The Oak 10/25

My dad(James) and brother(Andy) came out for the weekend to fish with me at the Oak. I hope that this is becoming a yearly event. It was great to be able to spend time with both of them and fish together. It was also nice to have my brother's brother in-law (John) join us for a few hours of fun. We even had some of my friends (Bob & Kim & Lucas) show up and fish with us for a while. It was great to be around such wonderful people!

Now to the fishing! It was a very very wet day. Rain and more rain was the order of the morning. Great for the fish! Not so great for us bipeds. And with rain pouring off the rims of our hats we flogged the water for hours with little success. We did hook a few fish but none were brought to hand. The only exception was Luke's nice steelhead and brown that he caught early in the morning.

We worked our way upstream searching for fish and eventually came to a long run with fish holding in pockets throughout. Andy hooked into a few fish and so did I. We had some fun watching dad try to control a few large Chinook salmon. This went on all morning until we met up with John(Andy's brother in-law.) After some lunch, John, Andy and I went back to the Oak in search of a few more willing participants in what would turn out to be an over matched tug of war between fish and man. Today, the fish won. The only fish we did manage to land was a nice male brown trout of about 7lbs. that I had to run 75 yards down stream to land.

Photos were as hard as the fish to manage. The rain prevented us from dragging our cameras out at every opportunity. Luke was the only one who took some shots and he only managed a few. So thanks to him, I have a nice shot of my brother and me fishing together at the Oak. Thank you very much Luke!

All in all it was a great weekend to spend some time on the water with family and friends. Sure it rained. In fact, it rained a lot! But our goal was to spend some time fishing together. And no amount of rain was going to stop us from doing that!

Sandy Creek Part 2

I thought I would post some more photos from the October 11th trip, since it was such a success. And included are a few photos from Bob and Jessie's stint at Oak Orchard creek. Plus, I've included a report from today's little scouting trip. Hope you enjoy!

Ethan and I went to Sandy today. We stopped at the rt.19 bridges and saw plenty of cars, so we drove upstream to the next bridge....more cars. So we kept driving up until we hit church street. There were only two vehicles here so we got out and geared up. Got to the bridge and looked down into the water just beneath the bridge and saw a nice big male chinook. We walked down and saw more fish moving upstream from below. We tried for a little while to get two salmon to take our fly below the bridge, but they weren't cooperating. A walk downstream revealed more fish holding here and there and we managed to hook a nice female. We fought her for a couple minutes and 3 guys from down below came up and helped me land her. These guys had three fish a piece on their stringers. I asked if they would take a photo for me with the fish and Ethan, as I have never had a photo with Ethan and me together yet! And you know what?....no camera, I left in the car. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Any way, we need rain!!!! still low and clear even up at church street were there are some decent runs and holes. Lots of people around too! I think once the hunting season starts it will become a little less crowded. I hope!

Sandy Creek, October 11th

We all met at Sandy creek this morning at around 6:30am. And as we rigged up our fly rods at our cars, we could hear salmon moving upstream in the shallows of the creek. Needless to say, our walk to the creek was full of anticipation. And it did not take long to find some salmon working their way upstream. A few minutes later, and Dan was holding on with all that he had, as a salmon stripped line off his reel. Soon, I tailed a nice 20lb.+ female chinook salmon for Dan. We took a few pictures and went back to find some more salmon.

Looking upstream we could see more fish moving up through the shallow sections and Bob and Jessie each took turns fighting a few fish. More pictures were taken. Then Drew came back to the group after he went to put on a pair of waders, and soon hooked into his first fish. This is how the fishing went all morning long. We would walk upstream and find a few fish to present a fly too. Then one of us in the group would get a fish to take a fly and the battle was on! By mid morning everyone had at least one fish landed and a few others hooked that they had lost.

I will post all the picture I have on my camera. And I will also post the other photos that the guys took, as I get them. Here is the link to my jumpcut page for a few more photos.
http://www.jumpcut.com/explore/?type=all&keywords=bbradfield585

What a great way to start the 2008 salmon season!

Sandy creek salmon

Bob sent me an e-mail yesterday. He wrote about a little trip to Sandy creek in search of salmon. He and his wife Kim saw one fish shoot up from the bridge. Bob was able to hook and land that fish. His first salmon of the 2008 season. A nice female Chinook salmon. Way to go Bob!

Bob gets a special prize for catching the first salmon of the 2008 season. I will make the presentation this Saturday when I see him at Sandy.

The salmon will continue to build near the mouth of the creek. And as the season progresses, more and more fish will enter the stream. And soon after the brown trout and steelhead will follow. I can't wait to get going.

See you on the stream!