A recent field trip with the punks to a nearby fish hatchery brought back memories of similar field trips when I was a kid (and older) to the Trask River hatchery near Tillamook, Oregon. The Trask is one of 5 major salmon rivers in Tillamook County. Between my folks and my brothers, I think they've fished them all, over the years. Salmon weren't just a treat for us, we frequently enjoyed this delicious fish for dinner. The real treat was having it smoked! A lot of fish went through Dad's little smoke house over the years.
The hatcheries have played an important role in salmon fisheries. In Wisconsin, the two main species are Chinook and Coho (Silvers), which were introduced into Lake Michigan in the early 60's. Unlike the coast fish, which go to sea before returning to the rivers to spawn, the Wisconsin salmon have the lake as part of their life cycle. The Besadny Fisheries Facility which we toured here is Wisconsin's premier egg collection station.
Here the hen salmon is stripped of roe (eggs)...
which are then fertilized...
and the rest of the salmon story is for another time.
Here's the epiphany. Almost the same day as the field trip, I received word from my mom that she had caught a 29 1/2 lb. fall chinook. And here's the picture to prove it! This isn't mom's first fish, nor the largest. But she had come back empty handed the last 5 trips out on the bay with my brother Chris, and was beginning to think she'd never have the thrill of landing a big fish again. She's 81, soon to be 82, and figures every fishing trip could be her last one...but she keeps on going, just like the Energizer Bunny, and as long as she can climb into Chris' boat, I'm sure they'll keep hauling them in.
Chris, with over 50 years of experience, is one of the best and most professional fisherman in Tillamook County. A few days after this trip, he brought in a 49 lb. salmon. So take a good look at this one and figure another 20 lbs - that makes a BIG fish!
This fish of Mom's has a story, as all fish do. After hooking it and starting the process of letting it run out to tire it before attempting to get it in the boat, Mom was horrified to see a seal bob up near where the salmon had dove again. Chris figured they had lost the fish at that point, because seal will take them right off your hook given a half a chance. But they kept on working the fish, and when it got near to the boat, Chris got the net out. The seal was so close several times that Chris bopped it on the nose with the net to keep it off the fish while they got in position to land it. So picture this: with one hand Chris is manuevering the outboard motor to keep the boat in position so that mom was able to work the line, smacking the seal with the net in his other hand, and giving mom tips to keep the salmon on the line long enough to net it - with the same net he's fending off the seal. The caption on the picture says, "mom caught it, the seal almost got it." They got the fish, and somewhere in the bay is a seal with a sore nose.
Mom has caught a lot of good size salmon over the years - and she has a place on her wall decorated with a picture of every one of them. It's pretty impressive.
Fishing here isn't nearly as exciting. At least from what I've seen. This next photo is a dam on the West Twin River at Shoto, which we go past almost every trip to town. There is no fish ladder here. The salmon come upriver to spawn, and run into this blockade. The water is only about knee deep. So are the salmon. Fishing is more a matter of throwing out the hook and snagging a fish that is, according to our Tillamook Bay standards, too dark and old to be worth eating. The water here is clogged with dead and dying fish. After having grown up with fresh-from-the-sea, brightly gleaming salmon with deep pink flesh (not faded and whitish, as a dying fish shows), and watching the fun of landing a fiesty fish, it boggles my mind that people here get so excited about "catching" a salmon...but they just don't know better, so I forgive them.
When we came to Wisconsin I was thinking I would never enjoy salmon again except for trips back home to the coast. Imagine my delight when a package arrived with several pounds of Chris' premium smoked salmon! He and mom had collaborated to catch, smoke, package and mail me this wonderful treat. Mom took it right out of the smoke house, cooled it enough to vacuum pack it, wrapped and boxed it up, took it the PO just in time for the 4:30 pm mail to go out, put priority postage on it, and I got it at 11:00 am the next morning!! That fish had only been out of the water 4 days altogether. And let me just say, it's DELICIOUS!!
Thank you Chris, for making sure mom gets every opportunity to go salmon fishing. She loves it so. And we love the rewards!
1 comment:
That is so cool. I have gone out the past two years during the second week of August on a charter from Ilwaco, WA. We drop some crab pots on the way out, catch some salmon and then pick up the crab pots on the way in. I have some pictures, and after seeing your blog today, I will do one based on my last trip this past August. Very cool.
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