The Dude Provides

For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you already know that my husband and I had a great weekend at the dinner table. Others of you who are out of the loop may remember that my husband has had a few attempted fishing trips that didn't pan out so well lately: well he finally came through for me. And with more than just fish!

Isn't the fur-baby cute, being all interested? No mushrooms for her, but plenty for us! Porcini and Chanterelle mushrooms straight out of the Oregon coastal forest. I've always liked mushrooms, but i've also always thought them rather bland, nice to add to chicken dishes but not overly full of their own flavor. Man was i ever wrong! These babies were sweet, firmly textured, magical bites of yum both when raw and cooked! I'll be treating you with the dinners i whipped together from this bounty for the next few days. I'm pretty sure (if you like mushrooms or salmon at all) that you'll be salivating with jealousy. ;)

The hubs didn't go without his fish fix, though. He was fishing with a buddy, so only brought home half his catch, but it was definitely more than enough! He was fishing in the tidewater, and a local seal eyed his catch as he pulled it in, but he was victorious and finally provided fresh salmon flesh to this family, woo hoo!   Did i mention how fresh mushrooms tasted way more delicious than 'other' mushrooms? Well, I can tell you that freshly caught salmon, right out of the briney sea is just about the most delicious thing a person can ever eat. I'm not even overly in love with salmon, generally - and only like it when it's been prepared by myself or my step dad (as a general rule). This fish was amazing. A. MAZE. ING. And it's still feeding us 3 days later.

Let's hear it for the fisherman! Finally!

Salmon!

Holy cow, did we see some gorgeous fish this weekend!

And yes, i said "see" not "caught." Despite my husband being an avid bass fisherman back in Texas, and despite my having caught a ton of trout when i was a teenager, we apparently have no idea what we're doing nowadays when it comes to trout, rivers, lakes, salmon and not getting all our lures stuck to the bottom.

Yesterday, we took advantage of our first Sunday off together (not counting in California) since July and drove west on hwy 34 towards Waldport. I thought my husband had a plan. He thought he'd develop a plan en route. We ended up getting all the way to the coast (where we saw lots of seals swimming about with the fishermen) where we as-per-usual lusted after the boats and skiffs the lucky fishermen were cruising around on in the estuary. On top of the "when we get settled and magically have extra money" list is a used fishing boat and trailer with small motor.

Boat lusting aside, the banks in Waldport were a bit crowded, so we turned back to 34 to meander along the Alsea river and hope for a good spot to pull over, along a highway that says 'no parking on the shoulders.' We found a turnout, however! And as we were leaving, we found several others along the way, so we have scoped out and discovered some swell fishing and potentially gorgeous swimming in the Summer (I know, Texans- it's still Summer down THERE but it's definitely Fall here, right in time with the calender). We scrambled down a muddle, blackberry lined path and made our way to the pristine river, surrounded by light (to medium/heavy) rain and puffy low-cloud patches floating in the mature trees. I think my husband was in heaven: trees, mist, his dog and wife, fishing in Oregon. Can't get better than that!

Well, it could: we could have caught something or at least gotten nibbles! The only nibbles we got were from rocks and trees that stole our lures (i think we lost 5 or so, sheesh). But we were surrounded by fish! They were either mocking us or just rejoicing in the first rain of the season, but we saw some HUGE salmon throwing themselves into the air, diving like dolphins just out of our reach. We'd be re-tying a lure on, unable to cast and those persnickity fish would be thrashing around just beyond our noses. It was frustrating, yes but it was also wonderful to get to see the beautiful fish playing around in the water.

The husband indicating the size of the fish that just did acrobatics in front of him.

Not quite as good as eating them or getting our hands on 'em for a photo before releasing, but our first glimpse of wild Oregon salmon was pretty fantastic. On a side note, our corgi is pretty water proof, but a day in the rain was a bit much for her. Thinking we need to invest in some kind of rainwear for her. She certainly appreciated the down blanket snuggle times during the drive home.

Do you fish? Do you get as much joy from seeing the fish rise as you do from hooking them?