You may hear stories about how competitive fishermen are along the southern Oregon coast and how they keep their own little secrets about lures and the best fishing holes, but don't confuse that with their big hearts and their willingness to help each other out when the chips are down.
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| Mike's Trusty Duckworth |
This is just such a story that occurred on Friday November 12th, when Mike Brown, the manager of Turtle Rock RV resort in Gold Beach Oregon, flung his trusty fishing craft out upon the ever-changing currents of the Chetco river along with John Parmen and his wife Carla Riley, in quest of the big one. Well he got the big one alright but not quite the way he had envisioned.
The sun was getting low and the day was about to end when the saga just began. Mike and John cast their eye out through the mist and the twilight at days end when they saw a lone fisherman in a drift boat, he was obviously in distress. That lone boatmen turned out to be Dick Behrens, a local resident of the Brookings area, who had just snagged an enormous salmon. Dick was doing battle. The bad news was that moments earlier Dick had lost his net overboard and now had little hope of landing the monster without some help. Well, help arrived in the form of Mike, John and Carla.
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| Mike Brown & The Big One |
Mike immediately realized that the little drift boat was no match for the Chetco currents and the massive monster towing the drift boat around and that the boat was headed for the rocks. Without hesitation the three in the rugged Duckworth jet boat came to the rescue placing the boat in a position to protect the drift boat from the rocks and help net the aquatic beast beneath.
The battle lasted over a half hour as Mike tried to net the behemoth while John tried to get close enough and keep the boat off the rocks. Finally the beast was close enough to attempt a netting, but as Mike scooped the fish went to the bottom again! A second later the fish came up just off the stern. John yelled for the net and scooped him up! As he brought the thrashing fish aboard, Mike assumed the tiller. Just then the depth warning shrieked in the darkness. The Duckworth slammed into some rocks hurling its occupants to the deck, but nobody gave up. Somewhat shaken but still working hard John clubbed the giant fish as it flopped furiously on the deck. Luckily, the Duckworth is built like a tank and sustained no notable damage. The same cannot be said of the fish who finally met its end.
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| Dick Behrens And His Catch |
The story doesn't end there though. Mike's boat was about to be slam dunked against some rocks again which even a Duckworth could not endure so he nudged the boat forward toward the drift boat and Dick Behrens. Then hit the throttle full on towards Dick’s boat and narrowly missed ramming it.
As darkness surrounded them, both boats made it back to the port of Brookings, Dick was smiling and his 43 pounder had been delivered.
Yes, fishermen are an interesting group; hearty, competitive, independent, but when the chips are down they consider themselves all in the same boat!
