Valentine's and Smelt

It's been awhile since I've written on my blog!  It's not that I've been overly busy, just the creative spirit hasn't hit me lately.

This weekend Steve showed up Friday night with flowers and a Valentine card for me - sweet!  Saturday morning we rolled out of bed around 8am in order to go smelt dipping on the Cowlitz.  Only Sam's friend Jimmy was eager to go with us - the rest of the neighborhood boys declined the offer.

Due to the very infrequent occurrence of smelt dipping, my neighborhood by the river was packed!  I mean seriously over-run by the preponderance of feverish smelt dippers, cars, nets, and kids.  Our first stop was to cruise by Riverside Park, which was a no go due to massive traffic.  My friend Kim, who lives on the Cowlitz, allowed us to access the river from her house so we stopped there next.

Steve was very prepared to dip smelt while Jimmy and I were kind of along for the ride.  Jimmy and I traipsed our way along the brush (stumbling across a dead, petrified cat!) while Steve, dressed in his waders, went right into the current.  The Cowlitz was oozy and muddy; however, when Steve hollered for a bucket, Jimmy kicked off his tennis shoes and waded right into the river in his socks, bucket in hand.  It was very slow going - no fish or perhaps two fish with every dip of the net.

With a limited catch, we then made our way further south of the river to Gearhart Park.  Again, tons of people and it was a madhouse!!  Gathering our things, we didn't even make it to the riverbank due to the feedback we received from fellow dippers that results were the same as upriver.

Last but not least, we cruised to Castle Rock to test out the waters at Arlene's place.  Lovely spot right off the private boat launch.  Steve dipped his net and voila! Full net of smelt!  It took him about 10 minutes to get our limit of smelt!!  This has now become his favorite and best spot to dip smelt!  Our last place should have been our first place!!

The worst part of the smelt dip?  Following the completed netting, we (Jimmy, Arlene, a fellow netter, and me) watched as Steve pulled a female smelt from the bucket, massaged it's end quarter, and sucked out the fish roe to his mouth to eat.  Arrrrggg!!  Yuck!  I almost lost it!!  Apparently it tastes like Cream O'Wheat; if that's the case, eat Cream O'Wheat!!  Bleck!!!

Done with fishing, Steve treated us to Dutch Bros. coffee then a big breakfast at Stuffy's to not only celebrate smelt success but Valentine's Day.  Making our way home, it was nap time then we spent the evening watching war movies on Netflix.  It's was a very rewarding day!!