Fish on! Bring those tourist $$$
Published on Thu, Aug 5, 2010 by John OwenRead More Owen at Large
Have you ever discovered a Japanese fishing float on a Washington beach?
Do you know any friends or relatives who have discovered glass balls on the beach? Neither have I.
Ergo there are no authentic glass balls on the beach, tourist propaganda notwithstanding.
The Japanese likely use factory-second Purex bottles imported from San Pedro to hold up their fishing nets, because that's what you will often discovered buried in piles of driftwood from Dungeness to the Devil's Punchbowl.
Postcards peddled at the souvenir shops showing great gobs of glass balls represent trick photography like fur-bearing trout from Montana or Jackalopes from South Dakota.
Yet Glass Ball celebrations in communities like Moclips and Pacific Beach represented a growth industry until tourists finally discovered there are no fishing floats from Japan.
To fill this promotional void, tourist meccas began to order colorful balls from local glass artists, to be hidden in driftwood piles or along tidal coves.
Tourists lured to such festivals not only got to keep the balls, sometimes prizes or cash awards were also offered.
I was thinking about this one recent morning when I wandered out onto the Edmonds fishing pier where a dozen or more anglers were plunking plugs into the water in the hope they might hook onto a king salmon.
But are king salmon actually caught off the Edmonds pier? Or is that also a myth?
I think I may have seen one or two smaller silvers resting in cleaning sinks along the pier over a period of years. Yet hope seems to run high for the men, women, boys and girls who stand patiently waiting for the "Big Hit" even though few of them seem equipped with landing nets, an essential bit of equipment if you hope to haul a lunker 10 feet or more from water to the wooden deck.
Searching the web I came upon vague reference to "a couple of salmon" caught off the Edmonds Pier this past June and July.
Last year another blogger noted that on August 3 he saw a king salmon weighing an estimated 16 to 18 pounds hauled up onto the pier.
Still, it seems like a long wait between strikes and I wouldn't suggest that the city sponsor an Edmonds Pier Salmon Festival without some creative planning.
I'd suggest promoters learn from the people who plan and execute the revised glass ball festivals.
In our situation I'd suggest that we occasionally hire a scuba diver to swim slowly under the Edmonds Fishing Pier with a live King salmon in tow.
Unseen, the invisible diver would affix the fish to one of the hooks launched from the pier.
And two or three times a day the cry of "Fish On!" would electrify the crowd of anglers and spectators.
Are you offended that a newspaper columnist would suggest something that is illegal and probably immoral?
OK, so could I sell you a stuffed Jackalope or maybe an authentic Montana, fur-bearing trout?
Do you know any friends or relatives who have discovered glass balls on the beach? Neither have I.
Ergo there are no authentic glass balls on the beach, tourist propaganda notwithstanding.
The Japanese likely use factory-second Purex bottles imported from San Pedro to hold up their fishing nets, because that's what you will often discovered buried in piles of driftwood from Dungeness to the Devil's Punchbowl.
Postcards peddled at the souvenir shops showing great gobs of glass balls represent trick photography like fur-bearing trout from Montana or Jackalopes from South Dakota.
Yet Glass Ball celebrations in communities like Moclips and Pacific Beach represented a growth industry until tourists finally discovered there are no fishing floats from Japan.
To fill this promotional void, tourist meccas began to order colorful balls from local glass artists, to be hidden in driftwood piles or along tidal coves.
Tourists lured to such festivals not only got to keep the balls, sometimes prizes or cash awards were also offered.
I was thinking about this one recent morning when I wandered out onto the Edmonds fishing pier where a dozen or more anglers were plunking plugs into the water in the hope they might hook onto a king salmon.
But are king salmon actually caught off the Edmonds pier? Or is that also a myth?
I think I may have seen one or two smaller silvers resting in cleaning sinks along the pier over a period of years. Yet hope seems to run high for the men, women, boys and girls who stand patiently waiting for the "Big Hit" even though few of them seem equipped with landing nets, an essential bit of equipment if you hope to haul a lunker 10 feet or more from water to the wooden deck.
Searching the web I came upon vague reference to "a couple of salmon" caught off the Edmonds Pier this past June and July.
Last year another blogger noted that on August 3 he saw a king salmon weighing an estimated 16 to 18 pounds hauled up onto the pier.
Still, it seems like a long wait between strikes and I wouldn't suggest that the city sponsor an Edmonds Pier Salmon Festival without some creative planning.
I'd suggest promoters learn from the people who plan and execute the revised glass ball festivals.
In our situation I'd suggest that we occasionally hire a scuba diver to swim slowly under the Edmonds Fishing Pier with a live King salmon in tow.
Unseen, the invisible diver would affix the fish to one of the hooks launched from the pier.
And two or three times a day the cry of "Fish On!" would electrify the crowd of anglers and spectators.
Are you offended that a newspaper columnist would suggest something that is illegal and probably immoral?
OK, so could I sell you a stuffed Jackalope or maybe an authentic Montana, fur-bearing trout?