This past weekend, I was lucky enough to get out on the Snake River and try bass fishing for the first time.  It was so much fun and I caught my first bass!

The Snake River in Washington is incredibly beautiful.  I was lucky enough to go to school near there, so it was the spot to go in the summer.  Little did I know I was missing out on some great bass fishing all those years!

I went to visit my friend and her family who had a place along the river.  Talk about a relaxing way to spend your weekend!  No cell service, just the great outdoors and good company.

Click below to see a ton of pictures (including bighorn sheep!) and read my story of bass fishing on the Snake River!

We headed out on their boat for a day on the river.  Even though I’ve spent time along the Snake River, I’ve never really explored it.  The river cuts between states, one side Washington and one side Idaho.  As you travel up the river, it eventually becomes Oregon and Idaho on either side.  This stretch between the three states is called Hells Canyon.

I definitely recommend visiting the Snake River at some point in your life.  These pictures don’t do the beauty justice.  It’s an incredibly beautiful stretch of country.  How the light hits the canyon, creating shadows and highlighting ridges, then shimmering across the water is something my camera couldn’t fully capture.  My friend’s parents have been going to this part of the river for decades and her mom knew everything about the history, so it was like I had my own personal guide.

We went by an old mining town from the early 1900s that still had remnants of buildings there.  You could see the areas that were once mines.  At one time, you could still go through some of the old mining tunnels.  The land is still untouched from the modern world so you kind of feel like you’ve gone back in time.  Well minus being on a motorized boat!

This area is also full of Native American history.  There are places along the river that still have petroglyphs.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see any, but it only means I’m going to go back so I can!  Along a creek, near the Grand Ronde river, is the cave where Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce was born.  It was amazing to be surrounded by so much history.

The coolest fact her mom told me is that Hells Canyon is actually steeper than the Grand Canyon.  It’s the deepest river gorge in North America to be exact.  I was in awe of the views our entire trip up.  It is such an amazing thing to see.  At this point, it was a great day just being on the water and seeing the breathtaking landscape.

The river has several spot with rapids, which were pretty fun coming back down.  We saw several kayakers and rafters.  Going white water rafting is definitely on my bucket list!

This area is full of wildlife.  There are deer, elk, turkeys, bear, and bighorn sheep.  We got lucky and saw several bighorn sheep right along the river.

But we hadn’t even gotten to the best part—bass fishing!

This was my first time ever casting from a boat.  I also hadn’t casted in awhile… probably a couple years.  So I definitely started out rusty!  My friend’s dad told me to cast near the edge of the river because that’s where the bass would be.  But, knowing where I wanted the line to go and where it actually went was a different story in the beginning!

Finally the casts were better and sure enough I felt a little tug on my line.  I slowly reeled in, part of me thought I snagged my line on a rock.  But the tug got a little harder, so I excitedly blurted, “I think I got one!”  Her dad yelled to reel it in so I started going a little faster.  Sure enough, you could see a fish on the line under the water!  I reeled it in and officially caught my first bass!

My friend taught me how to hold their bottom lip to get the hook out.  She also explained why you don’t want to hold their spiny back.  The fish was small, so we took the picture then I threw it back in.  It was my first bass of many that day!

My friend, her mom, and I were all fishing off the boat.  It was pretty great to see three ladies reeling in fish after fish!  The goal was to catch enough big ones to have a fish fry when we got home.  Lets just say we were all motivated to get enough fish!  I think bass fishing is the most fun I’ve had fishing so far.  Maybe it’s because we caught so many, but it was really enjoyable the entire time out there.  I definitely want to get back out for more.

We caught enough for dinner and I’m so glad we did because bass is now one of my favorite fish to eat!  Her mom made a light beer batter and deep fried them.  My goodness were they delicious!  I’m definitely going to catch more bass so I can cook them myself.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was talking to my friend’s mom on the boat.  She mentioned it being great that my friend and I share a love of the outdoors.  I told her it was hard to find other girls who enjoyed the outdoors as much as I do.  She’s gone through the same in her life, but recently reconnected with an old friend and they’ve started getting outdoors together.  She said to hold the friends tight who love it like I do.  It really is a special bond to share with a friend and definitely hard to come by!  I have two girl friends that enjoy hunting and fishing like I do, and they really do mean the world to me.  Sometimes I feel like they’re the only ones who understand why I enjoy doing all of this.

It was a great weekend from start to finish.  Good friends, good food, good times.  It was a good trip for my soul.

One of the things that makes me happiest about getting more into hunting and fishing is how connected I feel when I’m in the outdoors.  I’ve seen some truly beautiful country because of this passion.  It doesn’t matter if you don’t shoot an animal or catch a fish, it’s still always a great day because it was spent in the outdoors.  I’m also around some of the best people doing all of this.

The fishing was fun, but the conversations on the boat were what made the day.  Our boat was full of stories and laughter, really the whole weekend was.  I feel like I say I’m lucky a lot when it comes to what I learn in the outdoors, but I really believe it’s true.  I’ve never been sure how I’m going to get more involved and learn all the things I want.  But some truly wonderful people have taken me out to teach me what they know, and I’m beyond grateful for that.  This is a journey I most definitely would not be able to do alone.