Bartender Progress Report

Lately, what slowed my Bartender restoration progress down was the Swine Flu. It is tough to get work done laying on your back on your sofa. I haven’t been stuck at home during the week for years. Wow, ESPN can really drive something into the ground. I got better and [...]

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Halloween Propaganda

This Halloween I decided no one shall alight upon my porch without getting a bit of subliminal propaganda:

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No Chinook Fishing: No Chinook Reports

Oregon Coast:  It has been a rough few years for chinook fishing.  The first year of the great collapse I only made a couple trips and caught five fish.  The second year of the collapse I hooked up every trip but only landed coho.  This year has been the toughest.  I haven’t caught anything, of course, [...]

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Things Get Worse Before Getting Better: Restoring the Bartender

With my Man-Paradise complete I have been able to turn my attention again towards working on the boat . . . .
I drilled out the bungs and removed the mahogany trim and the gunwhale:

This was not easy, but a breaker bar and deadblow hammer did the trick.  The gunwhale is too far gone to be [...]

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The Story of ‘Serendipity.’ A free nineteen foot Bartender

Over the years I have had intermittent cravings for a boat to get me into the ocean, where all the salmon are bright and lingcod and halibut patrol the rocky reefs.  Seeing the damage Nate has been doing offshore turned this occaisonal craving to a full time obssession.  I have to get out there.
Just like [...]

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Fly Line Deck Done! Sort of . . ..

It’s fishable. The deck and brace have been fabricated, sanded sealed and installed. I’m going to have to remove everthing and take it apart one more time to really get the horns solid. I slapped it back together for a guide trip. But the new carriage bolts are not, repeat, are [...]

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Fly line deck fiasco keeps the Mule in drydock

Whenever I need to repair something on my wooden driftboat I write about it. I have a fantasy that maybe some poor soul will find it useful.
I’ve been monitoring Wooden Boat People and the Wooden Boat Forum jealously watching all the work everyone has been doing on their boats just wishing something would go [...]

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Fishy Stuff: ODFW’s Data

If you are like me, you like to geek out on fish population data, spawning escapement estimates and all of that good stuff. If you like to do this, you probably know how hard it is to find the information you crave. One of the best sources is ODFW’s data clearinghouse where you [...]

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Hot Weather Cools Hot Bite on the Middle Fork Willamette

I didn’t get skunked–let’s get that out of the way but I didn’t exactly light the river up either.
I fished the Middle Fork Willamette near Oakridge this past Saturday evening. At about 7:00 there were fair amounts of caddis coming off and the fish were eating those sparingly. The real hatch [...]

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Tying the Light Cahill Dry

As many of you know, I also write for the Oregon Fly Fishing blog–one of nation’s top fly fishing blogs in terms of traffic and the very best in content. I might be a wee bit biased. Recently, I made my tying debut demonstrating how to tie a Light Cahill dry. It [...]

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