{FISHING: the act of catching a fish}

This weekend my husband {Damon} and I joined a group of friends in venturing out on our first camping adventure of the season.  As residents of Central Oregon, we are spoiled with abundant sunshine, hiking trails, camping spots, mountains, breathtaking views, and fish-stocked lakes.  For this trip, we set up camp at Devil's Lake.

{Devil's Lake near Bend, OR}

Prior to this summer, I will say that I was {disgusted} at the thought of touching a slimy, smelly, cold-blooded & oogly-eyed fish. Caught, cleaned and packaged straight from the market was my version of "fishing".  However, this year we decided it would be fun to attempt to catch our own dinner, be it trout, salmon... whatever we could get.  I had envisioned this happening like so:

1. Damon buys fly fishing supplies
2. Damon catches fish while Kristi basks in the sunshine
3. Damon guts & cleans fish
4. Kristi cooks fish and they eat a delicious dinner together
5. Rest & repeat on the next lazy Sunday afternoon

Little did I know... {here's the aha! part} that fishing could be so exciting!  The first two steps in my scheme occurred just as I had planned. However, I surprised myself {and Damon, too} at how ecstatic I was when he caught our "first fish" on the Upper Deschutes River. I wanted in on some of the action!  With some coaxing by my patient husband, a few YouTube videos, fishing blogs and Orvis store visits later, I was official - I now had my own fishing license.

Damon & I made multiple trips out to the Upper Deschutes River and after discovering I had a 0.01% rate of catching any quality, legal-size fish, I became a little discouraged.  How many flies would I lose in the trees behind me when attempting to make a successful cast? Maybe fishing wasn't for me; maybe I lacked the patience and skill it took to be successful. {Fast forward to this past weekend at Devil's Lake.}

And then, it happened...I really, truly caught TWO of our six legal-sized trout with our new fly rod, and we cooked them the good ole' fashioned way with tin foil next to the fire.  And let me tell you... they made for a delicious dinner!

{Victorious}

{Dinner}

Though I may not be able to call myself an expert fly-fisherman like Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It, I can honestly say that I enjoy the act of fishing {and the tasty dinner that comes with it}.  I look forward to many more fishing adventures with my husband and our friends in the future to come.






Cheers to friends, fish and future campfires,

           K.