Outdoor report: Be prepared for the fickle weather of spring – the fish are waiting!

By ROB DEHARPPORT/for The Herald  —  Fishing in the various Cascade High Lakes continues to be good. It’s a matter of whether or not you want to deal with the weather. Typical Spring rain, snow and wind have been the norm after a sunny couple of days greated anglers the first few days of Fishmas Season.

 Proper clothing is a must in these conditions, which brings the topic of new technology into the conversation. Nowadays the options are old school vs. new school in many forms.

In outdoor clothing the vary from old school wool to polypropylene and likely newer fabrics. Both works well in keeping warm and dry as both wick moisture and provide warmth on cold wet days.

 Rain gear has improved with the advent of Gore-Tex over heavy raincoats and rain pants. It’s a matter of personal preference and cost comparison. Modern Gore-Tex allows you to stay dry without sweating inside a rubber suit.

Many of us from the baby boomer generation marvel at the advances in our world. We also remember the Slide Rule before the pocket calculator, along with our math teachers saying- ” you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket!” Haha! Now we not only have calculators built into our cell phones, but we also have cameras, compasses and satellite GPS technology nearly always in our pockets!

I remember scoffing at one of my hunting partners around 1990 when he showed up at camp and showed me his new-fangled Garmin GPS satellite compass. Although, I admit I was impressed when he showed me how accurate it was in showing his location as he stepped from one side of a trail to the other. Like the cell phones that nearly everyone would soon have, the GPS compass device seemed at the time somewhat like magic, it all still seems that way when we think back in time.

I also remember the days when I first saw a friend use a downrigger to fish for Lake Trout at Crescent Lake. That friend was Mike Denmark. May he Rest in Peace. Mike more often than not won the pool of money that about 20 Oakridge guys would place in a pool on opening weekend for biggest fish. Again, I scoffed a bit. Muttering something about a downrigger being too fancy. A few years later I scoffed again when anglers began using downriggers for Kokanee fishing.

I vowed to never stoop to that level of desperation to catch Kokanee. Haha again! Not only did I “stoop” to that level when I purchased a manual downrigger quite a few years ago, but this year I purchased an electric downrigger that retrieves up to a 15lb. weight from a hundred-foot depth in seconds. I’ve either gotten old, lazy and weak or I learned more than ever that you catch more fish when you actually have your bait in the water and at the depth that the fish are at.

This brings the discussion around to fish finding sonar gear. My old fishing bud Joe Marino and I thought we had it figured out back in the late 1980s and early 1990s while using Joe’s Lowrance paper graph fish finder sonar on Odell Lake. We had some great days targeting schools of Kokanee and the Mackinaw that often lurked below them looking to feast on the schools of Kokanee.

Today, depending on an angler’s pocketbook and bank account, the technology in sonar allows fishermen to not only know what’s underneath the boat but also all around the sides of a boat! Again, it’s seemingly some sort of magic! Witchcraft!?

Is there a limit to these technological wonders? I doubt it. We also have Range finders to aid in measuring distance of game when hunting, taking the guesswork out of deciding where to aim a shot.

As I learned years ago at a School Board seminar, Shift Happens! And it’s happened at an exponential pace for a number of years. Not only in our schools and workplaces but as I’ve noted, also in our recreation. Today, advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other modern wonders are truly mind boggling to most of us baby boomers. I can still remember, as a little kid, my grandma operating the switch board at the Oakridge Phone Company office. Many of us remember the days of only getting KVAL and KEZI on black and white televisions. I also remember using my grandpa’s Trapper Nelson wood framed pack board as a way to honor my grandpa after he passed once when packing a deer off the Twins. Traditional ways and means of enjoying the outdoors can connect us to out past ways.

In hunting and fishing, rules and regulations have seemed to adjust fairly well and adapted to all of the technology available. Hunters and anglers certainly have adopted and embraced much of it.

Like many, I still scoff and shake my head in both wonderment and amazement at much of this “stuff.” Is it all good or bad? Time will tell. I’m constantly reminded as I grow older, not only of physical limits that are realized while growing older but in being able to grasp all the technological advances in our lives.

I laugh as I wonder how crazy cars, electrical grid, phones and airplanes along with landing on the moon seemed not so long ago.

  I will still use my compass when needed, along with lake fishing without using all the modern electronics now and then. But I will also enjoy many of the modern conveniences everyday as well, while appreciating all life has to offer.

The late Jimmy Buffet wrote a song that I love titled- “He Went to Paris”. One verse of the song says- “Through 86 years of perpetual motion: If he likes you he’ll smile, then he’ll say- ‘Jimmy; some of its magic, some of it’s tragic. But I’ve had a good life all the way.”

To me that is a great summation of life. I’ll keep chasing the magic moments as long as possible and stay in perpetual motion. I hope we all do! Get outside and create and enjoy them! Tight lines!