Some of my earliest childhood memories originate at Pilar Point. We'd spend a summer vacation through the '70s there, staying at Silver King Resort, then we switched to the Clallam County Park in '77 I believe (just up the beach). "Old Jack" was the caretaker of the County Park and he ran the little bait shack too. He would mooch up at least 1 50# king each year! There would be a couple 50's taken each year by other lucky anglers but by the late '70's they were dwindling down to maybe 1 big fish the first 2 weeks of August at the County Park. I can still see them being paraded through camp in Jack's wheelbarrow, head and tail hanging over the sides!

Nightly camp life was quite amazing back then, with the men sharing stories of the days fishing after dinner, sitting around campfires and then moving on to the next set of camps and having another beer/cocktail and checking in with the next group of friends (or new folks). Us kids figuring out which camp we'd spend the night at, so our parents could find us at 3am to get up and go fish. (it really was a roving party for the kids and adults alike). Staying with the guides at River Bend on the Kenai and meeting a bunch of "regulars" was a similar experience in the early 200'0's. I've been fortunate (or unfortunate) to of seen the end of big native steelhead and salmon in Wa waters.