Northwest Wild Country Radio Station

I’m going to find the biggest cliff face in the Cascades, put hammer to chisel, and pound-pound-pound-pound away like John Henry until my vision towers above me for the entire world to see.

After I’ve cleared all the rubble from the mountainside and brought my granite vision to life, the fishers and hunters of the Pacific Northwest will have a monument unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

West of Keystone, South Dakota, anyway.

My vision, you see, is of 60-foot sculptures of the illuminati of Pacific Northwest outdoors. Four faces from the illustrious fishing and hunting past of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska, carved into the heart of the Cascades, a permanent reminder of the pioneers of the hook, the bullet and the bowstring.

A fishing and hunting version of Mount Rushmore.

A Mount Fishmore, if you will.

Looking back while looking ahead: History is a screamingly unpopular subject these days. My 13-year-old tells me that every day. But in a sport as ancient and basic as fishing, are we ever far removed from the past?

I don’t think so.

Despite 62 million-modulus graphite rods, Dartainium drags and fluorocarbon line, when it all comes down to it, I’m no different than the ghosts of the 1850s with their horse-hair lines, catgut leaders and brass bird-cage reels: I’m just a dude, standing in a river, trying to catch a fish.

And the Pacific Northwest is covered with the footprints of the past, made by hundreds (if not thousands!) of difference-makers who have positively influenced our beloved sports. There are Halls of Fame and history books and faded magazines & newspapers, loaded with the names and pictures of great hunters and anglers … yet, as a society, we seem to fade further and further away from the past as each day goes by.

Hence, my vision.

It’s my wish that anglers of today, tomorrow, next week, next year and next generation understand and appreciate where we came from. It’s my sincere desire that, 30 years from now, people can gaze upon the four faces of Mount Fishmore and say: “Oh, yeah, THAT guy! I remember him. I remember what he did for me, and for the steelhead, and for the blacktail, and for the sturgeon. THAT guy belongs up there on that mountain!”

The four faces: Here’s where my vision falls short: I have no idea which four faces should adorn Mount Fishmore. How do I choose the likenesses that my chisel will create? Is it really reasonable to name just four people who were THE MOST INFLUENTIAL OUTDOORSMEN in the history of the Pacific Northwest?

Of course it’s not. It’s unreasonable, bordering on ludicrous.

But I’m going to do it, dammit. I’m going to identify the fishing and hunting Washington, Adams, Roosevelt and Lincoln, and I’m going to celebrate their achievements, just as Mount Rushmore celebrates our four greatest presidents.

But, I wouldn’t mind a little help. There are a whole lot of names to consider, and this sort of thing isn’t a one-man task.

So how about it?

Some of the names …

nWill Mount Fishmore include a cowboy hat? My friendship with BUZZ RAMSEY notwithstanding, I can’t imagine a Pacific Northwest fishing monument without one of the greatest anglers/innovators/promoters/ambassadors/conservationists/icons in West Coast history. “Icon” and “monument” aren’t that far apart in my dictionary.

Glen Wooldridge nDo I have to make room for boats on Mount Fishmore? If ever the words "pioneer" and "boat builder" are uttered in the same sentence, the name GLEN WOOLDRIDGE should immediately follow.

nWhere would we be without the tackle innovators of the Northwest? The Great Fishmore Debate MUST include rod-wizard/CCA bulldog GARY LOOMIS, float/jig master PAUL BEAUPRE, “The Eggman”, OK WILLIAMS of Pautzke Bait Co., and LUHR JENSEN, SR.

nGo out onto virtually any river in the Pacific Northwest, and you'll see the influence of a humble, gracious gentleman who most of you have never heard of: DICK STALLMAN, inventor of the outdboard jet motor.

nHistory will shine favorably on many, many Northwest guides and outfitters, but southwest Washington legends CLANCY HOLT and CORKY SMITH are easily at the front of the line for Fishmore consideration. Come to think of it, they’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder-to-shoulder with IRA YEAGER, the north Puget Sound guide who held the very first steelhead-guide license in Washington and who was instrumental in the development of the boondogging technique on the Skagit River.

nWhile we’re on the subject of legendary guides, how about some love for DENNY HANNAH? And Canadian steelhead Yoda NOEL GYGER. And Columbia River walleye guru ED IMAN.

Haig-Brown nI wonder if I can find a Cascades cliff face with a printing press, keyboard and typewriter nearby. I’m pretty sure that Canadian scribe RODERICK HAIG-BROWN and Portland publisher FRANK AMATO will be popular write-in (get it, get it … write-in?) Fishmore candidates. They'll have to make room for BILL FARDEN, creator of F&H News, too.

nWhile we’re in that neighborhood, how influential/important were the works of MILT KEIZER, BILL LUCH, FRANCIS AMES, KEN McLEOD, ENOS BRADNER, BOB MOTTRAM and JIM CONWAY?

nThey say that the West was built on legends. Is there anyone, really, more legandary than WILLIE ILLINGWORTH?

nMany Northwest anglers have no idea who JOE BROOKS was. Go do a little Google work and you’ll find out in a hurry that he was easily one of the most influential saltwater fly anglers in the country, and one helluva steelheader. Little known fact: Brooks once owned the world record for largest striper caught on a fly ... out of COOS BAY.

nI should probably build a whole 'nother monument to honor our most revered fish advocates and conservationists. Where do BILL McMILLAN and WALT McGOVERN belong in this debate? Maybe up on Mount Fishmore.

nA biologist probably won’t be a sexy choice, but FRANK HAW’S creation of the Puget Sound blackmouth fishery has to go down as one of the most significant contributions in modern fishing history. Significant enough for a spot on Fishmore? Maybe.

nResource managers won't be universally popular choices, but I dare you to deny JIM MARTIN'S contributions to Oregon fisheries.

nHow many local legends are there out there? And, more importantly, do they deserve consideration, too? Does JIM ERICKSON’s face belong in one of the four Fishmore spots on the strength of his work on Oregon’s North Coast? If so, where does ERMIE WALTER belong? And can anybody deny the influence of PRINCE HELFRICH on a handful of rivers in Oregon and Idaho?

nI’m beginning to wonder if I need to go all the way back to “The Greatest Hunting & Fishing Trip Of All Time”, the grand trip undertaken by the Corps of Discovery. Do MERRIWEATHER CLARK and WILLIAM LEWIS belong on the list of potential Fishmore candidates? Does the Corps’ fishing expert, SILAS GOODRICH, have a shot, too?

nAny thoughts on TREY COMBS or DEC HOGAN?

nWhat about a wildcard like STAN FAGERSTROM? Old-timers will remember him for his 50-plus-year career as a writer in Washington and Oregon, but the national bass world knows him as “The Master Caster” for his trick-casting demonstrations. He’s already a member of two major Halls of Fame (the Bass Fishing HOF and Fresh Water Fishing HOF) – would Mount Fishmore be such a stretch?

nI don't know exactly how much regional influence ZANE GREY had on fisheries like the Rogue, Umpqua and Stillaguamish rivers, but he'll forever be identified as a steelheader in this part of the world.

nI’m already hearing some support for Wild Country co-host BILL HERZOG and his buddies DAVE VEDDER and NICK AMATO.

nThe fly-fishing arena has some intriguing choices, including flyline innovators JIM TEENY and SYD GLASSO. Glasso, by the way, was the first angler to bring spey flies to the Northwest, and the originator of sink-tips (he soaked his braided silk lines in lead-based paints to achieve the first primitive sink-tips).

nYou can't escape the fly-fishing arena without marveling at the accomplishments of STEVE RAJEFF: winner of 34 consecutive American Casting Association championships and 13 World Casting Championships.

nI wonder if sporting goods giants belong in the conversation. How about WILLIAM and ADOLPH WARSHAL, the brothers who created Warshal’s in Seattle, the first major tackle emporium on the West Coast?

nHow many people in the country were introduced to Pacific Northwest fisheries by LARRY SCHOENBORN and “Fishing the West”?

nBeing in the radio biz, I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw the names BILL DAVIS and HOBART MANNS into the hat.

nGo spend a little time on Pacific Northwest Fishing Golden Years to gain some understanding on how important BEN PARIS was to Puget Sound salmon fishing. The Ben Paris Derbies were some of the biggest of their kind, and some of the most well-known, too: at least one of the derbies in the 1930s was broadcast nationally on NBC Radio.

nDoes the name SIR RICHARD MUSGRAVE mean anything to you? It should: Musgrave was the first international salmon writer. Sir Richard wrote about Chinook fishing on the famed Tyee Pools of Campbell River, B.C. in a report published in The Field in London, in 1896.

Fishmore for the masses: Although Mount Fishmore is my vision, it’s a monument for the fishing & hunting masses of the Northwest. And this debaite is F-A-R from over!

Consequently, I’d like to hear YOUR nominations for those four hallowed spots.

Drop me an e-mail: joel@nwwwildcountry.com.
-JS