Recently, my sister said that she wished she “had school” because the weekends “are soooo boring.” She’s 17 and lives with us finishing high school next year and isn’t high maintenance. When I heard that, it finally occurred to me that I haven’t exactly been making sure she has fun. What I have been doing is making sure that I go steelheading whenever the water’s in shape. Well, no major streams were likely to be fishable, Shelly was out of town and the kids were spending the weekend with their Dad. The perfect storm for some Mule biological family quality time.
The proposal was that we head down to the coast because I know that she loves the ocean and because I’ve wanted to explore some of those small coastal streams for years. I also thought that there was an outside chance that one or two of those short little streams might be low enough to fish. She was cool with a combo beach/explore some streams/fish a little trip. Let no one say the Mule doesn’t know how to entertain em’!
We got to Heceta Head and took the obligatory lighthouse picture and a few others. Here are a couple of the others:
Photo Credit: Stephanie Mueller
Photo Credit: Stephanie Mueller
After walking up the to the lighthouse, I had about enough of not fishing and headed up Cape Creek. Now, I considered omitting the names but given the report, difficulty of access in places, the fact that I won’t go back there for years and that nobody reads this anyway, what the hell. Cape looked like it would fish pretty well under different conditions but not these.
(Why yes, that is chocolate milk. Thanks for asking.) Photo Credit: Stephanie Mueller
Anyway, I fished Cape for a little bit and then we headed north in search of better conditions. I’ve been wanting to see Cummins Creek for some time. It looked awesome but what they say is true, there is no trail. I bushwhacked in a little ways but a day trip with my sister isn’t the best time to explore a wilderness creek without a trail. I headed back and found her hanging beneath the 101 Bridge staying out of the rain. Rock Creek looked pretty cool but I wanted to keep heading south and up Tenmile Creek. I’ve been curious about it for some time.
That curiosity is sated. There is almost nowhere to fish. It’s heavily posted against trespassing in the lower reaches. The campground 6 miles up a narrow road has access to high gradient water where a fish would never hold (in high water at least). We headed back down and I fished the first hole up from the ocean.
It was a strikingly beautiful place to fish–watching the creek sprint the last 100 yards to the sea, the storms offshore and the waves crashing ashore. In the right circumstances it could be phenomenal, white hot fish coming in through the shallows from the ocean, reaching slightly deeper water, and being hooked 100 yards from the Pacific.
Well, it wasn’t one of those days. But . . . I asked and it was better than Algebra class. I thought so too.
As one of your “nobody” readers, I can say this was a cool post.
It’s unread of course — but cool nonetheless.
nobody signing off
hehe
Considering my hook up ratio for fishing stocked rivers when reports say “it’s on” is similar to wild goose chases on foot, sans bubbas in wild areas, I’m leaning towards chasing down new territory as my modus operandi.
Hmmm . . .
I like wild areas–I also like steelhead. I don’t like bubbas.
When Dan and I last fished we saw two guys on the bank on the Alsea–that was it. All I’m saying is that there is a time and place for everything. Protein chunks, spinners and plugs will do wonders for the hook-up ratio–trout season will soon be upon us and it’ll be all long rods all the time. Until then . . .