SPRINGER TRAINING

There were three of us in the boat—my fishing buddy Jarod Higginbotham, my father and me. We were anchored high on a riffle, fishing a bend in the river for spring chinooks. Salmon were rolling low in the hole, but we struggled to reach them.

“You guys back the divers down as far as you can, I’m going to toss out a glob of eggs on a float rod,” said Jarod.

The tributary to the Columbia River we fished was clear, and rather than drop the drift boat down and risk spooking fish, dad and I let our divers and baits run farther out while Jarod cast eggs dangling beneath a big float. His bobber splashed water we’d not been able to reach and was carried into the