Kellen Woodcock's Senior Project: The Fishing Friends

 This week was an eventful one, filled with my memorable moments, but none were wilder than Jed falling in the Clackamas River. We decided to go back to our first fishing spot, Milo McIver State Park, and fish the Clackamas because we caught fish there the first time and figured we'd probably catch some more if we went back. We went to a different spot this time around, with the most challenging wading we had faced. As we were wrapping up our morning session, about to head in for lunch, Braden and I waited on the bank for Jed, who was across the river. The next thing we knew, a yell of "guys!" could be heard from the river, and Jed had fallen in. Our initial panic subdued when Jed said he was ok, but his swim across the river was quite something.  This incident reminded me of how fragile fishing can be, and how everyone has to be on high alert at all times. If we were in a more dangerous river, Jed could've been in a lot more trouble and Braden and I would've been...

From the past week, a moment that stands out to me is our entire Thursday fishing trip. It was the first one where we had to wake up early (7am meet up), and drive more than an hour to get to. We fished the Nehalem river, off of Lower Nehalem road, where we found a turnout with a steep trail leading down to the river. We got all our stuff on and prepped our gear and started fishing at around 9am, only to be interrupted by thunder around 30 minutes later. We took a break and then resumed fishing. In reality, it wasn't a great day from an outsider's perspective. As a group, we caught 3 fish, all of which were tiny smolt. It was rainy, windy, and wet, three things that aren't great for fishing, but they day reinforced the point that any day on the water is better than a day at home. I think I've progressed in all three of my goals. Throughout the project, I've been having a good time and improved my fishing skills just by fishing.  Last week was also a good week for th...

 For our senior project Jed, Braden, and I decided to go fishing. We chose to do this because, although all three of us really enjoy fishing, we haven't been able to do it as much over the past few years. Additionally. despite enjoying fishing, we don't know too much about it, and wanted to expand our knowledge. Personally, I was inspired to do this project because I haven't been able to fish much throughout high school. It's something I really enjoy, and whenever I do it I'm relaxed, but I just haven't been able to find time to do it. Because of the stressful nature of the past few years,  I thought it'd be really nice to be able to relax and fish with my friends. We will work with our parents who have some knowledge of the local area, local fly shops, guides that we have connections with, and really anyone we can think of that has fished around Oregon. Some goals I have are to have a good time, improve fishing skills, and practice independence. Having a go...