You’ll remember that, in recent blog posts, I just spent an excellent week camping at Dungeness on the Olympic Peninsula. When I got home, a friend of mine told me that, because I was over on the Peninsula, he was prompted to search online for websites relating to the Olympic Peninsula. One of the websites he found that he liked the best was info about a man who is a salmon fishing guide, who guides and fishes all over the Olympic Peninsula and has fished worldwide.
I love to eat salmon. But I also know that many salmon runs are endangered (or worse) and that all of us need to pay attention and help where we can.
In addition to that email from that friend of mine, when I got home I found the latest issue of AAA magazine in my mailbox. I sat down that evening to read it and, what do you know, there was an article about exactly the same salmon fishing guide! Here’s the AAA article below … (click to enlarge, most apps will allow you to click on the article a second time and enlarge it even more).
Whether you fish or not, want to fish or not, have absolutely no interest in fishing, or are completely and totally passionate about fishing … whatever your interest is in fishing, Lael Johnson is interesting because of the water and the country he lives in when fishing, because of his love of fishing and the water, because of his professional experience, and because he employs a professional art and thoughtfulness or kindness in the way he fishes.
I have a couple of friends who fly fish, they can’t live without it, and one in particular who is a fanatic about it, who teaches it. When I watch Lael Johnson talk on these videos, he sounds just like those friends of mine … perfectly comfortable with and knowledgeable about the environment, the fish, the equipment, the timing, the weather, the temperature of the water, everything. These folks are professionals who care very much about the fish and the environment.
More and more people are fishing catch-and-release in order to maintain native fish populations and reduce dependence on hatcheries. And yet hatcheries still have their place.
But if you’re fishing an area where you can catch and KEEP a salmon, then, well, you gotta cook it and eat it, right?
Here’s a LINK to an internet webpage that has an audio recording of an interview with Lael Johnson. After the webpage opens, scroll down a bit and click on the orange circle to start the audio recording … be sure to turn your sound on first.
And here is Lael’s Instagram website … https://www.instagram.com/flygyde/. You can see some photos there without an Instagram account, but to see more than that you’ll need to have an account. It’s easy and free to set up an Instagram account.
If fishing isn’t your thing, then I hope that you still enjoyed the scenery and the water in the websites and videos and links above. What a beautiful environment to spend your time in. For a professional like Lael Johnson, it makes “going to the office” pretty darned nice!