TYEE CLUB FISHING TALES - Debra Herkes

It was the night of August 12th, 1983, my third season of Tyee fishing. Two years prior I had made the commitment of marrying into a family that revered the mighty fish to the point of obsession. They talked about it constantly, we rearranged meal times around fishing tides, it seemed as though people were coming from fishing, going fishing or currently fishing every minute of the day! I figured I was immune...it wouldn’t happen to me...yes, Tyee fishing was okay and I must admit that I loved the quiet solitude and camaraderie involved in the grand sport, not to mention watching the sun rise over Quadra and the sound of a reel zinging as a fish hit...anyone’s fish. But...I was immune to the disease...you know...the one all true Tyee fishermen get... I was wrong! This night it hit me and hit me hard....yes...I got ....TYEE FEVER!

I went to bed that night knowing that I would be getting up at some ridiculous time the next morning to join my husband in the rowboat. As I was drifting off, I was counting off all of the things I would have to remember to do so that I would not bring shame to the family...clicker on when fishing, clicker off when reeling in...except when you have a fish...strike everything that feels different...yadda yadda yadda...well...YOU all know the drill!

At some time during the night, I had a marvelous dream. I dreamed we were fishing in Frenchman’s pool and that there was a sixty-pound fish under the water....I could see it clearly! Unfortunately, I awoke before I could play it, but the feeling that it was there stayed with me. My husband wanted to go to the Tyee Pool that morning and his family thought I was a little bit crazy, especially since the Tyee Pool was the current hot spot, but I insisted that the dream was so vivid, we had to go to Frenchman’s. In order to placate me, he agreed to at least start there. We stayed in Frenchman’s for about an hour and then HE decided that since nothing was happening and my mysterious dream fish had failed to arrive...it was time to go to the Tyee Pool. Approximately ten minutes after we left, Tammy McKonkey hooked her sixty-two pound fish......MY FISH! It took me a very long time to forgive my husband for not staying in Frenchman’s that morning but then after several years of reflection, I realized that in my dream the Tyee had merely appeared to me...I had not played the fish. So Tammy....I raise a glass to you!

PS....it was not until 1989 that I joined the membership of the Tyee Club...but then THAT is another story!