April 7 to 10, 2011 - Getting Away from the Winter Blahs
I was working on my old house and thinking of all the things I did last year. I have been waiting too for the temperature to reach 60 degrees (which it still has not done – well, one day it was 60 degrees but that was the first time in 106 days). It was time to get out!
Ilene and I went to the Coast to do some clamming and fishing. The tide book said it was going to be a low tide. Sometimes in the winter it doesn’t go out and it didn’t - at least not far enough for Razor clams!
When we arrived in Astoria, I realized I had forgotten my clamming coat. Luckily, there is a big Goodwill store there and I found a nice yellow hooded sweat shirt for $4.99. It had printing on it and was personalized with the name Chris. Now everyone calls me “Chris.” Costco was practically across the street, so we stopped there for lunch (hot dog and a drink $1.50), and I bought us 6 yummy looking New York Steaks.
Instead of razor clamming we went fishing in Coffenbury Lake. We launched the boat and Ilene said, “what about the stopper?” Water was gushing in through the drain hole. I figured my stopper was back home in my driveway someplace. It probably fell out when I put the boat on top of the van. Luckily I had an extra. Well, not to be deterred and after draining the water out, I caught a planted trout about 12 inches long. I also picked another fishing pole out of the water. It had a tag on it and said, “Goodwill.” It was my day for sure. After trolling the lake a few times, Ilene said something about the 40 degree weather, sun with a c-o-l-d wind, so I suggested we go in and warm up. We found a nice place to camp there at Fort Stevens. We grilled steaks and watched videos. It was a nice evening. The electric heater in the van works great.
The next day we thought we would fish in the lake again, but they were paving the parking lot and it was all closed down. Off to Tillamook and Netarts Bay we went.
We put the boat in at Netarts Bay and I found my favorite spot. There were clams all over but Ilene would only let me get three Geoducks. They are about the size of a soft ball and have a neck around 18 inches long. They are very hard to dig and the same goes for “cleaning” (I tell Ilene “I dig, you clean”). It works ever time, but it is fun. You can get 12 of them but you can only get 20 clams per day. The rest are other kinds. It took about five minutes to fill our limit with Cockerels. No, I am not going to tell you where it is. Well, OK. It is in the Bay. Then we went crabbing and caught two legal crabs - one was big. The wind and cold just went right through our coats even though the sun was out.
Next it was to get a camp sight at Cape Lookout State Park. (No, I didn’t reserve one). We turned on the electric heater in the van so we could quit shivering. Ilene then cooked the crab, grilled a New York steak and fried some clams. It was a protein meal. After dinner a movie in the nice warm van. “The A Team” was the title and then something about “Why don’t you go to bed,” was the rest.
The main reason we went down there was the Annual Whiskey Creek Fish Hatchery Fin Clipping Event. It was held just down the road from our campsite. The purpose of this event was to clip the Adipose fin on 100,000 salmon for release into the rivers that drain into Tillamook Bay. (This is a small fleshy fin on the back of the fish behind the Dorsal fin.) The reason for clipping the fin is so when you catch one with the fin clipped, you can keep it. Another 100,000 are not clipped and are released for spawning. The hatchery asks for volunteers to help out. This enables the private hatchery to stay open.
There was a bus from Vernonia High School and many boy scouts in addition to all of the people who drove up. So literally there were 2 or 3 hundred people there coming and going all day long. There were 75 stations. When one fish clipper’s hands got too cold, another would step up and take his place.
It started at 8:00 a.m. with coffee, hot chocolate, and donuts. At 9:00 a.m. they began work. The fish (fingerling size – 2 to 3 inches) were anesthetized before their fins were clipped. Clipping a wiggly fish was a “No-no” and they were put back into the tank that put them back to sleep. There were 8 fish runners who kept the volunteers in fish. I volunteered to be a runner and believe me, it kept me running. At noon they fed us (hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, baked beans, chips, and condiments). Some of the local larger Tillamook stores furnished food. By 2:30 p.m. all the fish were clipped. In 4 years the Chinook or King Salmon will weigh as much as 40 pounds.
Vellen, Sharon, Myran, Trina, and Kya met us there on Saturday. We also met our friend, Dick. Dick was a volunteer. He’s the one who talked me into this. Myran clipped a little at the end, but mostly all of them walked out on the Bay and got clams. Kya (16 months) liked riding on her dad’s shoulders and watching them dig.
After clipping, it was take the boat out and more clam digging. After clam digging, it was find another campsite. Vellen and Sharon had to go home – something about having to work on Sunday. Myran and Trina camped with us. Of course, it rained. Myran’s comment was “They said there would be showers at midnight, but it lasted for a week and a half.” It rained very, very hard that night and into the next day. And no, the wind didn’t stop.
Myran learned something very interesting about his new Coleman tent that he hadn’t taken out of the box yet. He got it on sale for $49. It seems it was a screen tent that was waterproof. The electric heater would break the chill in it and then a gust of wind would come through and the chill would be back.
We fooled around eating breakfast, packed up and left around 11:00 a.m. Yes, the rain and the wind didn’t stop, not even for breakfast.
We had clam chowder for lunch at the Blue Heron; cheese at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, jerky at the jerky factory, and went home. All in all it was a very enjoyable 4 days.
Sometimes when you get “Byranized” the weather is not exactly perfect.
But that is being “Byranized.” www.mrbontheside.blogspot.com
I was working on my old house and thinking of all the things I did last year. I have been waiting too for the temperature to reach 60 degrees (which it still has not done – well, one day it was 60 degrees but that was the first time in 106 days). It was time to get out!
Ilene and I went to the Coast to do some clamming and fishing. The tide book said it was going to be a low tide. Sometimes in the winter it doesn’t go out and it didn’t - at least not far enough for Razor clams!
When we arrived in Astoria, I realized I had forgotten my clamming coat. Luckily, there is a big Goodwill store there and I found a nice yellow hooded sweat shirt for $4.99. It had printing on it and was personalized with the name Chris. Now everyone calls me “Chris.” Costco was practically across the street, so we stopped there for lunch (hot dog and a drink $1.50), and I bought us 6 yummy looking New York Steaks.
Instead of razor clamming we went fishing in Coffenbury Lake. We launched the boat and Ilene said, “what about the stopper?” Water was gushing in through the drain hole. I figured my stopper was back home in my driveway someplace. It probably fell out when I put the boat on top of the van. Luckily I had an extra. Well, not to be deterred and after draining the water out, I caught a planted trout about 12 inches long. I also picked another fishing pole out of the water. It had a tag on it and said, “Goodwill.” It was my day for sure. After trolling the lake a few times, Ilene said something about the 40 degree weather, sun with a c-o-l-d wind, so I suggested we go in and warm up. We found a nice place to camp there at Fort Stevens. We grilled steaks and watched videos. It was a nice evening. The electric heater in the van works great.
The next day we thought we would fish in the lake again, but they were paving the parking lot and it was all closed down. Off to Tillamook and Netarts Bay we went.
We put the boat in at Netarts Bay and I found my favorite spot. There were clams all over but Ilene would only let me get three Geoducks. They are about the size of a soft ball and have a neck around 18 inches long. They are very hard to dig and the same goes for “cleaning” (I tell Ilene “I dig, you clean”). It works ever time, but it is fun. You can get 12 of them but you can only get 20 clams per day. The rest are other kinds. It took about five minutes to fill our limit with Cockerels. No, I am not going to tell you where it is. Well, OK. It is in the Bay. Then we went crabbing and caught two legal crabs - one was big. The wind and cold just went right through our coats even though the sun was out.
Next it was to get a camp sight at Cape Lookout State Park. (No, I didn’t reserve one). We turned on the electric heater in the van so we could quit shivering. Ilene then cooked the crab, grilled a New York steak and fried some clams. It was a protein meal. After dinner a movie in the nice warm van. “The A Team” was the title and then something about “Why don’t you go to bed,” was the rest.
The main reason we went down there was the Annual Whiskey Creek Fish Hatchery Fin Clipping Event. It was held just down the road from our campsite. The purpose of this event was to clip the Adipose fin on 100,000 salmon for release into the rivers that drain into Tillamook Bay. (This is a small fleshy fin on the back of the fish behind the Dorsal fin.) The reason for clipping the fin is so when you catch one with the fin clipped, you can keep it. Another 100,000 are not clipped and are released for spawning. The hatchery asks for volunteers to help out. This enables the private hatchery to stay open.
There was a bus from Vernonia High School and many boy scouts in addition to all of the people who drove up. So literally there were 2 or 3 hundred people there coming and going all day long. There were 75 stations. When one fish clipper’s hands got too cold, another would step up and take his place.
It started at 8:00 a.m. with coffee, hot chocolate, and donuts. At 9:00 a.m. they began work. The fish (fingerling size – 2 to 3 inches) were anesthetized before their fins were clipped. Clipping a wiggly fish was a “No-no” and they were put back into the tank that put them back to sleep. There were 8 fish runners who kept the volunteers in fish. I volunteered to be a runner and believe me, it kept me running. At noon they fed us (hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, baked beans, chips, and condiments). Some of the local larger Tillamook stores furnished food. By 2:30 p.m. all the fish were clipped. In 4 years the Chinook or King Salmon will weigh as much as 40 pounds.
Vellen, Sharon, Myran, Trina, and Kya met us there on Saturday. We also met our friend, Dick. Dick was a volunteer. He’s the one who talked me into this. Myran clipped a little at the end, but mostly all of them walked out on the Bay and got clams. Kya (16 months) liked riding on her dad’s shoulders and watching them dig.
After clipping, it was take the boat out and more clam digging. After clam digging, it was find another campsite. Vellen and Sharon had to go home – something about having to work on Sunday. Myran and Trina camped with us. Of course, it rained. Myran’s comment was “They said there would be showers at midnight, but it lasted for a week and a half.” It rained very, very hard that night and into the next day. And no, the wind didn’t stop.
Myran learned something very interesting about his new Coleman tent that he hadn’t taken out of the box yet. He got it on sale for $49. It seems it was a screen tent that was waterproof. The electric heater would break the chill in it and then a gust of wind would come through and the chill would be back.
We fooled around eating breakfast, packed up and left around 11:00 a.m. Yes, the rain and the wind didn’t stop, not even for breakfast.
We had clam chowder for lunch at the Blue Heron; cheese at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, jerky at the jerky factory, and went home. All in all it was a very enjoyable 4 days.
Sometimes when you get “Byranized” the weather is not exactly perfect.
But that is being “Byranized.” www.mrbontheside.blogspot.com
posted by Byran on the side at 3:28 PM
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