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Veterans, widows and children learn to catch
big ish in Cathlamet salmon derby Aug. 30
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Tour six homes in Manzanita during a home tour Aug. 27.
Manzanita Tour of
Homes set for Aug. 27
MANZANITA — Tour six
different homes during
the 21st annual Manzanita
Tour of Homes. The event,
sponsored by the Women’s
Club of Manzanita, North
Tillamook County, will take
place Saturday, Aug. 27.
Homes will be open from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tickets cost $10 each and
include a map of the home
locations.
They are available on the
day of the event only start-
ing at 8:30 a.m. Look for
the ticket booth outside at
Howell’s Square, located at
the corner of Laneda Avenue
and Third Street.
The Women’s Club’s
fundraising efforts support
the group’s goal of “Women
helping women of all ages
and circumstance to make
their lives, families and
community stronger.” Pro-
ceeds support local organi-
zations that help women and
children in need.
For more information,
call 503-368-7279.
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CATHLAMET, Wash. — Just
how big is a Chinook
salmon? How do you catch
one, and what do you use
to catch it? Those questions
may echo across the lower
Columbia River during the
second annual Warriors and
Widows Salmon Derby.
Most of the derby partic-
ipants are from other parts
of the U.S. and have never
seen, much less caught,
a big ish like a Chinook
salmon.
The special event, held
Aug. 29 and 30 at the
Elochoman Slough Marina
in Cathlamet, is for soldiers
who served in Afghanistan
and Iraq and are now in the
Warrior Transition Battalion
at Madigan Army Medical
Center at the Joint Base
Lewis-McChord near Taco-
ma, Washington. Wives and
children of soldiers who
were killed in the Middle
East will also participate in
the derby.
“This year we expect
56 salmon derby partici-
pants, dozens of boats and
community volunteers to
be involved in the two-day
event,” said Bob Roche,
derby coordinator.
Event sponsor and vol-
unteer Jeff Mason is used to
providing ishing experienc-
es to military personnel; his
nonproit Fish’n Trips For
Heroes offers free salmon
or steelhead ishing trips
for veterans in southwest
Washington. “While there
are programs like mine that
take individual soldiers ish-
ing — usually one or two at
a time — to our knowledge
Cathlamet, Washington, is
the only community in the
nation that has organized
a large-scale salmon derby
speciically for warriors and
widows and really engaged
the community in the
event,” Mason said.
Twenty-seven local
anglers will provide their
boats, equipment and
expertise to help the war-
riors, widows and children
succeed in catching a
salmon. Just as participants
compete for prizes, there is
also a friendly competition
among boat captains and
anglers — they’re already
polishing their lures and
closely guarding informa-
tion on where they’ll cast
their lines.
As derby participants
climb aboard boats in the
early morning, they may
mutter that anglers are cra-
zy to get up so early just to
go ishing. But soon they’ll
learn what local ishermen
know: the importance of
ishing the tides on the
lower Columbia. And if
they catch one of the big
Chinooks, they too will be
hooked on ishing — even
at dawn.
The boats will return
to the marina in the late
morning; all ish must be
weighed by 1 p.m. Then
follows pictures, catch
cleaning and bragging
rights. Participants will
be treated to a salmon and
oyster barbecue prepared by
volunteers. A 3 p.m. awards
ceremony will present priz-
es to the derby participants
before they return to the
joint base.
A new dimension to this
year’s Warriors and Widows
Salmon Derby involves
two southwest Washington
residents, John Doumit and
Bud Mickelsen. Several
years ago, the two teamed
up to teach Wahkiakum
High School students the art
and skill of building ishing
rods. Mickelsen had been
building rods as a hobby for
60 years, and Doumit was
the vocational agriculture
teacher.
“The class just took off,”
Doumit recalled. “Within
10 minutes I knew we had a
winner on our hands.”
The two went on to teach
others, and last year’s salm-
on derby got them thinking
about taking their rod build-
ing experience to a new
level: What if soldiers and
veterans learned to build
rods, taught other soldiers
and veterans, and became
interested in ishing?
In March, Doumit, Mick-
elsen and other local rod
craftsmen taught a ishing
rod therapy class to several
veterans from Joint Base
Lewis-McChord and mili-
tary family members, and
the classes have continued.
About 25 to 30 ishing rods
have been completed, and
more are on their way.
“We have ive active
instructors and a permanent
classroom that is near the
joint base,” Mason said.
“The ishing rod therapy
classes began in Cathlamet,
where it seems to be part
of the community DNA to
build and create something
good. Now that DNA is be-
ing replicated in other parts
of the state and beneiting
soldiers, veterans and their
families.”
One student in the March
class, 13-year-old Brian
Trujillo, lost his father, Spc.
Ryan Adriaansen, in 2014.
Trujillo has taken up build-
ing ishing rods and will
attend this year’s derby as
a participant and volunteer
with his mother, Catherine
Trujillo-Adriaansen, who
is president of the Tahoma
Chapter of the Gold Star
Wives of America.
Trujillo and other vol-
unteers will demonstrate
ishing rod building during
the Warrior and Widows
Salmon Derby. The pub-
lic is invited to attend the
demonstrations, which will
be held from 10 a.m. to
noon Aug. 30 at the Elocho-
man Slough Marina.
The salmon derby is
sponsored by Veterans of
Foreign Wars Post 5297
and its auxiliary, American
Legion Post 111, and Fish’n
Trips For Heroes.
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