I was a member of the Steelheaders group for just a few months
when a Shad Fishing Tournament was announced. We were to
meet at the Albany Hyak Park, transport the boat owners to
Corvallis boat landing when they showed up with their vehicles
and boat trailers. They left their boats at the Corvallis landing.
When we got to the Corvallis landing, the fun began. I was
told to just use a hook, worm, and 3 small split shot weights on
my line. I was sitting on a boat cushion which was on a hard
bench. Now this was my first tournament and I didn’t know
what I was getting into. We started to catch shad and then
halfway through the drift trip, I was told to change to a boat
seat on my right. I did this and a little later, felt and saw my
line do two long pulls to the river. I exclaimed that it must
be a sturgeon, carp, or sucker fish on my line. It turned out
that I was the sucker! It was the guy behind me that was doing
the rowing and he was pulling my line. Well, I felt real smug
when I finally reached Hyak Park, counted my catch, and
found out that I won second place in the tournament. As a
Steelheader told me earlier, there wasn’t enough women in
the group and so he was picking on me. As I won that contest,
I think that should teach him not to pick on women!
by Ellen Compton : Tuesday 19 September, 2000
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