Labor day had come and gone. Summer fishing adventures in the high Cascades are winding down and we are moving on to our list of fall destinations. Counting the possible destinations and the number of weekends available until Thanksgiving rolls around, it seems the numbers don’t quite match up. But, we’ll get out to see what we can see and maybe have a list left over for next year. The first stop turned out to be a trip to the high country of the Malheur National Forest, and the headwaters of the Malheur river.
This is familiar country to me but I haven’t visited in a long time. I used to hunt deer and elk here regularly but with how difficult it is to draw a tag now in Oregon and how lousy the hunting is I’ve concentrated more on fishing the last several years. It was good to be back and see the country again. With the days getting shorter we arrived in the dark on Friday night. First up on Saturday was a hike in the Strawberries to High Lake.
At the trailhead I almost left my fly rod and gear behind, but then decided to throw it in on an impulse. I’m glad I did. After donating a few flies on my back cast to the trees I found the right recipe and started to hone in on what the brookies would rise to. I soon lost count of the fish. It was a ton of fun. I fished until the fly wore out.
We enjoyed the lake for a while and eventually returned to the trail. Days are short and we had just enough time once back at camp for an evening walk up big creek.
Sunday seemed to come in a hurry and we were already saying goodbye to camp. I think the camp we stayed in was the one I stayed in on the last elk hunt here. It seemed the same owl was still working the creek at night and it was good to hear it as we sat around the campfire.
Before heading back home we hit the wild and scenic section of Malheur River trail. It’s an 8 mile section of trail that follows the river downstream, once all the small streams flowing south out of the Strawberry Mountains join together to form the river. I just happened to notice on the little trailhead symbol on the map. If not for the little trailhead symbol I would have never known it was there. We were the only ones on the trail.
We made our way down the trail for a few miles, stopping at several spots that looked like promising fishing holes. Some of them produced a few small redsides and it was fun to work over the pockets.
Soon it was time to start moving towards home. A good weekend in the high country of the Malheur.
Nice to see that country. I was on the Canyon Creek Fire for three weeks and aim to go back one of these days.