Ex- Rocky River Official Wades Into Retirement on the Fly by D'Arcy Egan
The Plain Dealer
Sisters, Oregon
The McKenzie River, which was Thursday's destination, has long, narrow stretches of blue stream trout waters as it ambles for 85 miles from Clear Lake in Central Oregon to meet the Willamette River in Eugene. Guide Jim Berl was waiting at a makeshift log launch at the Frisell-Carpenter Bridge, his 16-foot McKenzie drift boat bobbing in swift current.
In early June, the McKenzie River boasts one of the top caddisfly hatches on the west coast. Olson makes it a point never to miss it, or the stonefly hatch to come in late June and July.
With Berl, a river guide for more than a decade, handling the oars, it was an easy task for Olson to cast a dry fly to the small, boulder-strewn pockets and effies. A 20-inch rainbow trout is a trophy here, a 24-incher a memorable experience.
"The wild trout are battlers," said Olson. "In this current, they're really hard to handle."
Olson knows fighting fish. In winter, he heads to warmer climes to fish saltwater with a fly rod. The past winter's adventures ranged from bonefish in the Bahamas to barracuda and tarpon in the Florida Keys.
The McKenzie rainbow trout were a choosey lot, but the biggest fish of the morning, a 20-incher, mouthed a nymph and was hooked. As Berl struggled to keep the boat positioned, the fish jumped once, then again, and roared to the fast water.
Although carefully played, the fish finally snapped the light leader. The battle was a triumph for fish and fisherman.
