Fishing the Umpqua in Oregon

Oakland, Oregon
Umpqua Riverfront RV Resort


My brother came up to this area last year to fish the salmon run and loved the place.  It ended up that a lot of us joined him along the way this year.  He has a smaller boat he puts on his truck so my sister drove his bass boat up and stayed with us.  Some friends of theirs, Jim and Joyce, came along and we invited Red and Pam when they were in the area and needed a place.  Besides I know Red likes to fish and would get along great with my brother.  So we had quite the group!

Here are our rigs viewed from the boat.  L to R: My brother, Jim & Joyce, Us and Red & Pam.

And a view from the other side.  If you come here it's for the quiet or the fishing.  Or both!

 This guy has driven past a few times.  His Golden Labs are always in the boat and look very excited.

 Steve, Jim, Joyce, Diane & Steve.  Also, Ruger, my brother's lab.

 There is a boat launch here so it didn't take long to get the boat in and start fishing.

My sister started right off with a nice bass.  Steve too.  Unfortunately due to the light rainfall and temps, the salmon run was a bust.  We were SO disappointed!  Just a couple tiny ones.

 

Steve, Red and Steve out on the water.  The water temp was pretty warm, so we did some floating on the kayaks and playing with the dogs.  There was a lot of algae/weed growth so there wasn't any swimming.  It also made it frustrating casting as the lures would almost always come back with gunk on them that needed cleaning.

 

 Sweet ol' Dominic.  He's over 14 and doesn't move around too much but he's still a doll.

  

One of the first nights Pam made a venison pot roast in the crock pot.  There wasn't a speck left over!  We never wanted for food.  We all took turns and sometimes all contributed and we ate very well.

The salmon weren't there but we found a spot to anchor out on where the Shad were running in large groups.  Once you knew where they were you'd be catching them one after another.  Several times more than one of us had one hooked at the same time.  They aren't very pretty but boy do they hit hard and fight!  They will do several jumps out of the water too.  Definitely fun to catch.  Usually they were in the 20+ inch range.

 Fish On!

We also did some small drives around the countryside, geocaching along the way.  Pollen season is in full swing here, so there has been no break for us with allergies.

 There was a tricky geocache hidden here at the sign.

  

We all took turns fishing and doing our own thing but gathered for dinners and a campfire.  Red and Pam are quite the dancers!

If you can't hear the music, it was a romantic country song. 

 They are the cutest!

 Steve getting a great fire going as we all sat around watching colorful sunset.

Diane, Steve & Kris. (they really were having a fun time ;-)

 That's how most of our first week went.  Lot's of fishing, fishing and fishing.  And eating!

 

We still have one more week.