Marty's Drift July 2000

The Martha Stewart Connection

When you have been involved in the sport fishing industry for over 20 years, curious and interesting things sometimes happen. Last fall I was contacted by Dennis Burkhardt of Encounter Video Productions. Dennis films segments for the Martha Stewart Living Show. To tie in to a program where Martha planned to prepare a salmon they wanted to film some sport salmon fishing. Would I be interested in helping with this project? My reply was, "Sure, that sounds like fun."

My only concern was that I'm not a very good salmon fisherman. In fact, I'm lucky to ever catch anything. To overcome my inability to catch fish I enlisted the help of a couple friends. Bob Rees is a full time fishing guide (503) 842-8249. He lives in Tillamook and I have fished for salmon and steelhead with him several times. In late April spring Chinook were running strong in the Willamette River. We knew that many would be coming up the Clackamas too. So we planned a day-long float on the lower Clackamas. Naturally, because we had cameras ready the fish were uncooperative. We didn't have a single hit all day.

Dennis' schedule had him out of the country until mid-May so it was May 25th before we could do a follow-up trip. Brent Ritchie had bought a new ClackaCraft earlier this year and we had been out fishing a couple times. Brent had also been doing well on the Sandy River, catching both summer-run steelhead and spring Chinook. He said he would enjoy rowing the boat for the filming so off we went.

It was getting to be late in the afternoon and I was beginning to have my doubts that we would ever catch a fish when it happened. We had two rods fishing. One had a bait diver with eggs and sand shrimp; the other had a metallic green plug. The bait diver hit a snag and got hung up. As I reached for it to get it free, a fish hit the plug. Of course chaos struck, but in the end we landed the fish (a 19 pound spring Chinook), untangled the hung up line and got enough video of playing and landing the fish to complete the segment. The fishing segment aired on July 4th. I must add that Martha's recipe for the steamed peas and salmon looked delicious. I'm going to get a bamboo steamer and give it a try. That is if I ever catch another salmon.

Two weeks later Brent and I were back on the Sandy. Along with us were my wife, Joyce and one of her business associates, Somphong, from Thailand. Somphong owns the printing company that prints many of the books that Joyce produces. He has seen many photos of fish and fishing in this country and he wanted to try it.

It was a perfect day for fishing, not too hot and overcast all day long. Somphong wanted to try fly fishing so we spent a good portion of the day doing that. However, it was the bait diver that worked on this trip. Another nice spring Chinook hit on Brent's rod. Joyce was in Brent's boat so she got to row out of the current, anchor and net the fish. A little later Somphong caught a small Chinook jack. Everyone had a great time.

Drift boats are a great way to enjoy our rivers. They are clean and they are quiet and ClackaCrafts are the easiest, best handling drift boats made.

The Enviro Anchor

Have you ever been concerned about lead from your anchor contaminating the water? Personally I doubt that it is a factor, but if this is a concern of yours we have an answer: our steel anchor. We weld up a steel cylinder that can be filled with lead shot. That way the lead is completely contained. No more contamination worries. If you need an anchor shipped, the steel anchor is a money saver; it only weighs 12 pounds as compared to a 30-pound lead anchor. I've been using our steel anchor since last October and I've been completely satisfied with its performance.

We stock the steel anchor at both our Clackamas, Oregon and at our Idaho Falls, Idaho stores. If I can help with your drift boat purchase, stop by the shop on Highway 212 in Clackamas, or call me at:

Give Marty a call at: (503) 655-9532

You can also call Idaho Falls at (800) 394-1345.