Best thing about writing column? Making friends

posted 07:23 AM 01/05
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HOOD RIVER, ORE. - About seven years ago, I was sitting on an Alaska Airlines flight from Mazatlan, Mexico, to Sea-Tac - and I really wanted to go to sleep.

But my brain was jumping with mental images of running up and down the beach casting streamer flies for roosterfish and jack crevalle.

I also couldn’t forget the local anglers, who used handlines, rusty hooks and spark-plug weights to hook and land outsize fish.

So, I got out a pad of paper, pulled down the rickety little table from the seatback and started to write.

A week or so later, those scribblings became my first fishing column for The Olympian. Since then, I’ve written hundreds of columns, and many of you became my friends.

We’ve talked on the phone, e-mailed, chatted in stores, parks and even at my daughter’s graduation from Black Hills High School in 2008.

We’ve even fished together.

But this is my last column for The Olympian, and our long, friendly conversation is about to end – or at least change.

I’ve had trouble sleeping for the past few nights, as all the memories from the past few years swirl and dance in my mind.

This rapid fire slide show is a happy one as my memories are so rich.

Many of the images are of friends, family and the beauty of the Northwest.

I recall my friend Greg Cloud piloting his boat over a glassy Budd Inlet as the surface fog rose off the water and flocks of shorebirds flushed off beaches.

Cloud, a retired biologist with the air of a mad scientist, is the best angler I’ve ever met, became a close friend as we fished together for sea-run cutthroat trout, chum salmon and kokanee.

I learned a lot about pestering Puget Sound fish from Greg, and I learned a lot about the biology of our waters – and enjoying the simple pleasures of a Knudsen Spider fly, a good sinking fly line and how chum salmon are silly for dead anchovies drifted under a bobber.

I remember great talks with Larry Phillips, our local state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist.

Our conversations usually started with fishing – Larry is a hard-core steelhead addict and passionate sea-run cutthroat trout angler – but they usually ended with words about our families.

We talked of the joys of watching our kids play sports, the amazing amount of mileage put on the family car while driving from one school or practice to another – and our hopes for our children in this nutso world.

We once worked together to help get a boat off the slippery Summit Lake ramp on a chilly opening day of trout season. I’ve never met a fish biologist who worked harder or cared more.

I remember my daughter – then 13 – walking along a South Sound beach on a sunny May afternoon as the falling tide wrinkled into current rips. Courtney cast a small Kastmaster into the rip, and one of the biggest sea-run cutts I’ve ever seen grabbed the lure, flipped into the air and threw the barbless hook.

We stared at each other – and broke into laughter.

I remember another day – this one on a Florida tidal flat – where Courtney baited her hook with a live shrimp and hooked a whopper of a fish. The reel screeched, the rod bent, and I spent 20 minutes expecting a world-record redfish or snook.

When it all ended, a stingray the size of a Buick’s hood drifted up next to the boat and waggled a long tail studded with poisonous spikes.

Courtney was entranced.

“Can we pull it out for a second and take a picture, dad?” she said.

I remember talking fishing with Tony Floor – another mad-scientist angler – as we both sweated through morning workouts at The Valley.

I also remember another crazed angler – who will remain nameless – who tapped my shoulder as I took a shower at the gym.

The guy just wanted to talk sea-run cutts, but that tap startled the bejabbers out of me.

I will never forget an afternoon I spent with Clara Barefoot just last week.

Clara, who is 92 and has fond memories of fishing with her husband, made it her habit to leave me a phone message about my columns each week.

Hearing her warm, vibrant voice over the phone was one of the best times of the week.

She invited me to her home for lunch last week, and we ended up spending hours poring over old fishing photos – and Clara’s giant collection of quilts.

One of the quilts – made of odd-shaped patches of fabric stitched together – caught my eye.

“It’s a crazy quilt,” Clara said.

All those colors and shapes danced over the fabric, and the quilt seemed an ever-moving, ever-joyful celebration of the vivid moments of a life well spent.

That quilt reminded me of all the columns, all the friendships, all the talks we’ve shared.

I remember all those moments much more than the fish, but this column was never really about fishing, was it?

Comments

Here's how to find more time to go fish

posted 07:59 AM 12/29

Two thousand and nine had its moments, but I'm happy to see this year fading into the rearview mirror.

Christmastime, when fish are jumpin' in my mind

posted 07:27 AM 12/22

OLYMPIA - Christmas music - often set to a swinging jazz beat - bounces through my head on a lot of summer fishing trips.

You may find yourself dazzled by wonder of life

posted 06:17 AM 11/17

Puget Sound - The school of big, magenta-and-green chum salmon surged and swirled just off the shallow, pebbly beach.

Autumnal beauty at end of the line

posted 07:45 AM 11/03

I left the office last week with intentions of going to the gym - and then shopping for much-needed groceries.

Gains will offset few losses at Munn Lake

posted 07:30 AM 10/27

TUMWATER - I've babbled about fishing in this column for years, but I've never revealed a favorite fishing spot.

Chum can heat up your autumn

posted 01:14 AM 03/03

My body was far away from South Puget Sound the past week, but my brain kept conjuring up memories of bad-tempered, sharp-toothed, eager-biting chum salmon.

Nothing beats going to the edge for bass

posted 02:33 PM 09/15

Largemouth bass love the edges of this world – where shallow meets deep, where sunny meets shaded and where daylight meets twilight.

Autumn brings the last, best fishing of the year

posted 07:08 AM 09/08

Labor Day is always a bittersweet holiday for me.

Thank efforts over the years for salmon show

posted 08:55 AM 09/04

Little kids cry out with squeaky voices and gasp at the big fish.