Nestucca 1/3

Day 1 started with a surprising text from Fred at 7 am.........awake, can be ready in 30.  With Daylight Savings, Cliffy was impressed!  Already packed, Waylon and I headed over to deep SE to grab Fred and make our way to the coast.  We took the long way to ensure fresh crab/clams on a roadside dealer for the first nights dinner and a definite Fred Meyer hookup for last minute essentials.  When we finally made it to Hebo at noon, we stopped off at the local bait store to make sure they were still running shuttles and to get the low down on our planned float for the day.  With all thumbs pointing to yes, we proceeded to the cabin (thanks Millers!) to unload and set up the spey rods.  Within the hour, we had my buddies driftboat (thanks Joe!) in the water floating down a 2.1 mile stretch.  Though the river was busy, we managed to obtain a nice drift around the first turn.  Fred threw his line first.  The first time Fred has ever thrown a winter shooting head with a sink tip attached on his spey rod.  A beauty of a cast!  So beautiful, Waylon jumped out of the boat to retrieve his line for him.  Waylon received a small scolding for ruing Fred's swing, but........it's in his blood!  We were able to get a few more spots, but the business of other gear fishermen out weighed our classic technique.  We pulled the boat out and jammed home to prep dinner.  This included marinated crab bodies with the legs all done on the grill with garlic bread, caesar salad and wine/chorizo roasted calms.  Not to mention 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of whiskey and a few Buds.  Phew!!!!!!!  Day 1 folks!