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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1979)
1 Section SANDY OREGON, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1979 The Sflndy Post Sports and Recreation ... f '.S i % > : £ * '• A . vffS -S i - — ► <M | «apar» ■ »CW» • __ x5 4 • . X w Æ • . _ ■ » » < * » *• - A - • r**>J '«r’» I-«*’ ■ \> „ i t » i ^ K L u w A > - Farming water can be a fishy business by St E lz\E KV (»ary Brian is a farmer Unlike many farmers, Brian doesn t bold his breath whrn the winter freezes come, or pray for rain during the long hot summer Brian raises rainhow trout His farm , located southeast of Sandy the Dover area, is naturally equipped with the most important ingredient for a successful harvest water and plenty of it ••If you have water, that's a good start for this business, said Brian, who has both a 300 foot well and a spring on his property “ And, of course, you need the water rights What started out as a backyard hobby for Brian's fattier has turned into a thriving full time business for his son Brian's Trout Ranch is the largest and oldest in < »regon. supplying more than 1 m illion trout annually to businesses and ponds as far as 330 miles aw ay Brian manages five acres of ponds on the fam ily's 40 acres of land adjacent to Publishers Paper forest near the North Fork of Eagle ( reek “ We're going to put more ponds up the canyon next week or the week after. Brian said We still can't raise enough, tie noted “ This is one industry that needs competition It's Just like if there was only one strawberry grower around Brian graduated from Jesuit High School and earned a degree in business and marketing from Portland State University lie learned about trout from reading the few books available on the subject and working with his father, laiwson Garrett Brian II, who started raising trout as a part time business in 1958 Brian s parents still live in the white house overlooking what was once their private fishing pond The yoinger Brian lives on Wildcat Mountain Drive with his wife Susan and 7 week old hi daughter Kelly B rian worked as a sales re presentative for Kraft Hoods before entering the business full time in 1970 " I decided to gamble,' he said. “ So far it ’s been fun Brian beats nature's odds during the November to March hatching season Rainbow trout eggs in river gravel beds have around a two percent chance of becoming fingerlings • We shoot fo r a 95 percent hatch,” said Brian “ It's almost the complete reverse of what it's like in streams ” nearby Eagle Creek It was December, and Brian hud 600 brood fish ready to strip of eggs “ Two days later they were gone, said Brian, shaking his head. They come in here five, six... seven at a tim e.“ he added "Each otter eats from 5-7 pounds of fish per day They'll eat until they’re full and,then k ill for sport The farm 's busiest season lasts from March to September, when most of the deliveries are made in oxygen fed tanks loaded ,n the back of Brian's pick up “ It's a rare occasion when we lose ‘I occasionally even go fishing on the Deschutes. A lot of people can’t believe I do that.” - - Gary Brian Every six weeks a semi truck full of commercial fish feed arrives at the farm The rainbow trout go through 150 pounds of feed a day in the summer, but their appetites drop off in the winter “ The colder the water, thv lower the metabolism." A handful of feed brings hundreds of shimmering fish to the water ssurface “ They'd probably bite a bare hook." observed Brian The trout also have a tendency to bite each other. “ They’re p re tty cannibalistic," said Brian, who keeps each hatch in a separate pond. Brian also works to protect the fish from natural predators like otters, water snakes, heron and an occasional kingfisher Brian remembers when the first otters came three years ago from even one fish." said Brian, who usually takes charge of deliveries Access to custom er ponds is sometimes difficult, so Brian brings a bucket just in case "That takes quite awhile and the fish try to jump out During the winter months Brian can lie found stripping his 1.200 brood fish of their eggs The best eggs, he said, come from fish three to five years old Brian counts on 1 .(M X) fingerlings for every brood fish “ That's a conservative estimate.” The eggs first float in baskets, and Brian handles the tedious task of picking out the bad eggs with tweezers “ Otherwise, the yolk sac w ill break, said Brian, adding that bad eggs contaminate the others It takes a week to 10 days for the eyes to form, a critica l time in the egg development The eggs are protected from light and movement. “ Even bumping the trough — just the shock could kill every one of them “ When the eggs hatch, the young trout eat their sac Then Brian makes sure the fish are fed 24 times a day — with an automatic feeding system which keeps Brian fronrhaving to come out once an hour w hen the fish are young As the fish grow - “ about one inch a month“ Brian reduces feeding time to twice a day. Brian sells his fish live, and charges by the pound and distance of delivery A typical cast for 1.000 nine-meh fish is $700, he said Brian usually estimates numbers by weighing instead of counting, and is usually close to what the customer ordered “ We'd be down there a week counting," he noted • W e put in a few extra in case we lose a few on the w ay over ' He remembers one rancher who ordered 2.500 nine-inch trout “ It was way out in the boomes He kept moving the planks as I went across the bridge The rancher wanted Brian to count the fish before the deal was completed. “ So I made him a deal I ’d give him the whole load for nothing if the count was under He'd have to pay $2 a fish for each one over " The man was embarassed when he had to fork over $50 to Brian w hen the count was finished Brian had the last laugh on the way home. "It's fair, I suppose, to question someone But he'» never done it since. He takes my word for it.' W hen Brian isn't working on the tra it farm, he manages some nursery stock He takes time off to go hunting w hen the season is right “ 1 occasionally even go fishing on the Deschutes," he said and laughed “ A lot of people can't believe I do t hat « J* £ 5T Photo« by Mark Floyd Ghosts of last season return to haunt hoopers and reveal some of the points a few individuals might need to work on The Sandy High summer basketball team is no exception Its m»*t recent game was 59 45 loss to Marshall High School, a game which contained some positive a ttrib u te s but some disturbing likenesses to last year’s by M U tK E IO Y h problems Suninwr btishH twill <*«tn b<* liKcnpd Sandy started off well against to the traditional garbage time at the Marshall, using some crisp passe» end of regular season games there and a lot of movement away from the are a lot of fouls, a lot of ball control Kill I Mike Kiley drove the lane for the violations and some of the most game's opening bucket, I«ee Godfrey unusual shots a coach would hope not hit a 20 foot jumper and then Riley to see found Godfrey and Kent Reick But summer basketball is also underneath with a pair of picture revealing Despite a somewhat perfect paste» to give the Pioneers an undisciplined nature, the summer league held at Columbia High S< hnnl H 5 lead in the early going So much lot the good I be Sandy should i»c very beneficial to attack came to a rapid stall after that participating conches It can help point, as Marshall aw<Ae from its point out general areas of strength slumber and some ghosts from and weaknesses a team might have Ibis Is the first In a series of three articles dealing with Sandy High school's summer teams. Articles on the Pioneer baseball team and girls basketball team will appear In upcoming issues of The Post. Sandy's past ar<*e to haunt them One of those ghosts was foul trouble Time after tim e the* Pioneers let their aggressiveness get out of control and committed blatant fouls In fact, several times Sandy players had to be warned by the referees to control their play With the fa ils came a steady stream to the free throw line Luckily, the Marshall players were no Rick Barry» from the charity stripe or the final margin might have been greater The second ghost arose as Sandy was forced to play catch up basketball The Pioneer» tried to break downcourt at every oppor tunity. but often as not, it was a post man that decided to bring the hall aeries the midcourt line Sandy *as hampered against Marshall by Ihv absence of Rick Martin, who may inherit the point guard position next winter Much of Sandy’» ragged play offensively shaild be eliminated by Martin, a good ball control guard, while the rest could be attributed to the very nature of summer basketball The final problem to haunt the Pioneers was a throwback to nearly every league game in which Sandy played last season giving up to open shot Marshall scored 30 of its 59 points on w ide open shots from aitside of to feet The Pioneers choked off the inside attack, but gave up too much on the outside in doing so Several other points were given up w hen a Pioneer defensive player tried to recover from heing out of position and committed a fa il Marshall scored 13 points from the free throw line. Although Marshall went on to control the second half of the game. some bright spots began to re-emerge for the Pioneers One of the brightest was the steady play of Mike Riley, the Moot-3 forward center who was Sandy s leading scorer last season Riley scored 11 points and swept down a number of rebounds More important, he played a consistent defensive game and screened out well Another pleasant surprise was the outside shooting touch displayed by Scott Weninger Outside shooting has been a thorn in Sandy's side for a couple of seasons, but the Pioneers appear to have a p otentially dangerous outside attack Weninger hit three shots from outside the 18 foot mark Godfrey is gaming confidence in his shot and the return of Martin, who is a better than average shooter, should give Sandy the shot in the arm it needs Another bright spot may be the emergence of Kent Reick as a swing man Reick. who can handle either the small forward or the big guard position, displayed surprising inside quickness and rebounding ability Overall, the Pioneer team is packed with potential It has four or five 6-3 post men. although no dominating man in the middle The Pioneers appear to be getting stronger in the backcourt with M artin and Weninger- —Allan lx)we should also contribute when recovered from an injury And Riley is a potential all league post man The basic problems confronting Sandy appear to be defensing the outside shot, maintaining discipline and eliminating the silly fouls that have plagued it for the past two seasons 1
