IN THIS ISSUE: OFFICERS NOTEBOOK, SALT PATROL, FISHING TAILS , COLUMBIA RIVER REGION, SPORTFISHING INSTITUTE, FISHING CLUBS, AND MORE…
THE KINGS OF BC
GLORY, GLORY, GLORY TO THE KINGS OF BC
By Terry Sheely
We fish for acrobatic 7–10-pound ocean coho and dream of 20-to-50-pound saltwater kings. Purple-backed, dark-mouthed, finicky slabs that bend rods to the water line, rip line off good reels by the football field and show us no respect.
In the troubling tribulations of recent years those kings, with too few exceptions, have been more dream than reality for saltwater fishermen mooching, trolling and hoping for a takedown off Washington and Oregon. Kings are in short supply and high demand coast-wide but it’s in Washington and Oregon where coastal fish managers struggle hardest with mysteriously declining chinook runs, federal fiats that shorten seasons, state regulations that confuse honest anglers and shrink allocations all in the name of recovering ESA-listed runs of wild chinook, while dealing with a stingy ocean that is providing barely enough food to grow 10—20 pound chinook…
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