Northwest Sportsman – August 2019

nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019 Northwest Sportsman 19

THEEDITOR’SNOTE

W

olves, seals, anti-hatchery zealots and smolt losses were all

driving me crazy when I sat down to write this Editor’s Note,

so I decided to focus on something positive instead here.

At a time when our salmon and steelhead runs aren’t as

big as we’d like, when everything fish and wildlife related feels

overwhelmingly negative, I want to give props to two tiny

organizations that are Doing Something Good.

I SPEAK OF the Snohomish Sportsmen’s Club and Sky Valley Anglers,

which teamed up to pull off three Kids Steelhead Days during the

summer run up Western Washington’s famed Skykomish River, as

well as provided loaner gear, lunch, parent seminars and more.

Mark Spada, president of the venerable club, had an inkling that

the events held at the state’s Reiter rearing ponds might turn into

something special.

“I had this idea to try and foster a new generation of steelhead

fishermen. I never see any kids fishing steelhead any more, and

not really any good places to take a kid to catch his first steelhead,”

explained Spada. “I’m hoping this program will encourage young

anglers to engage in this iconic fishery.”

And engage they did, and perhaps none more so than young

Ava Kinder! She not only caught the only steelhead at June’s event

but followed up her success with another at July’s!

Let’s just say that she totally outfished the Brothers Walgamott,

who could only claim to have caught a leaf, two hot dogs and a pair

of plates to put them on, and drinks after attending the inaugural

kids day and listening to their father’s advice about how to fish (I’m,

uhhhh, more comfortable just downstream at Cable Hole ... ?).

“One the coolest parts of the day, besides the kids catching a few

more and the hookups,” Matthew Kennedy of Sky Valley Anglers

told me after the second event, “was that with a little bit smaller of

a crowd we were able to work more one on one with the kids and

actually spend time teaching them and engaging in conversation

with them while teaching.”

Organizers also added a trout pond, which proved to be a hit

the whole way around.

“Nothing but happy kids and parents and lots of smiles and

good memories for the kids,” Kennedy reported.

THERE’S A LOT of impetus out there to just give up, to quit buying

fishing and hunting licenses, to sell the boat, unload all our gear,

post angry or maniacally laughing ha-ha faces on everything fish,

fur and DFW related.

But some folks are staying involved. Kudos to the club and the

valley’s anglers – and everyone else in the Northwest doing similar –

for not giving up on our way of life. Thank you. –Andy Walgamott

Happy anglers – including Ava Kinder, left – mentors, and a young participant

enjoyed Kids Steelhead Days on Washington’s Skykomish River at Reiter Ponds.

(MATTHEW ALEXANDER, LEFT, MIDDLE; ANDY WALGAMOTT, RIGHT)