Species: Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) Location: Brookings Coastline, OR Date: May 26, 2005 It had started the day before. My first time on the ocean, I rode out in a small Bayliner in the afternoon. The handful of students and three chaperones who decided to brave the afternoon waves thought it would be worth it. The newness of the experience…
Species: Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) Location: Hoover Ponds, OR Date: July 31, 2004 Bass fishing is the closest thing the fishing community has to professional sports. A handful of the top competitors even make a living off of it. The millions of dollars spent on endorsements, the fact that people actually watch it on television, and the sponsors lining…
Species: Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) Location: Various Southern Oregon Streams Date: May 29, 2004 I caught dozens of these between my first fish and 2004; however since I didn’t keep records and don’t have pictures, I must defer to the journals I started in 2004 to determine species order. Brook Trout were widely introduced to Oregon nearly 100…
Klamath River, OR Trip Date: October 12, 2014 The Klamath River is magical in October. The mornings are crisp and cold, and until the sun hits the water, your line will freeze if you take too long between casts. The afternoons are warm enough to shed the sweater and pants in favor of Hurley board shorts…
Klamath River, OR Trip Date: October 3, 2012 Alfred Lord Tennyson once said: “Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.” Well, Tennyson was obviously a fisherman, because anyone who has fished enough understands just how painful fishing can be. It doesn’t stop at painful. In fact, at times, it can be…
Big Butte Creek, Little Butte Creek, Medco Pond, Willow Lake, OR Trip Date: August 5, 2011 “A good plan implemented today, is better than the perfect plan implemented tomorrow.” General George S. Patton’s words should be taken to heart in our daily lives, but are especially true when it comes to fishing. Research and reading are incredibly important, but…
Seal Beach Pier, Seal Beach, CA Trip Date: June 9-13, 2008 The Pier The piers of Central and Southern California have a unique subculture. By day, they teem with tourists of all different races and backgrounds, all living completely separate lives. By night, the multi-ethnic tapestry remains, but the occupants of the pier share a…
Seal Beach Pier, Seal Beach, CA Trip Date: June 9-13, 2008 The Jetty The night before graduation, I decided to scrap the speech I’d written weeks in advance and start a new one. I finished it around midnight, and it is, to this day, the best speech I’ve ever written. While my delivery was a…
Brookings-Harbor, OR Trip Date: May 25-26, 2005 The mind is a funny thing. How we can remember the subtle differences between the radio-edited song and the original, but draw a blank on the name of a childhood friend, I will never understand. While I don’t understand, I do remember. I remember loading into a red…
Spencer Creek, OR Trip Date: May 25, 2004 I didn’t know it yet, but my life was about to change forever. As I loaded fishing gear into the car with my dad, my brother Jake, and our family friends, the Wogans, I had no idea that an afternoon of fishing at Spencer Creek, the southernmost…
