshire) 29^th May:-

I worked my way upstream and met the friendly bailiff Jedd who suggested I tried an emerger.  Just upstream of the “slab” pool the emerger was hit by a big fish!  A “tug of war” commenced between fishy fins, assisted by the current, and me, assisted by my eight foot rod.  Suddenly realising that pulling wasn’t helping, the fish shot towards my bank some 4 yards downstream from me.  To my horror it dived into a large array of branches all connected together.  I knew it was still hooked as I could feel the rod tip pulsating as the fish swayed in the current.  I rejected plan A "pulling", and plan B "giving it slack", etc and settled on plan Z.  So still keeping tension on the line with my rod arm I slipped off boots and socks and unzipped the bottom of my lightweight fishing trousers (not easy to do one handed).  I then flattened the stinging nettles between me and the water using my landing net and slid down the bank into the water.  Fortunately the cold water only came up to my knees and the bottom was firm.  Still holding the road in my right hand I tried lifting the main branch with my left.  Being water logged it was much heavier than I had expected and I thought I was going to fail to shift it, but a strange thing happened!  As I lifted the branch the current caught it and floated it downstream and clear.  But I was not “out of the wood” yet (joke), as my line, leader and trout were under another branch.  I thought I was facing failure but decided it was worth having another go at clearing the obstacles and the same thing happened.  The branches when lifted drifted down stream.  Now its lair had been discovered and removed the trout shot back into the middle of the river and battle recommenced with me netting it a few minutes later.  It was a cracker and completely unscathed.  A quick photo to record a bit of “extreme fly fishing” and it was slipped back into the river. 

 

 

Being able to experience fishing like that is a treasured privilege that needs to be remembered and shared.  My blog is my new diary, try starting yours.

 

 

 

FLY ROD CASTING: REASONS TO USE YOUR OTHER ARM

First off a big thank you to everyone visiting the blog.  I am amazed at the following round the world.  The blog has been visited by fishers from 23 different countries!  I have been delighted with the positive comments from fishers and non-fishers alike.  Please do not hesitate to add to what I have posted or to put me right if you feel I have got something wrong.  You can do it by posting a comment at the bottom of the posts. The weather here in the UK is still very cold and wintery so I am blogging rather than fishing, but that will change soon and I will be able to make my posts more exciting!

Most of us have a favoured arm when it comes to casting.  In reality a lot of single handed rod fishers only have one “casting” arm.   However, there are many reasons why it is a good idea to be able to cast with both arms.  Let me review them:-

·         You have flown abroad on a fishing trip and on taking your suitcase out of the taxi you sprain the wrist of your casting arm.  Disaster!  However, if you can switch arms for casting you could prevent the holiday being a total failure.

·         A strong wind is blowing the fly behind you on the back cast and you run the risk of imbedding the fly or heavy lure in the back of your head on the forward cast.  Being able to change casting arms means that the wind is now blowing the fly away from you on the back cast.  You are safer and don’t have to keep ducking or resorting to casting across your body or forward casting away from the water and laying the line on the water using the back cast!

·         Being able to cast left-handed means that in an adverse strong wind you can move away from all the right-handed fishers and fish a location that is less disturbed, catch more fish and leave them green with envy!

·         When sharing a boat with a companion, ghillie or guide you can cast with an arm that takes the fly over the water and not over the boat occupants.  I find fewer apologies are required!

Fishers on the Yakima: Left and right-handed casting keeps the guide safe!

·         When teaching your left-handed pal, you can hold the rod the same way they are.

·         Particularly when river fishing, being able to cast with both arms means you can handle dealing with obstacles and the wind better.  Also, you can cover both sides of the river more comfortably. 

·         When the fishing is a little too easy (yes, that has been known to happen) and (say) you are on a four fish ticket/limit, having caught the first brace fairly quickly you can make it a little harder by switching rod arms.

·         When your favoured casting arm feels like it is about to fall off (often a sign of poor casting technique) you have a fresh arm in reserve.

Now learning to cast with the other arm is almost as difficult as learning to cast with your usual arm but all it needs is practice.  The best way, I am told, is to get two identical rod and line setups and practice the overhead cast action with both rods simultaneously.  You don’t even have to be casting on water, casting on short grass can be fine.  Now when my wife reads this she will know why I keep our lawn nice and short!  When fishing, a good time to practice is when the fish are having their afternoon siesta.  At that time, you probably don’t want to pack up and go home because you are anticipating the evening rise, so to usefully use the time, have a casting practice session.    I also favour having my own “siesta” as when I get tired even my good casting can end up as aerial knitting!

So rise to the challenge, be brave and let’s see you becoming ambidextrous and more able to conquer the conditions and land more fish!  Wow! I surprised myself with that line.  Am starting to sound like Joan Wolff?