Bill Lynch: My best ever fishing trips

I was 12 years old when my mom and dad, and their best friends, Al and Helen Maggini, began planning a summer vacation at Lake Creek Lodge near Camp Sherman, Oregon. Al, who taught me how to fish with flies, had been going to Lake Creek Lodge since he was a teenager.

Located near the Metolius River, one of the most beautiful trout streams in the country, the lodge was established in 1924, and generations of fishermen and their families have been returning there season-after-season for decades.

I was a fishing nut back then, as I am today. And I started tying flies in anticipation of the trip throughout the preceding winter and spring. I even persuaded my mom to take me to the San Francisco Abercrombie and Fitch store that had an entire floor devoted to fly-fishing. There, a salesman helped me choose a half-dozen flies that he guaranteed would work the Metolius.

The lodge is a compound of small, rustic one-, two- and three-bedroom cabins arrayed around Lake Creek, a small tributary of the Metolius. In those days, the lodge owners had installed a small dam on the creek to create a large central pond.

We arrived mid-afternoon on that first day and I saw immediately that I was in the closest thing I’d ever be to a fly-fisher’s heaven.

As we carried our luggage to our cabin, I could see small trout rising in the pond, just a few feet away. Al said it was OK to fish for them, so as soon as we unpacked, I broke out my rod, tied on a small dry fly and was casting toward the rising fish with no thought about checking out the rest of the compound.

Losing all track of time and everything else, I spent my first few hours at Lake Creek Lodge catching and releasing nearly a dozen pan-sized rainbows.

My dad and Al broke my reverie by suggesting we drive down to the Metolius to fish the late afternoon hatch.

Up to that time, my trout-fishing experience had been confined to Sonoma Creek and its tributaries. The Metolius was like no river I had ever seen. Originating from a large spring under Black Butte, a large cinder cone, its icy cold (42 to 45 degrees) water is crystal clear and meanders through the forest for several miles, along which there is plenty of fishing access, where only fly-fishing is allowed. The rainbow and brown trout in that stretch can run to 24 inches and in a few spots, the water was so clear, I could see their torpedo shapes at the base of riffles casually waiting for whatever the current brought them to eat.

There were already lots of bugs flitting over the water in mottled afternoon light, so I tied on the big, puffy, grey Wulff that I bought at Abercrombie and Fitch, and waded in upstream from the fish I spotted feeding in the riffle.

The first two drifts were off line and the trout showed no interest, but on my third cast I put the bug five feet directly upstream from the feeding trout. A second later I saw a bright flash and my fly disappeared in a flash. My first Metolious rainbow trout was on.

It was so much bigger than the trout I usually caught that I was afraid it would break my leader. Nevertheless I was able to lead it to my net. It was a fat, bright, 14-inch jewel-colored rainbow. To this day I think of it as the most beautiful trout I ever caught.

Decades later, I was day-dreaming about that trip, and mentioned it to Dottie, wondering out loud if Lake Creek Lodge still existed. Sure enough, a Google search revealed that it did, vintage cabins and all.

Just months after that, Dottie and I, and our entire family of kids and grandkids were there, where I had been when I was a boy. They added more cabins, a swimming pool and tennis courts, but otherwise the resort was pretty close to the way I remember it.

We all went back again last summer.

The Metolious River is still as beautiful as I remember, but because so many more anglers have discovered it, the fish have gotten a lot smarter. I still enjoyed fishing it, but the catching was more of a challenge.

In any event, if you are looking for a great spot for a family and fishing summer vacation, check out Lake Creek Lodge (lakecreeklodge.com).

It will always be a special summer place to me.