Category Outdoors

Caring for woodlands had steep learning curve

In 2019, my wife and I took retirement money to purchase 39 acres of F2 woodland in Vida.  Kate was relishing a return to the PNW; I was both eagerly and anxiously anticipating our  departure from my native California. To say we were unprepared to…

Heat, spring runoff slow chinook action

“Spring runoff” is a condition that merited your consideration a few years ago. But the recent unseasonable heat wave accelerated the melting of our ample statewide snowpack, causing the rivers and streams that drain the west Cascades to spike upward to levels where the probability…

A year with no chinook …

“Hyper-local” is not just a saying but a business model that The Chronicle has been true to, and in my biweekly fishing report I do the best I can to highlight those hyper-local fishing locations for you. I do occasionally go off the rails, bringing…

Winter steelhead running cold

If you put your ear to the wind, listen closely … you will likely hear the sound of winter steelhead fishers slamming the door on what has been a somewhat disappointing winter run, following an exceptional 2022, where we saw better-than-expected abundance. The 2023 season…