Bass Fishing at Chief Timothy State Park on the Snake River

For my husband and me, Saturday afternoons are for fishing when weather and commitments permit us. Today we launched Pisca-Dory at Chief Timothy State Park on the Snake River. Bass thrive here, and the warmer weather has activated them significantly.

We caught three Smallmouth bass between us–Vic caught one and I caught two. The scenery and the pelicans added beauty and enjoyment to our excursion.

Pisca-Dory is comfortable and the scenery is refreshing.

 

We go under a railroad bridge and into a lagoon, but catch nothing there. It’s quiet and lovely, but we head back to the broader River.

 

Pelicans are so marvelous!

 

Our catch. I caught the largest and the smallest Smallmouth, and Vic caught the mid-size model. We had two more nibblers who got away–a good thing, because they were so small.

Vic took all the photos.

 

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Plague of gnats

“He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them. . .” Psalm 78:45 (NKJV)

The Eastern Washington prairie in autumn is beautiful for its colors and still mild weather, with alternating rain and sunshine. A less likeable fall feature is the gnats. They swarm, tiny specks of face-level (no matter how tall you are) white flies. They turn black when scrunched, as I tend to think they deserve to be, but then I’m not a bug person.

My husband was able to get photos of a couple of gnats in flight, which is apparently their primary mode of existence.

Saturday: Back in Pisca-Dory

We took Pisca-Dory out fishing on the river Saturday–her first outing in six weeks! The day was lovely and we were so happy to be back in our dory (my husband was recovering from surgery and hefting the boat onto the trailer was out of the question).

We didn’t mind a bit that we were skunked again. We saw a steelhead jump, his brawny pink middle and head teasing us. He was back in the water in a second, and there was no time to take his photograph.

We enjoyed the scenery along the river in our beautiful boat for 3-1/2 hours.  My husband took all the photos. I was fishing a tad obsessively.

Heading out

Basalt

Colors

Drift

Fishing

Snake River colors

 

Back to the River

After five weeks, we returned to the Snake River upstream of Asotin to fish for bass. I caught an 11-1/2 incher on my first cast, and after about an hour and a half, neither of us caught any more, though I lost two lures to hungry rocks.

The day was spectacularly beautiful: sunny, with contour and light accenting the basalt hills across the water.

My husband took all the photos.

A Friday walk

My husband took a recuperative day off today, and we took an easy walk along a Snake River trail. We were a little disheartened that the river’s flooding this year caused the grassy trail to be displaced by cockle burrs, but we coped with the narrow trail and dodged the burrs.

The day started out cloudy, but our walk seemed to invite the sun out and join us. I took a couple of photos of the scenery.

Smoke Sun

My husband Vic took this photo of the fiery-red sun in the smoke-grey sky as it set just before 7:00 this evening. The smoke from forest fires as far as 150 miles away has been a real bane, but at least it sent a rosy greeting.

Necessary gear for a quick outdoor excursion

Don’t worry: I promise this is not a fashion statement. Because of sun sensitivity, my “blast shields” and hat are always on when I venture outdoors, but today’s smoke suggested a particle mask for protection when I let Cat Halvor out of the shop and fetched the eggs from our chickens.

Score–Us: Zero fish. River: 4 lures

We chose Chief Timothy today for  a fishing outing with our boat Pisca-Dory on the Snake River. We enjoy this portion of the River not only for its beauty and serenity, but today we also chose it to avoid the crowds elsewhere that were closer to a noisy international jet boat race boasting no limits on horsepower.

We saw bass in the water and saw more of them in deeper water on our Garmin fishfinder. My husband hooked a fairly large bass who released himself, apparently recalling a previous engagement. I hooked a 4-incher and promptly released him. Rocks and logs took three lures from me and one from Vic. All that notwithstanding, we relished our time on the river; we always do. The day was not uncivilly hot, and the sky and canyon were clear and free of smoke. It’s okay that no fish wanted to come home with us. Fishing is rewarding in its own ways, with or without catching fish. Life is full of belayed aspirations.

I get a head start with a little fishing from the dock while Vic parks the truck and boat trailer.

We drift toward a cove, trolling with our lines, of no interest to the fish we see in our fishfinder.

We approach a cove where all the bass are happy and never wish to leave home.

My husband took all the photos for this post.

Back on the River: The Movie

Snake and Clearwater Rivers cruise

No, we didn’t catch any fish. We tried, but none took us up on our offer to take them home with us. We have licenses to fish in both Washington and Idaho. The Clearwater River is on the Idaho side until it joins the Snake River at the boundary. The Snake flows along the boundary until it meets the Clearwater, at which point the Snake is in Washington. It’s complicated.

We moored Pisca-Dory at an enchanting little island and clambered up a trail. We named it Pony Island, after a dream I had when we were in law school.

on “Pony Island”

Both rivers are beautiful, and normally afford wonderful fishing. Right now, water temperatures are in flux and the fish seem to be laying low, though I observed one bass take a dramatic leap.

It was a lovely day; storm clouds gathered, but never broke while we were out on the rivers.

Pretty yellow flowers on Pony Island

Trail on Pony Island

Heading back to the launch