A Dam Fish Tale

Doug is not a dam fisherman, he's not even a lake fisherman. He will be the first to tell you he thinks it is one of the most boring things you can do (this from the man who can watch golf all day long). It really is a strange thing for me who grew up in a house where Dad would take us fishing most Saturday mornings; we camped all summer long, fishing, and we always seemed to have canned salmon or smoked fish around (which we kids ate like candy).
Anyway, our kids hadn't been exposed to fishing yet so when the Rowes invited us to go with them on Saturday to Bonneville Dam for the free fishing clinic they were hosting for kids, I persuaded Doug it would be fun. Saturday morning, bright and early, we headed out to the gorge. We arrived a mere half hour after they opened, hoping to get there before most people were up and before it got too hot. Apparently everyone else had the same idea because a dam attendant was turning people away at the gate, saying they were full and recommending us to come back in an hour.

We drove to Multnomah falls to kill some time hiking and I almost wished we could have stayed for the whole hike, it was so gorgeous!












The kids were reluctant to leave too and we had to entice them with promises of dam fishing to get them back in the car.
Luckily, the dam crowds had thinned enough to park at the Hatchery and we registered the kids for their dam fishing "passports" which required stamps at various dam stations before they would let them fish. They learned about keeping the rivers clean from garbage, how to cast, how to wear a life jacket, and about various kinds of dam fish.

We even saw a very large sturgeon through the underwater viewing aquarium. Finally, after waiting at least half an hour in a dam line for the last dam station, the kids were able to fish.
Evie was allowed to try her hand at fishing in a large tub stocked full of fish. They had a 20 minute time limit and, surprisingly, she caught nothing. Sterling (because he was in an older age group) had to wait about an hour in one of the several long lines formed at the bank of the dam creek. He also had a 20 minute time limit or a two fish limit, whichever came first. He was lucky enough to get a spot near the shade of a large tree where all the dam fish seemed to be congregated. He caught his first one within 5 minutes (10.5") and then the second within another 5 minutes (9.5"). He did get a little impatient waiting for the dam fish to bite, despite the instant gratification of fishing in a stocked creek, but was thrilled by actually catching something.




They packed his dam fish on ice, gave him a dam certificate, and all of us free pop and chips and we made the long drive home. The two youngest fell asleep before we even left the dam parking lot! (No, the dam jokes don't get old for me.)


I'm ashamed to admit I almost couldn't bring myself to gut and clean the dam fish. It's been too long and I've gone soft... But here they are frying in Bacon grease, lemon-pepper and garlic. Mmmmm..... The kids loved it!