Up and out of bed at the sound of the alarm from the iPods – grab the gear by the door – and zoom north up Highway 18 to the Salmon River Fish Hatchery for the annual Free Fishing Day Fish Derby!  The call goes out at 8:00 a.m. to be able to drop your line in the stocked pond.  The early bird has been known to catch the biggest fish of the day – often over 20 inches. Excitement and anticipation build for the 4 hours of fishing fun to come!

The boys had a wonderful time fishing, but didn’t get any huge fish – and caught their limit –  . . . . . . by 8:10 in the morning. . . . . It was fun, Jon did walk to the other side of the fishing pond to catch his last one.

The good part of all of those Keepers of the Faith/Contenders of the Faith classes is that the boys know how to rig their own gear and clean their own fish.  All I have to do is pack a thermos of coffee for me and a chair. And a book. And a camera. And a cookie.

We were driving out of the Fish Hatchery at the late time of about 8:30 when I remembered that people have been talking about Hebo Lake – and that there were events up there as well.  So – Thanks to the fixing my parents did to my car for my birthday – we headed up the coast a half hour to the big ol town of Hebo, Oregon.

5 miles straight up the mountain lands you at this cute no water/no electricity campground and newly restored lake.  May I say Beautiful????

Jon is mesmerized by the Eagle that seems to want to snag his trout as soon as it is brought to shore.

I’m Watchin’ You Jon!

A ODF&W Worker came by to announce that there would be a casting contest at 11 in the park area, so we headed over that way. I think about 25-30 kids participated, Nate and Jon were in the last 5 to go.

The Competition was for accuracy, instead of distance, using their poles.

Wouldn’t ya know – Nate won first place for his age group, and Jon won 3rd place for his.  Nathan won an amazing little trout pole and Jon got a new net and 2 different types of fish keeper line holder thingamagigs.

We didn’t catch any fish at Hebo Lake – we only had 5 left that we could catch for the day – we just had fun hiking, looking at the Eagles, playing games, talking to people, and enjoying a beautiful lake!

Thanks ODF&W for a great Free Fishing Day Weekend!!!!