Fishermen’s Catch Includes King, Salmon

Anglers can be excused if they occasionally flip out over the chance to catch a 50-pound king salmon in the Columbia River.

Flipping over, however, seems extreme.

Spokane-area anglers Brad Pauley, his son, David, and neighbor Gene Dixon went to the Hanford Reach last weekend well-prepared with tackle to hook huge salmon out of the Columbia.

But they didn’t bring a net large enough for the catch they’d handle that day.

The launch at Vernita Bridge was the usual zoo. With so many boats trying to get onto the water at first light, it’s surprising they even saw their friend, Steven King of Wenatchee.

The Pauleys were launching their 16-foot Wellscraft jetboat. King was sharing his 14-foot aluminum boat with his dog, Sage.

King had never caught a chinook salmon. Oddsmakers on shore might not have given a newcomer with a small boat much of a chance in the swift water of the last major free-flowing stretch of the Columbia.

But as luck will have it, King was among the first on the river to hook a lunker chinook.

The wind was whipping up on the vast openness of the Columbia Basin. King beat the odds against him once again, single-handedly netting the 32-pounder and hauling it aboard while the Pauleys and Dixon watched.

The heat of the moment met a chilly end when King sat down and bucked the wind in his tiny boat.

A vicious gust snatched the bow and flipped the boat over on top of King and his dog.

“The wind didn’t seem to be all that bad out there,” Brad Pauley recalled, “except that the gusts would rip the water off the whitecaps and soak your face every now and then.”

A few seconds later, King bobbed out from under the boat. The Pauleys already were maneuvering to offer assistance, but King had to duck back under the boat to bring out Sage.

Dogs don’t hold their breath very well, apparently, and there was a lot of sputtering and coughing.

Not to be totally distracted by the urgency of the situation, the Pauleys saw a big salmon just under the surface. They grabbed their net, made a swipe, and sure enough, they landed King’s 32-pounder for the second time.

Then they turned their attention to landing the fisherman.

Anglers have their priorities.

Other than bruised egos and chilled bones, the only major loss in the ordeal was some tackle and Dixon’s $100 fishing rod, which King accidentally broke as he was dragged like a gut-hooked sturgeon into the Pauleys’ boat.

“He was a little too big to use the net on,” Brad said.

Having landed the biggest keeper of the day, the Pauleys let King keep the salmon.

Empty nests: Fall is the best time to clean the nesting material out of your backyard bird boxes.

Removing the nests reduces the chance of parasites making a winter home in the boxes. Also, this assures the boxes will be ready for early arrivals late in the winter.

Take care of any repairs now, making sure the roofs fit snugly. If a squirrel has gnawed and enlarged an entrance, drill the proper size hole in a square of wood and mount the piece directly over the old entrance.

Don’t be surprised if birds use the box before next year’s breeding season. Nuthatches and early arriving swallows have been known to jam en masse into nest boxes to take refuge from bitter storms.

Reaching the limit: The Sierra Club plans to poll members on whether to declare war on immigration as a way of protecting the nation’s environment.

Times have changed since John Muir (an immigrant from Scotland) founded the club more than a century ago.

But the human wave coming across our boarders is but a trickle compared with the bunny-like procreation mentality that already exists within the nation.

The Sierra Club appears to be sniffing around the most daunting issue facing hunters, anglers, and others who love wildlife and the outdoors.

Those of us over 40 have witnessed in our lifetimes the doubling of the earth’s population - the first time in recorded history that this has happened in a generation.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review