OnTheFly
06-20-2011, 07:21 PM
With every fishing season, there is always one day one moment one amazing thing that happens that stands out above all others. And if that one magic moment happened in the only day you fished in the entire season, it would fulfill your fishing needs for the rest of the year.
It was the start of July and loosing sleep the night before a fishing trip was common for me. It was one of those early summer mornings that had a stillness to it accompanied by cool air and a vivid blue sky. It was seventy five miles from my driveway to the day parking area at Olallie Lake and it was going to be perfect. At least I thought so anyway.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the area, the Olallie Lakes basin is situated at the base of Mount Jefferson and is one of the most picturesque places in the state. It is the headwaters of the Clackamas and it’s also the home of some very large fish. The first part of the morning, I managed to pick up a couple average trout while trolling on my pontoon boat but nothing big. I wasn’t too concerned about it because it was still early in the day. That’s when I heard the thunder. I was hoping the billowing clouds would blow over but the weather had other ideas. The storm convinced me to remove myself from the lake at 1:00 in the afternoon. This time of day at Olallie is a pivotal point to decide what to do next. The lake is fifty miles from anywhere so it’s a coin toss whether to drive home or try for another lake and hope you can get ahead of the storm. I chose the latter.
Through miles of narrow mountain back roads, some dirt some paved, I made it to Clear Lake just east of Mt Hood. It was cloudy but not raining. I launched my eight foot toon boat and began my troll once again. There was a little wind on the water but not too bad. One other boat went by then I was alone. There were thick clouds in the direction of Olallie from which I came but they did not advance. Then, as if somebody flipped on the lights and turned off the fan, the breeze stopped and the sun shown below the gray sky illuminating the ground and the hillsides. It was a photographers dream. I found myself on a lake of glass bathed in a spectacular glow of early evening sunlight. The splashing on the water caught my attention. Fish were clewing in on adult midges everywhere. With floating line now installed and a #20 Griffith Gnat carefully tied onto my tippet, I began casting. On one particular cast, I felt the rod load up nicely and at the end of it, the little fly gently landed on the water only twelve inches from a natural. My magic moment came when the fish ignored the live midge and took my own hand tied fly.
It was the start of July and loosing sleep the night before a fishing trip was common for me. It was one of those early summer mornings that had a stillness to it accompanied by cool air and a vivid blue sky. It was seventy five miles from my driveway to the day parking area at Olallie Lake and it was going to be perfect. At least I thought so anyway.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the area, the Olallie Lakes basin is situated at the base of Mount Jefferson and is one of the most picturesque places in the state. It is the headwaters of the Clackamas and it’s also the home of some very large fish. The first part of the morning, I managed to pick up a couple average trout while trolling on my pontoon boat but nothing big. I wasn’t too concerned about it because it was still early in the day. That’s when I heard the thunder. I was hoping the billowing clouds would blow over but the weather had other ideas. The storm convinced me to remove myself from the lake at 1:00 in the afternoon. This time of day at Olallie is a pivotal point to decide what to do next. The lake is fifty miles from anywhere so it’s a coin toss whether to drive home or try for another lake and hope you can get ahead of the storm. I chose the latter.
Through miles of narrow mountain back roads, some dirt some paved, I made it to Clear Lake just east of Mt Hood. It was cloudy but not raining. I launched my eight foot toon boat and began my troll once again. There was a little wind on the water but not too bad. One other boat went by then I was alone. There were thick clouds in the direction of Olallie from which I came but they did not advance. Then, as if somebody flipped on the lights and turned off the fan, the breeze stopped and the sun shown below the gray sky illuminating the ground and the hillsides. It was a photographers dream. I found myself on a lake of glass bathed in a spectacular glow of early evening sunlight. The splashing on the water caught my attention. Fish were clewing in on adult midges everywhere. With floating line now installed and a #20 Griffith Gnat carefully tied onto my tippet, I began casting. On one particular cast, I felt the rod load up nicely and at the end of it, the little fly gently landed on the water only twelve inches from a natural. My magic moment came when the fish ignored the live midge and took my own hand tied fly.