2.4K CFS

      A few weeks ago the Grandpa and I caught a small window in the weather and tried our luck at some early season fly-fishing. Along the way, we at our weight in eggs, ham, gravy and hash browns, found a couple great wild asparagus hunting places, and had a great time!

 We got up at the unearthly hour of 6:45ish (I’m not exactly a morning person…). After we had an early morning pick me-up of toast and hot chocolate, we went in search of “Second Breakfast” (as hobbits call it), and boy, did we find it! We went to the local diner and ordered two ham skillets with eggs, biscuits and gravy. We ordered two, assuming that they would come on normal-sized plates that we could eat from and be on our way. We were wrong - they came on platters the size of a Thanksgiving turkey platter. The menu had neglected to mention that skillet was made out of mountains of hash browns, rivers (and I am talking about the Colombian, in Oregon) of sausage gravy, piles of bacon, clouds of biscuits, kingdoms of eggs and ham and all manner of breakfast goodies. We violated every rule Grandpa has ever made about never eating anything bigger than your head!
       With our pants much tighter than before, we left to fish. On the way, we talked about the advantages of being a wildlife biologist, about Grandpa’s friend who walked a bull elk to death (that’s a story for a Grandpa to tell), and about all sorts of other grandpa/grandkid things.

       When we got to the fishing spot, we saw that the water was extremely high (Upon further inquiry we learned it was at 2,400 cubic feet per second). We determined to do our best to land a fish, but knew the odds were against us with the water that high. So after rigging our rods with a “little black fly,” we set out.
       Nothing worked. We tried bigger “black flies,” and all different color “black flies.” We just couldn’t get the fish interested. So, we decided to hunt the quick and mighty wild asparagus. It had frozen the night before, so we only found about a half-pound of these tasty delights.

We then tried hunting for asparagus in one other area. It is quite a well-known area. In fact, you have probably heard of it. The place is called Wal-Mart. There – lo and behold - we found pounds and pounds of asparagus. We got some, to play a joke on my family. We then went back to the truck and discovered that I had locked us outside of our truck on accident. Not exactly in the plan…

      Once the appropriate locksmith had been called, we waited and cleaned the asparagus in the Subway complex inside Wal-Mart. Then the locksmith arrived and, for lack of a better word, he broke into the truck with ease. So then we headed home after a day of many adventures!
        I learned that day that local diners can be a great place to go if you want to eat your weight (or more) in gravy, that high water and fishing don’t go well together, and that asparagus is most easily found in its natural habitat of Wal-Mart, and that keys are best in hand (or pocket), instead of locked in the truck. But most of all, I just had a great day with my Grandpa.

-The Apprentice