An Oregon Fishing Vacation  -  Aug 27th, 2009 1:40pm

I just returned from fishing and exploring the northwest coast of Oregon.  Astoria, Seaside, Tillamook, Portland --- even having visited as a kid, these were just names on a map for me.  I had either missed or forgotten the kind of grand beauty and wonderfully cliched Americana that has survived there.  Not to mention the fantastic food or experience of catching a prehistoric fish the size of car.

I will have to do a separate post on the angling experiences as they were as varied as any 2 days could be in the lifetime of a fisherman.  For now I'm going to be a little self serving and just try to record what we did and post some photos as I want to reinforce these memories.  To let them sublimate like those from my childhood would be a tragedy to say the least.

I originally planned this trip as an excuse to take my father fishing and was going to keep the traveling to a minimum.  The extra day or so that resulted from my poor planning really turned out to be a blessing though as even after our long delayed Saturday flight we still had time to visit Portland our first evening.  Having survived the day on $11 margaritas we were scoping the town for dinner and on the recommendation of my friend Dale I chose Jakes Famous Crawfish.  I had to try the crawfish of course which was decent but my dad picked the fresh sturgeon which was a first for me and really quite good.  A pricey meal but neat place to visit before driving up to Astoria.

Highway 30 from Portland to Astoria is dark and winding.  Its a strange way to experience that land for basically the first time.  I kept thinking this is the kind of place sasquatch would live should he be seeking a summer home.  We finally arrived at our hotel, the Shilo Inn at Warrenton just after midnight and promptly became unconscious.  We would be salmon fishing at 5am the next morning so this seemed like a good plan.

If you've ever watched the movie "The Goonies", then you have some idea what Astoria and Warrenton look like as it was filmed there.  Lush green hills surrounding beaches and cliffs that back up to the end of the Columbia River/the Pacific Ocean.  Its rainy, foggy, and oppressively beautiful.  The towns seem to have become stuck in time somewhere around 1985... I couldn't tell if they were just beginning to die or just starting to come back to life?  Either way, we made our way that next morning to the docks and spent the entire day on the water.

Whether or not the fishing was good really depends on your measuring stick but it was definitely a great experience.  We hit a cool little brewery called "The Wet Dog" on our way back to the hotel that evening where I scarfed down a clamburger(another first) and some really great beer.  I knew I'd be a little sad to have to leave in the morning without exploring more, but traveling along the coast would prove to be a fun journey in of itself.

We had a full day to burn on Monday so we followed the coastal roads all the way from Astoria down to Tillamook stopping whenever we saw something that peaked our interest.  We hit a couple of beaches, some scenic views and even took a tour of the Tillamook Cheese factory.  What really struck me though was this bizarre little bay-side setup called The Jetty Fishery(they have a website, but I just can't subject anyone to it).

For $75 few bucks, this place will loan you one of their boats and some crab pots for a few hours to do your own crabbing/oystering.  When you return they'll steam up your catch and let you eat it right there seaside.  We didn't have quite enough time to try out the boats but we did purchase some of the mornings catch for lunch and had the best dungeness crab I've ever eaten.  It was a quirky, strange, backwards place that only reluctantly let us borrow a mallet to crack the crab shells, but it was absolutely perfect the way it was.

We left the Jetty and after having our fill of free cheese and ice-cream we made one last stop in Portland to get some donuts before trekking east to our final fishing locale.  Voodoo Donuts is a Portland landmark and a must visit for anyone who has a moment there.  They have giant head sized glazed demons and captain crunch covered angels.  They even sell a bacon maple concoction that I've been kicking myself for not noticing.  High on sugar, starch and grease we headed out of Portland to our final destination - The Cascade Locks.

The locks and the area surrounding Bonneville Damn are just stunning.  The forests and cliffs look like something out of the cretaceous period which fits perfectly the kind of sea-life that lives there.  Sturgeon that are big enough to swallow a bowling ball, and Chinook that can weigh in at 40lbs or more swim upstream every year to spawn.  Its a serene and peaceful place.  The kind of thing that makes me understand why people risked their life to travel there years ago.  Bascially the polar opposite of Phoenix.

As I said earlier, I'm saving the fishing tales for another post but holy crap... the next day was surreal.  By the time I went home I could hardly feel my left hand and I had finally caught a fish bigger than I was -- a dream I'd held since I was a kid.  I can't say enough about the place, the people and even my father who was a great traveling companion on this journey.  It will be a cold day before I let go of the memories I've made this time.