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Four rogues on the Rogue

Fishing and hunting

(Column sent from my iPad)

 

It started a few days steelhead fishing in Oregon ... in February. What was I thinking?

It was snowing as we passed Mt. Shasta, icy rain in Yreka ... snow again on Mt. Ashland.

My buddy Steve Kyle had talked me into this adventure. He also persuaded Les Vadasz and Jim Powers to come too. Les and Jim are such sensible guys. I don't know what possessed them … or me.

We met our guides at 7 a.m. Monday. The temperature was Siberian. A cold, icy wind sent ripples across the Rogue River.

Clouds boiled overhead.

Then, a miracle happened. We started fishing and actually caught fish. It is strange how the cold, wind and sleet became minor background “noise” and we just kept drifting down the river.

People watching would have called us crazy, but we were actually having fun.

Jim Andras is the best fishing guide I have ever fished with, and that is more than three decades of angling. His ability to find fish and put us in a position to get them is uncanny. He is also the hardest working guide I’ve ever known.

We caught lots of beautiful steelhead, and only at the very end of the day, when it was almost dark, did we realize that we were really cold.

Snow was falling as we returned to our lodging in Ashland. Feeling returned to my fingers and toes after a hot shower and a shot of Jameson’s.

It was still snowing when I went to bed. Would we need chains to reach the river in the morning?

Stay tuned.