Unfortunately, Jonah slept poorly—or more accurately, I slept poorly because of Jonah—so I was pretty exhausted by our 7:50 AM wake-up. Still we were collectively on the road and buying our $12 one day fishing licenses at the Clackamas Fred Meyer by 9 AM, so enough neurons were firing to get me that far. (I also picked up Minority Report there for $9, which for a wide-screen 2 DVD set seemed like a steal. It is my favorite Tom Cruise movie; faint praise, but there it is.)
After quick pitstop for worms, drinks, etc. at a local mart in Estacada, we were fishing on the dock at River Mill in no time. One of the great things about fishing is that you can be utterly exhausted and still have a very peaceful, happy experience. That is exacty what I had at River Mill. Nobody in our group caught a thing, but some five-member extended family joined us and landed all kinds of trout. Additionally, we witness one of their number haul in a big salmon using a dinky budget rod and 6 lb. test. The line snapped at the end, but by then others were able to haul the fish onto the dock. Trust me, this was amazing and entertaining both. Pretty amusing too, because, as I say, these guys came in and caught all kinds of fish while we sat there and got skunked.
But such is fishing that I don’t think any of us really cared. It’s just a very mellow, soothing experience. If you catch one, great. If not, well, that’s great too.
After several hours we traveled to a new spot (name unknown to me), and tried our luck some more. Same result, but again, very good times. We left in the late afternoon so that we could dine with Jonah, Ella, Carol, and Eileen in Battle Ground at Rocky’s Pizza, an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Dave and Eileen departed after dinner at Rocky’s. Jonah and I left around 8:30 PM, after packing up and conveying our gratitude to Joe, Carol, and Ella for the sleep over and the great day of fishing. Good times!