Vince and I took off for a second day of fishing. On the way to launch the boat, we stopped to fill the boat gas tank. Today we launched the boat at the public boat ramp where there is a lot more room to put a boat in the water. This extra space would be nice when it came time to pull the boat out of the water. The ramp is in a small harbor protected by a breakwater that runs parallel to the flow of the river.

The outboard motor came to life on the first pull of the starter rope. The boat engine seemed to run a lot better with fresh gasoline — the engine ran smooth all day. I tried to use my own light fishing pole to troll, but the pole turned out to be too light to support the trolling tackle. So Vince drove over to Jot's so I could rent the tackle I needed.

Leaving the boat ramp area we passed a marina filled with fishing boats

When I left the store, with fishing tackle in hand, I had to wait a while for a group of really seasoned citizens to get down the narrow ramp to the dock where they were to board a jet boat. When I finally had my fishing tackle back in the boat, we were out on the water at 8:30 — same time as yesterday. We began trolling on the ocean side of the bridge where I saw a huge school of very small fish. The water was clear enough to see the bottom of the river in this location.

Photo enhanced with false color reveals thousands of small fish swirling under the boat

As the boat approached the bridge, Vince hooked a fish just before going under the bridge. He had no trouble reeling in his catch while at the same time he steered the boat among the other boats in the area. I netted the fish and it was another nice "keeper" for Vince. After this short interruption under the bridge, the trolling for salmon continued on the other side.

Our path took us up past a restaurant where Vince turned the boat around to head back toward the bridge. There always was a sense of anticipation in this area because of a deep hole under this part of the river. The expectation is that the really big fish would be found in this deep water area; however, we passed through without any action. At the bridge, Vince turned around without going under and headed back up river.

About half way I hooked into a silver salmon, my first. What a rush, it felt like a very big fish. I had the drag set too light and a lot of line went out into the water. The fish turned giving me a chance to tighten the drag. Now I was able to begin reeling the fish in. Suddenly, about 50 feet away from the boat, the fish at the end of my line flew into the air and jerked back and forth a couple of times.

Now I know this probably sounds like old news to experienced salmon fishermen, but this was my first time to catch a salmon and the first time I had a fish dance in the air at the end of my line — this was exciting. Vince was at the ready with the net and scooped up my catch and brought the fish into the boat. Even though the fish was a nice size, it turned out to be smaller than the way it felt when I first began reeling it in. Now I know why people like to catch this type of fish. Vince took a picture of me holding up my first salmon.

A sunburned fisherman holding up his first caught salmon – Photo by Vince

After the excitement had subsided, the trolling continued toward the bridge. Again the boat was turned around before going under the bridge and headed back toward the restaurant deep hole. In a short time, at about the halfway point, Vince set the hook into another Silver. This was probably the biggest of the fish we had caught so far. Again we were witnesses to a fighting, tail-walking fish. This was so much of a fighter that Vince really had to work to get the fish to come toward the boat.

Just as it appeared that the fish was finally getting close to the boat, the fish would suddenly take off again making the spool on Vince's reel scream. With Vince's pole nearly doubled over, the line zigzagged closer to the boat. I put the net into the water as Vince coaxed the fish toward me. I could see the fish heading directly for the net. I reached down as far as I could and the hooked salmon streaked directly below the net by about a foot, I missed it.

There wasn't time to worry about the missed attempt to net the fish. The line took off and made a circular path in the water as Vince pulled the fish back toward the net. Again the fish was lined up with the net. This time the fish was closer to the surface of the water and it was making a direct path toward the net. Suddenly, when the fish was about two feet from the opening in the net, the fish disappeared from view, when what looked like a dark submarine, swooped past the boat. It took me a few seconds to figure out that it was a sea lion and it now had the fish at the end of Vince's line.

Vince again had a fight going on at the end of his line. The line was screaming off the reel as Vince was trying to find a knife to cut the line to save his rod and reel. The sea lion surfaced and shook the salmon as if to rub it in that it had taken the fish right out from under our noses. Unexpectedly the line went slack as a fish head flew through the air at the end of Vince's fishing line. He reeled in the salmon head to find that this definitely would have been the biggest fish we had pulled out of the river.

With the sea lion appearing a short distance behind the boat shaking the salmon in the air, Vince threw the fish head toward the sea lion yelling, "You might as well take it all." A fisherman that had witnessed the whole experience drove by in his boat and with a wry sense of humor said with a straight face, "You know, you're not supposed to feed the sea lions." It took a while until Vince and I were in a mood to laugh at what the guy said.

We tried trolling for a little longer, but there were too many sea lions and they were staying close by. Even if one of us hooked a fish it was very likely that the fish would not get to the boat without being taken by a sea lion. So it was time to call it a day.

On the way back to the boat ramp we made a side trip to Lex's Landing to get our fish filleted. The usual sea gulls and sea lions waited below the cleaning-station drain outlet to grab the scraps discarded after the fish were cleaned. With a bag of salmon fillets for each of us it was time to drive the boat to Jot's to drop off the fishing tackle I had rented. The boat ramp is almost directly across the river from Jot's, so it was a short ride to the ramp.

A sea lion waiting for the scrapes that come out of the cleaning-station drain pipe

Once at the boat ramp Vince brought the car down to the dock. Since this would be the last time the boat would be used on this trip, extra time and care was taken in putting everything in its place. The boat was lashed down very well to the rooftop rack on the Suzuki.

Vince begins tying the boat to the Suzuki for the last time on this trip

As Vince drove the car toward the main highway, we passed a small group of deer grazing next to the road. Also along the way I saw an old fishing boat that had sunk close to the shore. The boat looked as if it had been there for quite awhile. It had been an exciting day for the two of us in the boat, but I would soon learn that there had been a bit of excitement in camp during the morning.

A small group of deer next to the road coming from the boat ramp

My view looking out the windshield of the Suzuki as it heads across the bridge

In camp, Kay told me that about the same time Vince and I were getting out on the river, Kay had a small emergency. While she was taking a shower, the shower cold water faucet blew out and water was pouring uncontrolled out into the shower. The only way to stop the flood of water was for Kay to quickly get dressed and run outside to turn the water off at the hookup post. Once the water was off, Kay had to drain a very full grey-water holding tank.

JB and JC came to Kay's assistance and disassembled the damaged faucet. Once they had it apart they tried to find a replacement part. After visiting all the hardware stores in the immediate area, the guys drove south to Brookings to find that the needed part was not to be found. While this was happening Vince and I were trolling on the Rogue River oblivious of the situation.

After returning from Brookings, the guys called the various communities to the north of Gold Beach. They found an RV dealer, in Coos Bay, who had a small RV parts and accessories store. The good news was that he had the part in stock. The bad news was that Coos Bay was 75 to 80 miles away. So, JB and JC decided to wait until I returned to camp. When I learned what had transpired, I knew that I needed to make an unscheduled run to Coos Bay. We were headed for Porter's RVs in Coos Bay.

The culprit that caused so much trouble is on the right

Kay and I took off with hopes of getting to the RV parts store before it closed for the day. I didn't like to think what we would have to do without running water available in our motorhome. Our backup plan was to use our supply of bottled water in place of the normal water supply. So away we went. Even under the circumstances, it was very nice to be driving along such a beautiful route next to the Pacific Ocean.

We arrived on the south end of Coos Bay at the height of the evening rush hour. I was glad that the RV parts store was on the south side of town so I didn't have to deal with the downtown traffic. In the store I quickly found the part I needed as well as a spare. I figured that a spare was a good idea because the faucets on the bathroom sink used the same parts as the shower faucets. To my surprise, I also found a clearance-light lens that I needed for a replacement for a broken lens on our motorhome. Even though it was a fast 75 mile drive, it turned out to be a fruitful trip.

Our return trip to camp was a leisurely drive down the coast which allowed us to enjoy the scenery. We stopped along the way to take in the views and to take a few pictures. One of the scenic stops was made at a vista point, overlooking the ocean, located in Port Orford at Battle Rock City Park.

This picture speaks for itself

Click on image to view larger version This is the view seen from the location of the sign above

As we left camp earlier, we had told our campground companions not to hold dinner for us as we would find something on our trip. Now on our return to camp, I was looking forward to getting back to where I expected to find everyone kicked back in camp after dinner. However, when we finally pulled into camp, we found nobody around.

The installation of the new faucet part was a quick process and it felt good when the water was turned back on. It has been said that you don't know how important something is until it is gone. I was very glad that we had running-water again. Now, with the camp empty of people, Kay and I took advantage of the situation to kick back and relax while watching TV.

When the rest of our group returned to camp, we all sat outside for a while around a nice campfire. The fire felt good in the evening chill. While we were recounting the activities of the day, a very large meteor streaked across the sky. The flaming mass was glowing with a bright blue-green color with yellow-orange glowing sparks being expelled as the visitor from space lit up the sky. This was an exciting event to end an exciting day.

The weather has been great all week; comfortably warm during the day and a nice cool temperature in the evening. The cool nights made for nice sleeping conditions with the motorhome windows open to the fresh country air.

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