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Late summer of my 12th year delivered two life changing moments. The first was a brief and thrilling encounter with a mighty chinook salmon, whose massive form ascended the Skykomish river and bit the garden worm I was drifting for trout. The second occurred on the first day school when I witnessed the summer transformation of the girls I'd known since kindergarten. Like a mint bright chinook, the girls were suddenly mysterious and alluring, stunningly beautiful and...
I’ve loved fishing for over 60 years. Just as I’ve evolved as a human, so have the reasons why I enjoy the pursuit so much. In my youngest years, it was the excitement of just hooking and landing a fish. Later, it was successfully applying a growing body of skills and knowledge. More recently, I’ve loved putting others on fish they’ve been previously unable to catch or showing them a little something that will help them become better anglers. The one constant, however...
Fishing is like befriending a large and playful beast, the Disney kind, whose favorite meal is your ego. The problem is our desire to attribute a few good catches to our growing skills and knowledge and, in doing so, bolster our belief that we've finally become the fine anglers we want to be. We even get a little cocky. Then, BAM, our proudly held skills yield nothing but consecutive fishless days, usually with friends in the boat who've all heard our recent success stories. T...
Editors note: Jon Wilson is an avid fisherman, hunter and hiker. His journeys center around the Inland Northwest and the Idaho Panhandle. Spring is a great time to fish for spiny-ray (aka panfish) species in the Inland Northwest. Perch, crappie, smallmouth bass, and walleye awaken each spring as the water reaches and exceeds 50 degrees. Their delicately mild flavor, interesting life cycles, and seasonal habits frequently draw me to Banks Lake, Lake Spokane and Lake Pend...