Project Healing Waters Crooked River Outing

Sunday was a beautiful day for a Central Oregon Project Healing Waters Crooked River outing.

My wife and I were mentors again to help a few Vets hook up on some fish. We tied a few knots, suggested a fly or two, tweaked the casting stroke for nymph fishing, and offered pointers on how to read water.

And we succeeded! You should have seen the SMILES on their faces.

It’s an honor to help our Vets lose themselves for a few hours while trying to catch a some fish. We volunteer for as many outings as we can. In fact, I wrote about an outing to Lake in the Dunes last year.

We started the day with a quick review on the best method of rigging up some nymphs.

And out to the river we went. The first thing to do was pull out the kick-net and see what was in the drift. Everyone was amazed at how SMALL the real bugs are. We’ve told them before during our Thursday fly tying, but seeing them really reinforced the point…”a picture is worth a thousand words.”

We had enough mentors for a 1-on-1 ratio to provide a little expertise and hopefully increase the odds of hooking and landing a fish or two.

I pulled a few flies out of the Crooked River Flies selection and tried them. You might have seen my recent post – Crooked River Flies – Done.

Second cast, Jay landed one using a Ray Charles – a scud imitation.

I think everyone caught a fish. And yes, there were a couple of nice fish caught. Here’s one.

Next stop for a Central Oregon Project Healing Waters outing – East Lake.

Stay tuned…

Oh, and thank a Vet whenever you get a chance.