Doug Payne's Surprising King Salmon

I couldn't believe my eyes! On my right, out of the woods, a fisherman emerged carrying around a 20-pound King salmon. A salmon, in the woods!

Where'd he get it? Not from the forest!

I often go around the state researching and taking photographs. I just happened to be walking and talking with my Dad, Doyle Landers, in early June, taking photos in Lewis county for a future story. We were chatting away when we were caught by total surprise. Doug Payne, a Centralia resident, came bounding, breathless, out of the surrounding woods carrying a huge King salmon (the best flavored salmon, as far as I'm concerned).

I think we startled Doug, too, as he trucked to his car with his catch. He was obviously happy over the catch and agreed to share the moment after we chatted about his fishing adventure. Here's the photo of "Doug and His Amazing Fish". Thanks, Doug.

So where did he get it?

The Chehalis River.

I couldn't stop staring at his fish; it was a beautiful thing. I don't want to give away his fishing location (if you fish, you know what I mean), but you know the river now. (See the great fish your Dad caught, Kyle and Jacob?)

I was so excited by Doug's catch I forgot to ask him about his fishing story; alas, I let him get away. He had waders on, so he must have been in the river when he caught the fish. He mentioned it was a hard catch, and the fish played a lot before he could reel him in. He was obviously tired from the fight.

Doug, if you or your sons want to share the fishing story, click on discussions, below, and type away. If not, that's okay, too.

I asked him what would become of that beautiful fish; I imagined it freshly cooked Indian-style over an alder fire on cedar sticks or barbecued on a grill with seasoning salt and lemon. He said it was going in the freezer. They had others to eat first.

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Just a few days before the salmon incident, on another photo journey, I ran into another fisherman fishing on a public pier in a small waterfront town in Washington. She had small flounder which she took out of her bucket so I could photograph them. She didn't want to give her name or have her photo on the internet. (Can't say I blame her.) Here's her fish. It's a bit hard to see, but there are flounder on the pier deck. They were flapping around, but I managed to get a still shot. My week for catching fish with my camera, I guess!

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