Fourth Quarter

I have until October 22 to catch salmon. Well, a salmon.

I've hooked two so far. I think. One for sure, which was at least 30 pounds and gave me the most exciting 15 minutes of the summer. That's right, 15 minutes on the line and five feet from the bank and all I got was an empty hook and sore back. The one I'm not sure about was a four minute battle that ended up with a broken line. I was using a spoon so it could have been a rather large bass or a smaller salmon known as a Jack.

After Oct. 22 I will have to drive an hour to get to open waters, further if I want to get to good fishing. Since we're penny pinching just to pay the rent right now, that means I'll be stuck to just fishing for bass.

Sure there are trout here or there in the Yakima River, but the minimum legal size is 12" and the max is 20". Anything over 20" is considered a steelhead, which are endangered in a lot if areas.

Fishing for bass is a pain because you can't keep anything 12"-17". Those are the best sizes I think, but with no daily limit the under 12 crowd make for easy prey. But then there are Dept. of Health guidelines limiting intake to 2 a week. (mercury) Since you can only keep fish under 12", (I've only seen ones bigger than 17" on TV), you might as well not bother.

I catch at least 1 bass when I head out salmon fishing. After spending a whole day out on the water I have to throw out a spinner or something to feel like I haven't been totally outsmarted by every fish in the darn river.

Spending more than 40 hours a week on the water, I have gotten to know the regulars. The retirees, the migrant workers fishing for meals, the rednecks who fish because they're no good at hunting, the rednecks who fish because they have to kill anything they are legally allowed to, the miscellaneous drinkers, stoners, youngbucks, and after work diehards.

There are a couple of guys other then myself that have to drag the kids along. When I say drag, I mean the kids that are under 5 and unwilling to fish on their own.

My favorite local is an old retiree named Joe. Joe moved to Grandview when he was 15 and hasn't moved anywhere else since. That was 1944. He's shown me the ropes fishing on the Yakima, taking me to other fishing holes and making sure I learned the Washington fishing laws.

There's this kid around 12 named Austin who I see form time to time after he gets out of school. He never has any tackle, usually because "some big salmon just stole my last hook." Never mind that he doesn't have any bait either. So far he owes me a dozen worms and at least a dozen hooks, swivels, and weights. By the way, salmon don't eat worms.

I hook him up because he always goes fishing alone. No friends, no brothers, no dad. I met his dad once. It was about 7:00 pm and I was getting ready to leave. His dad was walking up and down the river grumbling under his breathe and stumbling from time to time. A drunk and a bastard. I hadn't seen Austin all day or all week for that matter.

Tomorrow I will head out with the last roe of the year for me. I have two pounds; $20 worth. If I don't hook one before I run out, I am waiting until spring before I spend one more cent on bait for those darn fish.

I'm getting up early so I'm headed to my pillow now. I'm hoping to hook one before the USC/Notre Dame showdown, which happens the same time the Cards take on the Astros. I love the Tivo, but I don't think Robin will let me record two things at once that she doesn't want to watch while I am gone.

Speaking of baseball, we ordered Fever Pitch on PPV tonight. Really good movie. Hit a little close to home with some of the laughs, especially when Robin laughed at me and not with me.