Journal of a Minnesota Angler

I spent last week in Sunriver, OR attending a family reunion. Vince (my brother) attended as well and we, of course, had to do some fishing.

The problem was, I’m a bass fisherman. And a lake bass fisherman at that. And the only thing around us was rivers. So I had to buck up and pretend I was something I am not: a trout fisherman.

I had packed a spinning rod in the hopes of getting to some sort of bass haven, but in our first available day of getting out, we only had about three hours. The closest bass haven was 30-40 minutes away, so going out there wasn’t going to be worth it. Instead, we hit a nearby stretch of the Deschutes River.

While my family is originally from Hong Kong, many of my relatives have settled in the States. But I still have some cousins in Hong Kong and one of them routinely travels to our U.S.-located reunions. This time, he brought his girlfriend and she was interested in trying fishing.

The four of us went to a fly fishing shop in Sunriver and my cousin’s girlfriend, Brenda, rented a spinning reel. Granted, we were going river fishing, but we figured it would be easier for her to learn on spinning gear than fly gear on her first time out. This also allowed me to do most of the teaching so Vince could concentrate on using his fly gear. We picked up a couple of Rooster Tails (a few for me and a few for her) along with the rental and headed out to the river.

Given our unfamiliarity with the area, it took us a while to find a spot to start fishing in. When we finally did, we got our stuff together and walked to the shore. Instantly, we were mobbed by mosquitoes. I had about 5 on me within seconds. The little buggers were equal opportunity feeders because Brenda was attacked as well. Since we hadn’t so much as seen a mosquito before this point of our trip, we didn’t even think to bring bug spray.

I taught Brenda the basics and she was casting in no time. We did our best to concentrate on fishing, but the mosquitoes were doing a very good job of distracting us. A few times, I had to walk away from shore, letting Brenda get munched (it wasn’t my place to save her). I think I did more mosquito-avoiding than actual fishing.

  

Eventually, we couldn’t stand it anymore so Brenda and I walked to a boat landing a little ways upstream. Vince hung around our initial area. We found a fallen log in the river a little downstream from the boat launch where there were lots of fish feeding. But the Rooster Tails were pretty ineffective (as I expected they would be). Vince was seeing feeding fish as well, but wasn’t faring any better.

After about an hour of being eaten alive, we decided pack up and drive to a part of the river near where we were staying. It was more in the open, so the bugs weren’t nearly as bad. Brenda and I concentrated more by a bridge while Vince went further down the path and concentrated on a fallen tree by shore. He eventually figured out what they were feeding on and landed a couple of little brownies.

  

That was the only action of the night. I failed miserably at being a trout angler, so I wasn’t nearly Troutrageous. More like Troutminimus. But it was really a half-assed attempt. Later in the week, it would be a full-assed attempt.