"Don't call it a comeback!"

To my 344 friends and family I want to say thank you for theoretically not abandoning us!  We were in Alaska from June first to October seventh and have been recuperating ever since.  Why didn't I blog in Alaska?  Because the internet is the equivalent of two tin cans and a length of string.  Not possible.  Well, you've been home since October so what the hell have you been doing?  Nothing.  Everything.  Sleeping.  Basically, Alaska is MEGA.  I'm not sure what the opposite of MEGA is, but I'm trying to achieve that state right now.  It takes time to want to re-join the general population.  It takes a LOT of time to get over all of the "modern" amenities that your real house has.  Most important of all of the re-introductory activities, beside the benign (washing laundry a few feet away from my room instead of a country mile, showering whenever the hell I feel like it, sleeping in until I feel ashamed of my laziness, washing a two day full sink of dishes, etc...), or the mildly important (remembering how to pay your bills, buying food with your own money, having to drive to get things that you need, catching up with friends and family that you have not talked to in four months, etc...) is remembering that you actually like to fish!  You're not teaching anyone, you're not NOT fishing, and you're on no one's clock.
So.....you may have noticed that I have changed the name of this site from "Oregon Fly Fishing Anonymous" to "Oregon Fishing Anonymous."  Catching fish is awesome, no doubt, but the learning process of assessing habitat, discovering behavior, accounting for elements (water level, clarity, tide, etc.), proper presentation, and finally doing everything right is the most gratifying part of the whole package.  Basically, we'll use bait and gear to get ahead and then figure how we can catch fish on the fly if possible.  Aside from that, there are a lot of other things that I want to share as far as crabbing, clamming, and whatever else may strike me.  So, we're from the Oregon Coast and want to utilize (sustainably) our fisheries and continue to discover what else is out there.
So, we have been fishing a bit when the river has been in shape.  We did fall kings and actually did pretty well on bobber and eggs.  First trip we had to buy eggs from the local shop because there is nothing in the freezer after Alaska.

We did well the first day with one hen and a buck near a downed tree stump early on in the day.  After that, we floated all the way down to Cloverdale before we saw anymore kings.  Here we managed to hook another few jacks (that went back to the water) before we headed for the take out.  Sorry again for the late posting as this day was in mid-October.  Just trying to catch back up with the program.  We did fish kings again around November 7th and caught a 25 lb. buck and a heavy handful of silvers.  

Now that we're kind of transitioning over to winter steelhead and the kings are petering out, we've been focusing back on the estuary and more saltwater activities.  We did go on the first official steelhead trip of the season and caught one winter, but for reasons unknown did not take a picture.  It was a long float for one fish and a few cutthroat, so I'm reverting to my prior post about winter steelhead.  JUST WAIT!  We've gone out a few times now and half-assedly clammed, pumped shrimp and fished for flounder.  Interestingly the flounder size this time of year is much smaller than we were seeing earlier this year in the spring.  It is something to take into account that we've had a huge tide swing lately, so maybe that has something to do with it.  The most important thing that has happened this fall is our new boat!  How many boats does a person need?  We have four now, so.....at least four.  A buddy of ours from Sisters, Oregon owns the company Fish Craft so before we went to Alaska this summer we commissioned him to build us a boat.  A very specific boat, at that.  He's actually filing it under a demo boat because he's never built another like it with our mods.  It's going to be the ultimate bay boat when all is said and done, but we've yet to put it in the water.  Some weekend plans put us behind on the boat as well as home projects and undesirable weather, but here it is in most of its glory.

I say most of its glory because....BAM!!!  Now with more motor!

Actually, we were forced to mount the motor now on the unfinished boat because our motor guy heads out for two months on vacation.  We'll still be sending her back in for powder coat and some odds and ends.  All in all it's pretty exciting to see where we're headed.  Rockfish and ling cod and crabs, oh my.  That's all for now.  If you kept checking back here you're truly a loyal oregon coastie follower.  If you just showed up I'll try to keep it as consistent as last year before Alaska.