Campbell River is reverberating with the news that someone caught a 61.5-pound chinook salmon in the Tyee Club of British Columbia's annual tournament Sunday night.
It was the first salmon of that size to be recorded in the Tyee Club in over 30 years.
The angler? Mike Gage, a retired logger who has devoted his golden years trying to repair some of the mistakes of his industry and other industries in the past.
The rower? Mike's son Richard, who has obviously learned a thing or two from his dad, who is a longtime rower and guide in the annual tournament.
Mike was instrumental in starting the Campbell River Salmon Foundation and in using funds from that to bettering the spawning and rearing conditions in the Campbell River.
Not only that but Gage also used his influence and that of the CRSF to improve habitat on several river systems within the Campbell River area.
Sunday night those efforts paid off.
Mike and his son landed the fish at 8 p.m. on a plug, probably one of the 1,230,897 plugs Mike has in his collection.
Mike is estimated to be between 18 and 165 years old, depending on his mood.
