FRANK ARMENDARIZ for The Chronicle

FRANK ARMENDARIZ/THE CHRONICLE Named after the river where they were invented, the McKenzie River drift boats connect people to a historic pastime and are as popular as ever. A local innovation, the McKenzie River drift boat has been around for…

PHOTO PROVIDED Heceta Beach State Park, lighthouse keepers home in the distance. Winters on the Oregon coast can get a little wild – a delight to storm watchers.  When Pacific storms sweep in, they often bring strong winds, giant crashing…

FLORENCE – California gray whales can live to be 70 years old, can grow to nearly 50 feet and adults can weigh 60,000 pounds.  Gray whales can dive 500 feet and are able to stay underwater for 30 minutes or…

Lake Creek, looking down river from Deadwood Boat landing. Two days after I took this picture the Lake Creek rose a couple of feet but should be excellent for New Year’s weekend. Happy New Year’s everyone …  The beginning of…

FRANK ARMENDARIZ THE ANGLER’S LOG My earliest memory of fishing wasn’t the time I actually caught my first fish. It was of my grandfather Manuel plucking me out of the surf by my pants belt after taking a tumble when…

FRANK ARMENDARIZ/THE CHRONICLE I was a freshman at San Jose State University when, on a three-day weekend, I went on what was my very first steelhead fishing trip on the Klamath River in northern California. It was 1973. I had…

FRANK ARMENDARIZ/PHOTOPhill Strader of Glide is about to release a wild steelhead from the Umpqua River that I caught last February. The presence of an adipose fin required that this steelhead buck be released. A couple of Pacific storms came…

FRANK ARMENDARIZ/THE CHRONICLEWinter steelhead (note the jawline on this female) start showing up in most of Oregon’s coastal rivers around Thanksgiving. The silver (or chrome) lining of November is that winter steelhead will soon be in most rivers all along…

FRANK ARMENDARIZ/THE CHRONICLEFall has come to Lane County and so has fall fishing. The hot weather for now is a memory and wild trout in the lower McKenzie and Willamette rivers are active again. If you look around there is…

FRANK ARMENDARIZ/THE CHRONICLE A view of the lower Siuslaw River. The river bar was dredged last winter making a crossing less perilous than in recent years. On days that the ocean calms down the bottom fishing has been excellent. A…