Appeal Tribune
| WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022 | 1B
OUTDOORS
‘Social
Security
Hole’
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
INDEPENDENCE – The longtime regulars at the Emil
Marx-Lloyd Strange Fishing Hole catch more lies and tall
tales than salmon or steelhead these days. h But that
doesn’t keep them from coming back to the popular Polk
County park on the Willamette River that has been dubbed
the “Social Security Hole” because of the demographic of
most of the anglers who fish there. h Gene O’Day of Inde-
pendence, long-retired after 30 years as a construction
drywall installer, has more than six decades of fishing at
the site under his belt and is the senior member of the
loose angling fraternity.
“I have caught more fish here than any man
breathing, and that’s a fact,” he said, adding about
the days of 40-fish annual limits, “I can remember
back in the ‘60s there was a 40-punch tag on
salmon and steelhead, and they’d get 40 fish right
here.”
His fishing buddy, Leon Kitchin of Dallas, a re-
tired corrections officer at the state penitentiary in
Salem, has fished at the Social Security Hole for
more than 40 years.
The pair was closing out the last week of April
on an overcast, misty, cool day sitting in the cab of
Kitchin’s Toyota Tundra pickup parked facing the
row of stout salmon rods in holders, each sporting
a large bell to indicate a strike.
There’s a lot to like about the view with the wide
Willamette gliding by and a large rookery of herons
setting up shop and making their presence known
in the trees on the opposite bank.
“Most of us who come out here that are retired
come out to do what we’re doing right now,” O’Day
said. “Just to kill some time and do a little BS’ing,
and if we catch a fish it’s just a bonus.”
On this day, it was strictly social for Kitchin.
“Just the BS,” he grinned. “I’ve got a pole back
there, but I haven’t put it in the water.”
GETTY IMAGES
Regulars
catch more
lies and tall
tales than fish
See MILLER, Page 2B
Top: River views and picnic tables compliment the fishing for salmon, steelhead
and bass. Below: Gene O’Day, left, and Leon Kitchen check out the view while
fishing at the the Emil Marx-Lloyd Strange Fishing Hole near Independence.
PHOTOS BY HENRY MILLER / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL