I lived for the days that Dad and I went fishing. My dad was a wonderful fisherman and he taught me a lot about fishing as his dad had done before me. The fishing trips we went on were the only thing we did together and maybe that was what made it so special for me.
Dad purchased a 16 foot wood boat with a 35 horse Johnson outboard. It was a used boat but dad fixed it up and it always got us out to our favorite fishing spot on the Columbia River. We fished a place called Davis Bar which is where the Willamette River dumps into "The Mighty Columbia".
We were there fishing almost every weekend during the Salmon runs. We got our bait from a commercial fish market two blocks from the house on 33rd and Powell Blvd in Portland, Oregon. They always had a barrel full of fresh eggs that they stripped out of the Salmon caught by the commercial fisherman for market. Dad would bring them home and lay them out on newspaper and cure them with borax. He let them cure for a day or so and then cut them into strips and put in glass jars. Dad would only do this usually once a year so we would have enough for the season.
When we got to the river and anchored the boat we would mold the eggs around a large treble hook with a sinker 12-18" up on the line and drop it over into the current until it hit the bottom and let the line out another 20-30 feet before setting the drag on our Pleuger casting reels . It was just a matter of time usually before we had a fish on. That was exciting as it took some finesse and work to get a 20-35 lb fish to the boat and netted in the strong current without breaking the 20 lb line.
We were allowed 3 Salmon each in those days when the Salmon were plentiful and a lot of time we went home with our limit of fish. My grandfather had a little 14 foot wood boat with a wood canopy. It was baby blue and white and really a cute little boat. My grandfather loved it as he had only aluminum boats for lake fishing prior to that. He spent his younger adult life fishing the beaches at Sauvies Island before owning his boat and when I was real small I remember all of us going to the Island to fish.
Sauvies Island is listed in the Guinness book of records for being the largest inland Island in the world with the Willamette River on one side and the Columbia on the other. It also has some real nice Catfish as well as Crappie fishing in the many small lakes on the island itself.
I loved to see those big Salmon being pulled to the beach. Usually the fisherman were elbow to elbow and the fishing was quite active. After catching a nice Chinook we would bury the fish in the cool sand and put in a stick to identify where it was located. That was my job and I took care of this job with great diligence.
Most of the fisherman would put a bell on the tip of their pole so when a salmon hit their bait or lure the bell would ring. This enabled the families who were fishing to socialize without constantly watching their pole. I remember the bells ringing and people yelling...FISH ON!!! This was really a lot of fun for a young boy and I would proudly showoff every catch as if it was my own prior to burying in the sand.
I did get to fish these beaches as I got older but we mostly went out in the boat to get away from the crowd by then. Getting back to the boating.. See page 2 for the rest of this story >>>>>>>>>>>>
