This week our family of four were camping at Blue Canoe RV Park outside of Springdale and each morning/evening I would go down to Indian River salmon fishing. The temperatures were in the high 20's and 30's all week, the river was warm and water level was low. Fish seemed to be plentiful, they were just not taking the fly. There weren’t many fish caught in this particular area of the river for the first three days I went down.

On our last evening staying at the park, my son Ethan decided to take a bit of interest in fishing and said he would like to come down with me and try. I had a family license with his name on it and two tags to be filled so gladly took him along. When we got to the river a lady stopped us and wished Ethan good luck and seemed very happy to see a young fella going down to try for a fish.

I waded out with Ethan in my arms to the rocks across the river to a fishing spot where I noticed a relative of mine fishing. I told him I figured this would be a good area for Ethan where you didn’t need to cast much line to get to the salmon. Mark gave Ethan a few pointers on one of the spots he liked to fish on the point and we got him set up. I took another spot close by Ethan so I could help him out if needed.

That evening on July 14th there were four of us fishing on this large rock across from the lookout at George Huxter Park on the Indian River. There were eight fish hooked, only one was landed successfully and tagged, and Ethan was the only fella to hook a fish of the four of us.

After the first fish Ethan hooked I could hear people from the viewing area up in the parking lot looking down excited each time he would hook another. I head things like "Luhh, luhh! Little fella got another one on," at least half a dozen times accompanied by lots of cheers.

After losing five or six fish he finally landed his first salmon all by himself. I was taking a video of this and saw that the fish was almost ready to be landed. Before I had the chance to tell Ethan to try and land it over by this small opening in the rocks, I seen him haul the salmon right up on the steep slope rock we were standing by. I threw my phone in my pocket with the video still recording and grabbed the fish by the gills quickly. You can hear Ethan say "Yay, I caught one! I caught one!" then a man say, "Yay, you’re the best fisherman on the river," to Ethan.

The fish was off the hook now and made a swift flick and popped right out of my grip. You can hear the sounds of my phone being submerged as I jumped into the river ahead of the salmon and pinned it on the rock with my hands managing not to lose it. Another man said, "If you lost that you would never live that down." I replied, "I’d never of lived that down!” and carried the fish up to Ethan who was all smiles. I had blood coming from my knee and forearm that I cut when saving his first fish from escaping and couldn’t care less. That evening was one for the books to say the least.

After Ethan had a few high fives and some chats with some of the locals we made it back to the camper at 10:30pm, well past his bedtime, and I asked him if he wanted to go down again to that spot in the morning. He said "Yes!!! At daylight?" I said, "Nah not daylight, how about we go down for a flick around 7 to 9 then head back to pack up and drive the camper back home? We have a busy morning tomorrow.”

We got to the river at 7 and just a few flicks later he had another one on. He hooked four more fish the morning of July 15th. I hooked one that was tagged then we left the river. Ethan was just as excited to see me land one but certainly rubbed it in that he hooked 12 to my 1 and landed the bigger fish. He was also quick to add in a joking way that my fist salmon was at 8 years old and his was at 7. This was certainly a proud dad moment and the best fishing experience ever!

Thanks for reading my story,

Alex Penney