Macks Canyon with Kevin's Driftboat Crew, Take a soldier fishing! pics!

[Matthewc]

After fishing in Oregon for almost 20 years I made it over to Mack's Canyon to fish for summer steelhead. Mitch Webb founder of Kevin's Driftboat Project and his good friend Oregon National Guardsmen Sargent Trent Stuart invited me over for the day to talk about the project and fish spinners through the drifts in hopes of hooking up with Deschutes steel.



Trent also an active member of the project and Mitch have something in common, their friend and fisherman Oregon National Guardsmen Staff Sgt Kevin D. Davis. Kevin lost his life to a roadside bomb in the fight against terrorists in Iraq on Aprill 8th 2005. I wanted to shoot a film to help Mitch tell Kevin's story and get the word out about the great thing he is doing but this day turned out to be so much more for me then I could have ever expected. It was also a goal to get Trent into his first steelhead this day as well. Trent told me that he had fished in Oregon for over 20 years for bass and other fish but had not yet tackled the mighty steelhead.



Their goal is to help returning soldiers in their transformation back into life at home and help them to remember how great it is to be here in the Northwest. Not always easy task for them to do on their own. Mitch has been very active in his venture by not only taking these heroes out himself but also in hooking them up with other anglers and guides through ifish.net threads and the Kevins Driftboat Yahoo group. As luck would have it Mitch was also the first to hookup!



He landed a nice brat with a #3 blue fox!



Not long after I was standing on the other side of a tree when I heard Trent yell "FISH ON! FISH ON!! FISH ON!!!" so I ran down there with the video camera and watched him and Mitch land his first steelhead. Honestly I am not sure who was more excited, Mitch or Trent but this was certainly a proud moment for one young Oregon guardsmen.





A little later we decided to jocky the boat just across the river and see if I could get one from the tailout and thats exactly what happened. I was rolling a #3 all black through the tail and a dandy fish grabbed on the swing. "wham!" I landed a great fighting steelhead just as chrome as could be that would be my first Deschutes steelhead. Our day was complete with 1 nice fish for each of us. Not a red hot day but everyone landed a keeper and had a great time. We then scooted back across for a few photos and a cool drink.





I would like to thank the good people at Lamiglas Rods for sending us out with confidence as always!




I left a little early and took my time driving back out of Mack's to look around for game and take photos. I could not help but be takin away by the beauty of this central Oregon river. There was a great photo at every stop along the way.



I captured a photo of this trophy bighorn ram from across the river. He was a long way off but a 70 x 300 ED was able to reach out and touch this monster of a ram..What a sight!



An osprey lifts off from an old dead tree looking for a redsided meal.



As the light faded I captured one final image and looking back at the day now I think this photo was a great close to a perfect day. As I sit here in this office chair telling this story I can not think of anyplace I would rather be right now with my family and friends than in the Deshcutes river canyon.



My hat is off to Mitch and Trent for what they are doing to help the returning soldiers when they come home. Congrats to Trent on his first steelhead and honor to Mitch for making it happen. Thanks for a great day fellas!

If you would like to contact Mitch he can be found in the "Take A Soldiers Fishing" thread on all ifish.net forums or you can check out www.kevinsdriftboat.com There is no charge for his kindness.

Images Copyright 2007 © Pacific Ghost Productions - Matthew Clark

[Cutting Point]

Awsome pics and story.

[Cutting Point]

When does the PGP short come out?

[samiam]

Fantastic! Thank you for the documentation of the dedication that Mitch and Trent give to our great Nation! :smile:

[Matthewc]

will take a bit of time to get the film together. Trent and mitch talk about the project and we have 2 of the 3 fish on film and a nice lil redside I released : ) I think this film will focus more on the project rather then catching fish...That is exactly what we all had hoped for the day.

We have a bunch of great films lined up for the rest of the year but I like to keep em spread out so each one has time to be seen.

[Twitchs_Tackle]

Great post and pics! I clicked the link and read about http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KevinsDriftboat/ the other day. What a great project!

Maybe when some fish show up, either fallies or winter steelies, Mitch can make it down here on the Alsea and I could take some guys in my boat as well.

[chrome obsession]

awsome post......Man its georgious out there...I have not been out there in a long time, need to go back...

[5-Cents]

That is a AWESOME post! Thanks a lot for sharing those man - this post is what Ifish should be all about!

[P8ntballrman]

WOW..... that's some great big-D chrome right there....... And congrats to Mitch and Matt for getting Trent into his first steelhead. I'm sure he's already planning a return trip...... great pictues as always matt........ what a monster ram that is.......it looks like he has telephone poles bolted to his head:grin:


And it was great to meet both of you ( Matt and trent ) at the ANWS meeting last night.....

[The Jester]

Great thing you are doing Mitch. Nice fish and sweet photos Matthewc

[Catcherman]

Great post! What kind of fishing rod was Mitch using? Was that the new Lamiglas float rod?

[PayDay]

Great photos and story Matt and nice to meet you last night.... You do awesome work.
Thanks to Trent for his service to our country and congrats on his first steelhead. It was awfully good of him to share his first fish with us at the ANWS open house at Canby Park.
Cheers to all!
Cliff

[t-fisher]

Wow. Great story and pics.

[Ryan Pultz]

Great post the two pics where you slowed the shutter spead down were simply awesome! rp

[rowmanholiday]

What a great post! You did a great job on your verbal description as well as with your pictorial to make a lot of people aware of a great cause. What a beautiful landscape to do it in. to you, Mitch and Trent (great job on your first steelhead). It looks like you guys had a good time out there.

[Hook-Line-N-Sinker]

Just beautiful! Well done!

[Klamath_King]

awesome post and pics I've gotta go see that place myself one day

[KevinsDriftboat]

Wow, Thank You Pacific Ghost Productions.com and Matt again!
Besides this awesome day, Matt also helped me out at the Portland Vet Center recently, getting some soldiers really pumped up about fishing here in Oregon.

Those shots are great, I just may have to get a real camera after looking at that blue sky you captured.
I did not really believe your description of that ram having the thickness now shown in your photo, wow. That is one all around thick beast climbing along there.

I was using the Green NWG106MLS 10.5ft 6-10lb Med light sold at Joes as the North X Northwest "GUIDES CHOICE" by Lamiglas, and I love this spinning Rod for over here.
Trent had the blue Lami MBS 96ML 9.5ft 6-10lb also med light, another favorite of mine.

Cant wait to see the action film!

[Two Ducks]

What a great feel good story. Thanks . When all is said and done helping and sharing is what makes this world a better place.

[RODACTION]

Great post !! Thanks for sharing Matt


Mitch, my had goes off to you

[Matthewc]

I was using an 8'6 G1307-G1000 series, a bit shorter then the rods they had but I was able to get the spinner out there having loaded fresh line the night before.

I also agree it was very kind of Trent & Mitch to BBQ us all up with the fresh steelhead the next evening at the Mollala chapter NWS get together..I am thinking Mitch cooked his fish as well there because he threw out at least 2 fish worth of steel for everyone and it was great!

The ram was amazing! There was actually 2 of them about the same size but by the time I had switched to the big zoomer lens one of the rams had walked behind the big rock you see, I have another shot uploaded that shows the mass around the horn from the back side. It is a little blury but you can see the horns fine.....Check it out : )




P8ntballer, PayDay, BalouSC it was a pleasure to meet you guys as well : )

[First Bite]

Great story guys. Mitch this is to you.

Matt great pictures as always. Beautiful work.

[anschutz1913]

Great pictures and descriptions Mr. Clark! It looks like you guys had an awesome time. Keep up the good work, and thank you all for sharing.

ANZ

[Matthewc]

I did a crop on the ram photo for the fun of it. They tend to degrade when you crop in 2 far but I wanted to see him close up and sharpened.....

As it turns out this one pic was so clear that I got away with the one deep crop. The rest would not have come close.



A VR lens would have handled the shots much better.

This was a nice view here too. The sky in the background is whitewashed and yet the reflection of the sky off the water is blue. The reason for this is that the sky directly above and behind me is darker and to the East so the color blue is rich. To the west were the sun is still going down it has a bright white look to it.

[KevinsDriftboat]

wow, Thank you for taking the time to do that, great work.
I hope you 2 have a good one on the Mac n Z.

Originally Posted by Matthewc

I did a crop on the ram photo for the fun of it. They tend to degrade when you crop in 2 far but I wanted to see him close up and sharpened.....

As it turns out this one pic was so clear that I got away with the one deep crop. The rest would not have come close.



A VR lens would have handled the shots much better.

This was a nice view here too. The sky in the background is whitewashed and yet the reflection of the sky off the water is blue. The reason for this is that the sky directly above and behind me is darker and to the East so the color blue is rich. To the west were the sun is still going down it has a bright white look to it.

[cooky]

Nice pics, That ram looks like he could be pushin' 170 or perhaps a tad over... About as big as they get on the D.

[skrimmy]

Alright...those pictures are SPECTACULAR. Nice job guys!

[Zodiac-Fisherman]

Awesome photo's!

Even better country, been going there for over 10 years!

[Reel_Big_Fish]

Awesome post and pictures! I'll be looking forward to see the film.

[bladehorn]

Wow another GREAT POST & Pic's by Matt... No surprise there...
Looks like another great day for you. Can't wait to see the next video... No matter what the video is about... I know it will have plenty of useful information....

[Cutting Point]

That is what a fishin trip is about.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Awesome photos and that is one big ram. Wow! Fishing may have been a tad slow but the photos really caught some of the rare beauties of nature at their best. Thanks for the report and pictorial. That is what ifish should be.

[dixiefisher]

very nice trip!!!.....I love the scenery at macs!

[Matthewc]

Originally Posted by CATCH AND EAT

Awesome photos and that is one big ram. Wow! Fishing may have been a tad slow but the photos really caught some of the rare beauties of nature at their best. Thanks for the report and pictorial. That is what ifish should be.

I know call me a sucker but IM half temped to go back over there for 2 days just to road hunt with a camera and see what I can get.....Then fish for trout in the evenings when they are on the rise. You catch these little trout on the spinners but right before dark you can see some realy large fat trout rising....

I do not know how much longer I can wait. I spent a few days at the McKenzie but I could not help but think about Mac's Canyon.

[Bigmaverick]

Awsome pics