Senior Project Post #3

I honestly don't know how I would classify the story that I am about to tell you; probably funny for everyone other then me, and actually it was funny most of the time, just slightly tramautizing in the moment. On Thursday, Kellen, Braden, and I set off to fish Milo Mcgyver Park on the lower Clackamas for a second time throughout the project. We decided to fish a different spot then we had fished earlier in the project in search of bigger fish. We fished this one riffle for about half an hour and were having all sorts of luck catching very small fish; pretty much every cast if you would let the dry fly sink a few inches below the surface, you would hook into a 3-6 inch rainbow trout. However, across the river and in a deeper pool, we saw what we were sure were some larger fish surfacing. I've built up a bit of a reputation throughout this project as being the riskiest person when it comes to precarious wading situations so it wasn't much of surprise that I walked across the river and finally reached the pool. However, I needed to get a better angle. So, I made the calculated decision to cross this smaller creek that led off of the bigger river. As I started to walk across, the current of the creek caused me to sway slightly and I leaned to the left as I took a step, trying to find solid footing. But much to my surprise, my foot never found rock. I had walked right into a deep pool, disguised by the shallow bed of the rest of the creek. You know that feeling when you are walking up/down the stairs in the dark and you reach the end of a staircase and still take a step onto a step that isn't there? It was like that x20 because instead of a staircase, I was in a river, and was starting to get pulled a little bit by the current. After swallowing a little water in a state of panic quickly, I regained my wits and was able to start to tread water. Eventually, I swam all the way over to the far bank where Braden and Kellen were, because I really didn't want to have to walk across the river again, and I had decided that considering I was already soaked and freezing I may as well just swim for it. It took a while... because I learned this week that it's pretty hard to swim across a very cold, moving body of water in waders while holding a fly rod. Once it was confirmed that I was out of danger, Kellen and Braden took some photos, so don't worry, here's me not drowning.

Our goals are going fairly well; We are definetly having fun and catching fish occasionally, so that's been good. The enviromental aspect/giving back to our community has been hard like I mentioned in the last post. However, we are working on setting up a conversation with Dr. Jeffry Gottfried, an avid fly fisherman and a conservationist, who we hope to learn more about our place in the ecosystem of fishing from. I don't have any questions right now. We also did some fly-tying this week which was new to me, and frankly extremely challenging. Here is a photo of the flies that I tied:

Hi Elizabeth, Isabel, and Eva. Til next week.