Brett & Kirsten: Deschutes Fishing- August 2011

All of our practice fishing this summer was in anticipation for our big trip at the end of August. Brett and I joined his mom, dad, and brother in Oregon for a good ole camping and fishing trip. This trip is an annual tradition with his family but this was the first year that I decided to join in on the fun.

Brett and I finally got to use our red tent again that we got for our wedding. The single one off in the distance was his brother's and the blue and orange was his parents.

Brett's dad, mom and brother just relaxing around the campsite

Getting their fishing stuff read I was helping them pick out things I thought the fishies would eat.

It was a good year to choose to tag along because the weather was pleasant and perfect (as opposed to the normal which is windy and miserable). It was a joke with Brett and I that God blessed us with good weather to prevent me from being miserable and in turn ruining the whole week. Lets just say, wind and I don't have a good relationship.

There were two spots that they fished. One was off an island that they floated out to kind of by our camp. They didn't have as much success there though, so they spent the majority of the time down the river a ways. They would hike down there in the morning while Brett's mom and I stayed at the camp.

getting ready to raft out

all fishing together

The boys had great success fishing and because he was catching so many, Tyler (Brett's brother) even let me reel one in! Prior to going Brett talked lots about how bringing in a steal-head is so different from the normal trout we had been catching. Boy was he right! That little sucker sure fought hard! They ended up with quite a few to take home and eat. Some of the fish are natives (as opposed to hatchery fish) and so we had to release those.

Yup, I'm fishing off the bank in the middle of nowhere. who knew!

Sure is bigger than the little trout we have, you'll notice that I never actually had to touch the fish

Tyler's keeper fish from the first day

Tyler and Brett's Dad with another fish

Brett also caught a great big Salmon! I wasn't there when he caught it, but from what it hear it was quite the fight. The poles they were using aren't made for the big salmon but he got it in after a good 20-30 minute fight! They set it loose only to later find out they could have kept it, so that was kind of sad but at least he got some good pictures with the large beast so it was not just another "fish tale".

Confession time: When I first met Brett I thought the "fishing outfit" was kind of ridiculous. I am now proud to say I finally get it and even think he looks great all decked out!

One afternoon while fishing they saw a rattlesnake on the bank. Brett grabbed a stick and clubbed the snake on the head until it died. Yes, he is that tough! They cut off the head and then saved the very end rattler part as a keepsake.

While the guys were off fishing I hung out with Brett's mom. We did a lot of relaxing and tried to sleep in. The boys would get up early to make it to their fishing spot before the sun came up. We usually were able to get another hour or so before the noises from the camp and the sun woke us up. I didn't get many pictures with his mom (sorry!) but we enjoyed hanging around the camp and talking. We also made the drive into town one day and went shopping. Don't worry, just because I'm starting to like the outdoorsy stuff doesn't mean I don't still love to shop! Brett also set up a hammock for me to relax in and I just enjoyed the fresh air and read some books.