Fishing for salmon and catching happiness

August 18-24, 2013
Astoria, Oregon
Lewis and Clark Golf and RV Resort



Last year when we visited my son Brooks in Astoria, he and I went salmon fishing in our Hobie kayaks on the Klaskanine River, a tributary of Young’s River which flows into the mighty Columbia River.  I really like to fish, yet it is something I don’t do nearly enough!  I made a pact with him last summer that this year we would plan our trip to Astoria to coincide with the famous fall chinook salmon run that draws thousands of fishermen (and women, I hope) to get lucky on the Columbia River and its tributaries.

Brooks (appropriately named huh?) works for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife  so he is quite in tune with the fishing scene in Astoria and is an avid fisherman himself.  Just for added inspiration, he sent me this photo of himself with a prize catch he made a few weeks before our arrival.




Most of the tourists who flock here for the fall run, go out on power boats to the area that is known as Buoy 10, where the Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean and sixteen miles upstrea. This stretch of water
can be treacherous even on what looks like a mild late summer day. Brooks offered to take me out there with a friend who is a guide, but I was way more interested in trying my hand at catching salmon on the smaller rivers as they travel upstream.


When we were here last August, we stayed at the relatively popular Fort Stevens State Park and I was not a fan— our site was dark even on a sunny day, too many low tree branches,  mosquitoes due to standing water, and loads of screaming children. I did some firsthand research when I visited here in March and discovered a small family-owned park, Lewis and Clark Golf and RV Resort, just a few miles from downtown Astoria. What a lovely place this turned out to be!





The park has pull-in sites that face the golf course giving you a very green landscape to look out onto each day. Behind this row of pull-ins, the park has about twenty more traditional sites that don't offer such a pretty view but are spacious and comfortable. Because of the fishing season, the park was full while were there and many came with boat trailers. We even saw some motorhomes towing the boats with friends following in a car or truck.



You can see little touches of autumn starting to color the landscape and the cool temperatures with daytimes highs in the 60s seemed just right.



I had a long conversation with the owner the first day we arrived and learned that he used to farm this land before turning it into a golf course and RV resort about seven years ago. The place is quite thoughtfully designed and very laid-back. The 9-hole golf  is self-serve, set-up on the honor system including checking out your own electric cart. They have cabins as well as about 40 RV spaces. One large cabin has a premium RV pad with a hot tub and fire pit. This site would be great for a small family gathering.



Interestingly, the whole place is for sale ($2.5 million) as the owner is now 78 and figures he would like to go full-timing in his 43’ Monaco motorhome before he gets too old to enjoy it.  Cute. He says if I find a buyer, he will give me a finder’s fee, so please check it out!

Back to fishing. First of all, I need to say that I chose not to bring my Nikon on the kayak with all the other gear, so any photos were going to be from my phone. Day one of fishing on the Klaskanine turned out to be a bit unexpected as my son suggested we go in his inflatable Zodiak-type boat which has both an electric and gas motor. I loved the kayaking experience last year but was open to doing whatever he suggested. It was definitely easier to troll against the current with a motor. Because we had a gas motor, we were able to be good samaritans early on our adventure. Two elderly gentlemen apparently had been fishing way too long and ran their electric motor dry. They did not even have a paddle!  When we saw them, we thought they were washing their net. It turned out they had placed a large garbage bag over their net and were using it first as a sail, then when the wind died, as a paddle. Funny.



With a bit of trepidation about the weight of pulling them with our small motor, we agreed to try. The smiles on their faces were certainly priceless. The guy in the back of the boat reminded me of the man in the American Gothic painting. This little episode took about 45 minutes out of our precious fishing time, but the good karma we earned was worth it.



We spent about another three hours on the river and Brooks caught a beautiful coho salmon—much rarer than a chinook at this time of year. I love the delicate taste of a coho as it reminds me of the Lake Superior trout we used to eat when I lived in the UP of Michigan. Brooks offered to let me bring the fish in but I wanted to watch him land it and learn from his expertise. Well, he made it look quite easy.



I have to say that I always feel a little sad to witness the death of such a beautiful fish, but a long time ago I resolved that if I was going to eat meat or fish I should be able to kill it myself. (Ask me sometime about butchering one of my turkeys!)  I do always say a little prayer of thanksgiving at the moment of sacrifice. 



We fished that evening until the sun set and the blue moon had risen. What a beautiful experience to be on the water during this time of transition.  I regretted not having my "real" camera to capture the beauty but it remains indelible in my mind. Brooks felt bad that I did not catch a fish, but the time with him was perfect in every way—nothing was missing from my happiness quotient.

The next day our plan was the same—to fish the Klaskanine in his boat during the ebb tide from 4 p.m. on. This day turned out to be less successful as hitting the low tide caused us (mostly me) to get my spinner snagged on several occasions.  Here’s where the motor came in handy as we could easily backtrack and get the tackle free without losing it. No fish on this occasion, but another precious gift of time on the water with my son.



Eager to get in another day of fishing, I convinced Vic to go with me on the same stretch of water in the kayaks. When we arrived about 11:00 in the morning, there were several boats coming in with their limit. Seems like getting out earlier in the morning would be the best fishing (isn't it always?).  We had thought that low tide in the morning would be bad but not according to these guys. Anyway, we enjoyed about three hours of kayaking with me trolling most of the way.



There were lots of huge salmon rolling on the river—pretty frustrating that they weren't biting. Vic was such a patient companion! As a reward for his patience, we stopped at the Big O, a colorful country bar, for a cold beer on the way home.



I took a break from fishing the next day and we enjoyed a day of exploring this historic sea town which included a long walk along the Columbia with the dogs. Astoria has a colorful history which gives it a lot of character. At one time, it was a bigger city than Portland because of its importance as a major Oregon port.



Aside from hundreds of small boats going out to salmon fish on Buoy 10, there were several freighters anchored out waiting to load or unload their goods.





We enjoyed looking at the sailboats in the harbor, seeing a few sea lions, and then discovering some geese and gulls among the pilings.







The last time we were here, we did not take the time to visit the Columbia River Maritime Museum. We made it a point to do so this year and it was a good decision. I learned quite a bit more about Astoria’s history, especially in terms of the commercial fishing industry and shipbuilding.









The museum entrance fee also included a tour of a restored lightship. We had never heard of  lightships before so we found this part of the day quite interesting. The Lightship Columbia was in service for 29 years, from the 1950-1979 where it sat anchored out six miles beyond the bar in 200 feet of water.  In the early 1900s, there were 46 lightships on the east coast and five on the Pacific coast, and a few on the Great Lake, but the Columbia was one of the last ones in service in the country.







The next salmon fishing plan was to go out to the Columbia River for bank fishing by Fort Stevens. For this adventure, Brooks picked me up at 6 a.m. Setting the alarm for 5:30 seemed unreasonable until fishing became attached to it. I was ready to go before he arrived.

The river bank fishing gave me my first chance to wear waders. Brooks brought me an extra pair of his, a size 9 but they kept me dry. It was a pretty chilly morning too, hence the many layers of clothing.



When we arrived, there were at least a dozen other fishermen and we watched at least three of them land good-sized chinooks while we were there.



After about two hours of casting, Brooks got into a large chinook and handed the rod to me. He told me to tire him out. After about five minutes, he took the rod to show me how to work it and, oops, he slipped off.  Apparently, it is not so easy to land a salmon with the restriction of barbless hooks. I was bummed but it happens.  A few minutes later, he caught another coho but it also slipped away. Just as we were about to go, he had another fish on and it turned out to be a small flounder. Something I would have been happy to catch in Florida, but it was too small to keep.  By now, my arm was getting tired from almost four hours of casting and Brooks had to be at work by 10 a.m.  Oh, darn.



Well, I was already scheming to return later that day after high tide to the same place. I borrowed the waders and Brooks’ lucky spinner for a return trip. Vic kindly brought me back and settled in to his Kindle reading in a chair while I fished. My only catch was snagging a large red rock crab and it fell off before I could even get a photo of it.



Brooks offered to take me bobber fishing for a chinook later that same day, but I was pooped.  Seven hours of casting in waders in one day was enough to wear this girl out. 

The bank fishing day was our last one here. We ended our visit with an amazing meal at the Bridgewater Bistro where my son’s roommate is the head chef.  (This photo was orange because of the lighting in the restaurant, so I changed it to black and white.)

When it comes to saying goodbye to my kids, it helps to take a few deep breaths. Having lived far away from my mom most of my adult life, I think of the many times I watched her go through this and conjure up her strength in these moments. When I feel the tears welling up, I shift to gratitude rather than loss and center myself there. Brooks whispers in my ear that this was a “good visit” and compliments me for “getting after it” with the fishing.  I am grateful to Vic in supporting my desire to spend a week here and take off every day in search of the elusive chinook. When he sees the sadness in my eyes at leaving, he says, “Maybe we should plan to stay here a month next summer.” I am blessed in oh so many ways. Namaste.

A postcard from Astoria, Oregon

 
March 8-20, 2013
Corvallis & Astoria, Oregon
 

Spanning the mighty Columbia River, the Astoria-Megler Bridge stretches 4 miles from Astoria, Oregon, to Point Ellice, Washington. The bridge contains the longest continuous three-span through-truss in the world

 
Note: I am trying to catch up on blog posts after taking a ten day hiatus from our RV campground in Florida.  About three weeks ago,  I took advantage of mileage points with Alaska airlines and booked a trip to Oregon to visit my sons. We had been in Fort Myers at the same campground for two months (a record for us) and it seemed a good time to take advantage of a solo getaway before Vic and I start the slow trek back to the west coast in April. 
 
After twenty months of spending 24-7 together and only a few nights of sleeping in a bed other than the motorhome, it felt incredibly strange to leave The Big EZ and be out on my own. This sentence sounds strange even as I type it as I was single for almost ten years before marrying Vic and I have a fierce independent streak. So aside from this trip being an opportunity to spend with my kids, it was healthy for Vic and me to have a chance to be apart. A friend of mine once called it a time to gain some altitude on your life—and that was literally true flying across the United States—but more figuratively true as a time to reflect on our full-time lifestyle and think about retirement plans that we may pursue in the future.
 
I flew in to the Portland airport on what may have been one of the prettiest March days I could recall in Oregon. Instead of a rainy overcast day, the skies were clear blue and the lushness of early spring could be seen everywhere.
 


I had made arrangements to stay with a dear friend in her home which is like a bed and breakfast right near downtown Corvallis. (Thank you for a being a great host Sue Lyn!) One of the first things I did after arriving was take a walk to the downtown area on this remarkably beautiful day (with a high of 68) to check out the sights.



The county courthouse has always been one of the best architectural landmarks in town and it looked just as good as ever on this spring day.  The crocuses were on the wane and daffodils were pushing up everywhere.



In honor of my friend's birthday and for having me as a guest in her home, I took her out to dinner at one of the finer restaurants in Corvallis, Luc, where we dined on roasted beet and goat cheese salad, crab and fennel salad, and homemade gnocchi with rabbit.  A splurge of a meal, but well worth it. It was great to have time to reconnect and toast to Sue Lyn's 70th birthday!

Feeling a fair amount of jet lag as well as the three hour time difference, I decided to have a lazy day before going out to Sweet Home, about a 45-minute drive, to see my youngest son Jesse. It felt a little weird to be in town and not call all of my friends and make arrangements to see them, but my biggest priority was to spend time with Jesse and later in the week go to see my son Brooks in Astoria, about a three-hour drive north.

During the first part of my week in the valley, Jesse and I spent lots of time together just hanging out and having a few meals in some new spots near his place in Sweet Home. We also checked out a few RV parks in the area. The nicest one by far is part of the Mallard Creek Golf Course in Lebanon. Vic and I don’t golf, but Jesse is an avid golfer so he thought their “stay and play” packages that included unlimited golf for two people were quite reasonable at $300-$400 a week. Almost makes me want to take up golf.



One of the best parts of my stay in Oregon was that Jesse was able to take time off to travel with me to Astoria to see my oldest son Brooks.  We realized that the three of us had not spent time alone together in probably fifteen years—way too long! Astoria is best known as a world class destination for salmon fishing on the Columbia River and its tributaries. Brooks has a state job working for Fish and Wildlife monitoring gill net fishing in the area.

I booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express right on the Columbia River near downtown Astoria.  What a view we had from our room. Usually I don’t like to hang out in hotel rooms, but with a gas fireplace, an amazing view, and lots of hot tea options to make right in the room, we didn't mind spending time here catching up on our lives. 



We did plenty of other things together as we were lucky to catch Brooks at the beginning of his days off.  The first night I wanted to have a special meal together. Brooks chose the Bridgewater Bistro, a great restaurant just a couple blocks west of our hotel. The chef happens to be Brooks’ roommate and the food was some of the best I have had in a long time. This guy has some serious talent and creativity. I had what they call a Mayan Salad—with red quinoa, roasted beets and yams, avocado, corn-black bean relish, and a honey lime dressing. Jesse had the amazing pan roasted Willapa Bay oysters with homemade creole remoulade and Brooks had one of the specials, Osso Busco, with polenta—major comfort food—and it was off the charts. We passed on dessert, but the waitress brought us a passionfruit sorbet to share because she wanted us to try it. What a great way to start our time together. 



The next day we took a tour of Astoria and high on the list of things to do was visit one of Astoria's most famous landmarks: The Goonies House!  My kids have seen this 1985 cult movie countless times. As soon as we arrived, they started their comical impersonations of the characters while quoting some of their favorite lines. Why don`t we just spread chocolate all over the floor and let Chunk eat his way through? First you gotta do the truffle shuffle.  Goonies never say die! Heeyyyyy Yooooouuu Guyyyyyys!

It was fun to see them get into the memories of being so enamored with this movie when they were kids. For me, the truth is I hardly remember it. I was teaching school, grading papers, and shuttling these guys around to all their sports events, so TV or movie watching was pretty low on the list.  We thought about renting the DVD while we were there but they both agreed it was a better memory as it was. There were, however, many more conversations about the other Goonie set locations as we continued to explore the town. 

Next up was checking out The Astoria Column. The column, a 125 ft. structure, is a notable landmark that sits on a bluff above Astoria. Vic and I visited this area last August and I did a post on it then, but it was fun to see it for a second time.  You can climb the column’s 164 stairs to a viewing area at the top which looks out on a 360 degree view of the bar where the Columbia River meets the Pacific,  the snow-capped  volcanoes of the Cascade Range to the east, and the peaks of Saddle Mountain (Brooks’ favorite elk hunting grounds) overlooking Youngs River to the south. (We did climb the 164 steps and my legs were sore the next day, but I didn't admit this to my kids.)



The outside of the column is painted with scenes that begin with the history of this area before man arrived.  As the column rises, the scenes trace the history of the first encounters with white men leading up to Lewis and Clark and beyond.



This is the most amazing view from the bluff as you can see the Pacific Ocean way to the left and the picturesque bridge spanning the Columbia River.



Here is the view of Saddle Mountain to the far left and Youngs River, but something went weird with my camera (only had my droid phone with me) because the clouds were not black and smokey looking.

From The Column off we went to show Jesse Long Beach, Washington about a twenty minute ride after crossing the Astoria-Megler Bridge. It was an unusually pretty day to check out what they claim is the world’s longest beach. The surprising thing is they allow people to drive their cars on the beach—not an idea I favor especially since this is a well-known clam digging beach. This area is also known for some of the best tasting farmed oysters I have ever eaten from Willapa Bay. They are supposedly from one of the cleanest estuaries in the United States. I found Willapa Bay oysters in the fish section of a Sweetbay grocery store in Florida so they must have quite an oyster industry in this area.
 





After a brisk walk on the beach, we found a cute little seafood cafe called Castaways where we had outrageously good clam chowder and another Northwest favorite, razor clams.  A good way to end our afternoon on Long Beach together.

Sadly, our last day together came way too soon. We decided we had time to check out Fort Clatsop National Historic Park, the place where Lewis and Clark wintered from Dec. 1805 to March 1806. Lewis and Clark chose this spot because it was high ground for staying relatively dry in the winter, had large herds of elk and deer, and close access to the ocean for making salt to cure their meat.  The actual forts on the grounds are all replicas some of which were just reconstructed again due to a fire in 2005.  The museum inside is very well done showing illustrated sections of the journals describing the expedition in this area along with their various tools, hunting and fishing gear, clothing, and cooking utensils.  We especially enjoyed walking the trails outside imagining these were the very woods where they hunted and fished.


 


After visiting Fort Clatsop, Brooks wanted to show us one of his favorite fishing holes just below Youngs River Falls, about a twenty minute drive from Fort Clatsop. The falls were first discovered by some members of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Today the 65 ft. falls have become fairly popular as they have been featured in television commercials and a few movies: Free Willy 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3, and Benji the Hunted.



After viewing the falls, we chose a funky little Mexican restaurant, La Cabana de Raya, in Astoria with a nice view of Youngs Bay for a late lunch before our departure. The food was excellent with homemade tortillas, fresh ceviche made from local sole, and authentic sauces prepared from scratch. Pretty surprising little find.   We asked the waitress to take a photo of us with my smart phone—not the best—but still one I will cherish for the memory of this special time together.



It was now time to say adios to Brooks as Jesse and I made the trip back to Corvallis. Vic and I plan to return to Astoria this August during the beginning of the fall Chinook salmon run to visit Brooks and do some kayak fishing in the area. We will be back in Oregon in the motorhome in early July and hope to have other opportunities to spend time together even before our trip to Astoria—so I tell myself--as saying goodbye seems harder than ever. Jesse and I had a rainy trip back across Hwy 30 and south on I-5 then it was time for another goodbye. And a lovely time in Oregon comes to an end. I take a long moment to fully experience the gratitude I feel to have had this special time together with two amazing young men.  Blessings abound.