In which we camped and fished

I feel quite satisfied this evening, having eaten fresh salmon for dinner. Even better, it was salmon which I myself reeled in two days ago. How did I come into these sublime circumstances? I shall now relate that tale.

Kim, Elias, and I embarked on a weekend “camping” and fishing trip to Ft. Stevens State Park this weekend. I say “camping” because we stayed in a yurt, which has electricity and is temperature-controlled and has very nice facilities including showers within easy walking distance. So it is pretty easy in my opinion.

There is of course no need to qualify fishing with quotation marks, because it was full-on fishing. We were fishing the lower Columbia for Salmon, the so-called Buoy-10 fishery. If you have not experienced it, it is hard to describe. You are out in the mouth of the Columbia where the river is miles wide. There are hundreds of small fishing boats swarming around the huge tankers in rough chop. And there are lots of fish. It can be chaotic and action-packed.

I was lucky enough to catch three of the aforementioned fish, two of which were keepers. On Saturday I caught a wild Coho which we then released. Shortly thereafter I caught a hatchery Chinook (about 15, 16, 17, or 18 lbs – the weight eternally increases with my retelling). And then on Sunday I caught a small hatchery Coho (pictured below). My fishing companions had luck as well and in two days we caught seven, with four keepers.

Whilst I was fishing Kimberly and Elias were having fun at camp and out shopping with Grandma. And when we boys came back from fishing there were games, naps, meals, campfires, and s’mores. We got to head down to the beach to let Elias play in the sand. Yes, he ate some sand. And we also visited Battery Russell, part of the old World War 2 era fort.

It was a fun weekend for all. See some pictures below.