I was exposed to the elements of fishing and hunting at an early age. “Hey let’s go salmon fishing!” They said. “It will be fun!” They said... Sitting in a boat, rocking in the waves, with temperatures hovering just above freezing, and a nice breeze blowing off the Columbia River isn’t really what a 6-8 year old Me would consider fun by any means!!! “Do you realize I could be curled up in the basement on the couch with a blanket watching some He-Man cartoons and enjoying a bowl a Alphabet Soup?”
So Long story short, I think I was ruined at a young age when it came to fishing and hunting. My first hunting experience was nearly identical to the one I had fishing. Freezing... sitting... freezing... waiting.... freezing.... not too fun for a kids like me with a ton of energy. All 3 of my older brothers and Dad are big into hunting and fishing. I just never found it to be that “fun” given my past experiences. Hey, can you blame me? Yet as I have gotten older I have been slowly getting my feet wet when it comes to joining the rest of the Splatts Men in some hunting and fishing trips. Ya, I don’t have all that fancy gear but guess who does??... hehehehe.
My brother and I were talking on the phone after hearing a bit of disheartening news about my Dad’s health. No he isn’t going to die in a few weeks and we need to help him complete some “Bucket List”. I look at it as another hurdle to jump over to complete the race of life. Anyway, he mentioned a great opportunity to do some Salmon fishing on the Columbia River. From his house it is like 45 minutes upstream but for me it is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Perfect!! I couldn’t turn this opportunity down. Spend some time with my Dad and Brother on the Columbia River catching some Salmon... and your occasional White Sturgeon.... count me in!!
King Of The Reach
This fishing tournament isn’t your typical tournament, it is strictly for conservation. There are 100 boats allowed to register and it’s a Catch as many Salmon as you can type of fishing. You can’t keep any, that is why no fishing license is required for this tournament. It is held in the Hanford Reach area of the Columbia River, hence the name “King Of The Reach”, just down stream of Priest Rapids Dam. What makes this tournament so different is this, all the salmon caught are loaded up and taken to the nearby fish hatchery where they will be “milked” for their eggs and sperm and eventually produce tens of thousands of salmon for next year. Sorry no keepy keepy the salmon this time, no stocking the freezer. I find this to be such a great way to give back to the river what it has provided for my family over the years. I kind of sound like Native American right there but hey it’s the truth. Even though I wasn’t the one fishing those years back, I sure was enjoying the fresh salmon bbq’ed to perfection on my plate next to a side of potatoes and an ear of corn. wipe mouth speaking of salmon... I need to sneak over to my Dad’s house and get me a few fillets... shhh don’t tell him. He is pretty stingy with his salmon and halibut
So after work on Thursday I hooked up my camp trailer, picked up my brother and arrived at camp around 11 pm. These aren’t the camp sites most are use to... nope!! No running water or electricity and not even a leveled out spot for your tent. This place is just a kind of wide open flat portion of land next to the river. Sage brush and all. Man, am I glad I have a trailer!! Am I Spoiled... nope!! I worked hard to be able to buy that and I am just enjoying the fruits of my labor. All work and no play makes Splatts... crazaayy!
After staying up a little or rather a lot later than we should have, it was up and att’em at 4 am. See that is another reason why I got turned off of this fishing stuff at such an early age. Anyway, we needed to get down and get registered for our 2 and a half days of salmon fishing. $25 and 10 minutes later we were ready to get the boat in the water and do some fishing.
WARNING!!
Amazing Sunrise Photos from the banks of the Columbia River
Even after the boat was in the water I just couldn’t help but stare off into the sunrise. As I made my way down the rocky bank to the boat I had to catch a few photos.... or a bunch... I won’t unload them all but here are a few. These were all taken with my iPhone X and no filters were applied.
Okay, now let’s get on the water and see what we can catch. I know we are gonna catch a good time but we are here to reel in some salmon for a good cause. As we scoot along the bank heading upstream to just below the spawning grounds, I notice there are quite a few boats scattered across the river already. They may be hard to see but they are there trust me.
Within the first 1/2 hour or so we had hooked into our first fish. My Dad’s friend was first up to bring a fish to the boat. I guess we were doing something good to be able to reel on in this soon. As my Brother calls salmon like this... An Old Boot After they spawn the begin to die. That is when they turn red and brown. Hence the reason he calls them An Old Boot
As the day went on we drifted down river, then fired up the big motor and headed back upstream to make our way down again. All we had was my Dad’s depth finder and land marks on the banks to help us stay in the channel. Some spots in this section of the Columbia River are 60 feet deep. Hey wanna know some facts about the Columbia River and the Dams? If not, too bad be cause I am gonna tell you anyway.
- The Columbia River has a total of 14 Dams on it - 3 in Canada and 11 in Washington
- These Dams produce 21,150 megawatts of Electricity... That can power over 12 million homes
- Grand Coulee Dam is the Largest hydro power producer in the United States, it produces enough electricity to power 4.2 million homes for 1 year or 2 cities the size of Seattle
- Grand Coulee Dam produces 6,809 Megawatts and Hoover Dam only produces 2,080 Megawatts
- The Columbia River is 1,243 miles long and can reach depths of 1,250 feet
I didn’t make this up... or this
Let’s get back to fishin’
We didn’t have the Hot Rods by any means. You know what we did manage to do?? Lose about $100 worth of fishing gear on the first day. Hahahahaha That has to count for something doesn’t it?? Actually we did catch a total of 2 salmon the first day but that was nothing compared to a fishing guide’s boat that reeled in over 30!! Ether got all the fancy GPS stuff and what not.
Okay so let me tell you how this whole King of the Reach thing works. First you need some sort of “Live Well” to keep the salmon alive. Most Live Wells aren’t too big so we used a 100 quart cooler equipped with an aerator that was provided by the Fish and Game Department. This keeps the water oxygenated for the salmon to stay alive. So then all you do is “Simply”...
Place it in your Live Well...
Wave down a catch boat...
Transfer the salmon to them and when they are full or after a short amount of time, they take the salmon to shore. From there they are placed into these big transport trucks that take them to the local hatchery.
And that kids is how babies are made... salmon babies safe from predators that is.
The brisk chilly mornings were quickly warmed up by the sun and the clear blue skies. Well as warm as it is gonna get this time of year. Long sleeve shirt and jeans type of weather for me. With us being just down river of Priest Rapids Dam and I couldn’t resist taking some photos of the Powerlines crossing the river.
Then I noticed these two Bald Eagles sitting in the tree on the east bank. I think someone is hungry.
They are off in the distance and hard to identify but with some binoculars there was no question... Those are Bald Eagles
You know I just can’t enough of these sunrise photos. Every morning I just had to take at least a couple photos. It would be a sin not too. I mean would you just look at it!!!
Okay Okay give me a second while I get off of these sunrise photos. I just can’t help it, when I am looking for the next photo to upload I run across another beautiful sunrise photo and I feel the urge to share it. Just like now...
I’m done I promise
Now, when I go out salmon fishing, which isn’t very often, I don’t always catch salmon. Nope... Fishing is fishing no matter what kind of fish you are catching right? Well when we headed up into the shallower waters I hooked into something a little prehistoric and quite a bit bigger than a salmon. You see that white belly in the water?
That ain’t no salmon!! That is what we call the dinosaur of the Columbia River. I just caught my first White Sturgeon folks and it is about 6 feet long!! Check out that whopper of a fish!!
It didn’t take too long to get it in the boat, maybe because it had a belly full of salmon eggs. Had a bit of a food coma going on. Now we can’t keep sturgeon either so I had to grab a quick picture with my first sturgeon and send him/her on their way. I do have to say, their mouths have to be one of the weirdest things to grab a hold of. Somehow my iPhone got set into portrait mode but I still like how the photo turned out. I do wish I could see the sturgeon better but hey, you win some and you lose some. What do ya do?
Overall we didn’t catch a ton of salmon by any means but we sure did enjoy each other’s company and had a great time!! Now I don’t know where the picture of me with a salmon is but here is an old boot my brother caught...
And a nice looking salmon my Dad caught... see the difference in color
This being the first time being a part of this friendly conservation based fishing tournament, we made the decision to make this a yearly Splatts Manly outing. We will be back next year to take part in the King Of The Reach fishing tournament and next time I am bringing reinforcements. 
Until Next Time...
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