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DNS FOG Temp: 32 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Saturday, November 30, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend October 27, 2002 Salmon was an extraordinary catch for under-gunned fisher By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune When Grant Martinsen gently guided the fall chinook salmon into fellow fly-fisher Binky Castleberry’s net Monday on the lower Rogue River, he pondered whether to take his fly out and let his fish go free. But a quick look at its bright skin revealed that the large male salmon — Martinsen figured it weighed maybe 50 pounds — would be perfect for the barbecue. Then Castleberry took a few measurements and told Martinsen to forego the grill. "I said, ‘Get that baby down to town,’ because I knew he had something special there," Castleberry said. Martinsen obliged, and now the salmon that could have fed half a football team instead will go down in angling history as the heaviest chinook ever caught on a fly. Martinsen’s chinook weighed 71½ pounds, a full 8½ pounds more than the all-time record for fly-fishers, catapulting the fish into the world’s angling spotlight and dragging the sheepish Martinsen right along with it. "Golly, this is all quite a bit more than I expected," said Martinsen, a retired biology teacher and Grants Pass High School football coach. "I just thought it would be a good eater. Now, I think it’s best to share this fish with the people by letting everyone see it." Once the International Game Fish Association certifies Martinsen’s record catch, the salmon will be mounted and displayed in the Rogue Outdoor Store at the Rogue mouth in Gold Beach. It also will mark the end to a fish story that not only is extraordinary but improbable. A longtime fly-fisher of trout and steelhead but a rookie at salmon, Martinsen drove to the lower Rogue Monday morning for a day of fishing only because a hunting partner was too sick to hunt Eastern Oregon chukars as planned that day. So he launched his small pram at Clay Banks, a popular fly-fishing hole three miles upstream of Gold Beach, in hopes of catching coho salmon. Since the cohos generally weigh up to 15 pounds, Martinsen used an 8-weight rod, 7½ -pound leader, small flies and a net commensurate for cohos. But he saw a few large and bright-looking chinook jump. Figuring a fresh school of chinook had just swum into the hole, Martinsen tied on a chinook fly and started casting for the bigger fish. Ten minutes later, he felt a strike. "It rattled my rod and shook its head," he said. "I thought, ‘This is a good fish.’ " Martinsen pulled his two small anchors in the boat and let the fish tow him around. Then the chinook breached more like a whale than a salmon. "He jumped halfway out of the water with his face pointed toward me," Martinsen said. "You see something like that and it scares you." It also drew the attention of Castleberry, a retired teacher from Santa Rosa, Calif., who was fishing nearby. Castleberry noticed Martinsen’s small rod, light leader and undersized net and knew Martinsen was suffering from the fly-angling equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight. "He was under-gunned," said Castleberry, 64. "Way under-gunned." But the salmon just lumbered around the hole, as if it were already too tired from a long swim upstream that day, Martinsen said. The fish never sped off in the long, powerful runs that make chinook the Northwest’s toughest tussle with a fly rod. "That fish was like a 400-pound guy trying to run a mile," Castleberry said. "He just didn’t have the energy." After about 30 minutes, the salmon started swimming casually atop the surface. Castleberry rowed near the fish, then dipped his oversized net into the Rogue. "The thing just swam right in, face-first, and kept on swimming until just its tail was sticking out," Castleberry said. The pair dragged the fish to the bank, and Martinsen sat stunned at his catch. First, he considered releasing the salmon, Martinsen said, but it looked fresh enough to eat. "All I was going to do was take it home and steak it up," he said. But Castleberry sensed something special, telling Martinsen to leave the fly and leader attached and speed to town so the fish could be weighed. In Gold Beach, tackle shop owner Jim Carey snapped some photos. The fish was officially weighed and then Martinsen drove home to Grants Pass after leaving the fish in Carey’s hands without knowing he had set a record. Tuesday morning, Martinsen went to the Snake River to hunt chukars. The record leader and fly laid balled-up in his pickup’s ashtray, and the salmon exploits of Monday were just a memory. "It was like a quick dream," he said. "I didn’t come back to reality until I got on the chukar hills." The angling world started to take notice of Martinsen’s feat, even though he didn’t. By Thursday, the news of his pending world record was publicized. A man hiked to the cabin where Martinsen was staying, then told him that he and his fish were front-page news. "I couldn’t believe it," Martinsen said. "It, apparently, just snowballed on its own." Martinsen said he will fill out the required paperwork and submit his catch this week to the IGFA in Florida for certification. Castleberry said he still can’t believe Martinsen could catch such a huge fish with such light gear. "A million things could have gone wrong," Castleberry said. "But everything went right. It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S