Blind fisher strikes out, but quest isn't over

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September 17, 2009

By Mark Freeman

Mail Tribune
776-4470
mfreeman@mailtribune.com

GRANTS PASS — Derrick Stevenson has learned much about how to catch chinook salmon this past month during his quest to capture one of the Rogue River's grand denizens before the legally blind man completely loses his sight.

Stevenson's latest lesson came during Saturday's Trout Unlimited salmon derby.

"Nope. Didn't catch one," says Stevenson, 52, of Grants Pass. "I didn't even get a bite.

"Of course, I'm disappointed," he says. "But that's why it's called fishing, not catching."

Stevenson's quest for his first chinook highlighted the annual derby, run out of Grants Pass by TU's Middle Rogue Steelhead Chapter.

The derby is the chapter's main fundraiser for habitat-improvement projects and other activities by the Grants Pass-based chapter.

In all, 56 anglers weighed in 27 chinook, with the winning fish a 26.1-pounder caught by Brad Clayton. Clayton earned $500 and a Calcutta reel valued at $1,000. Jesse Blair, who guided Clayton and teammate, Dave Bradbury, earned $100.

The club also netted close to $20,000 during the derby and the Friday evening banquet-auction, derby co-chair Cole Tidwell says.

But all eyes last weekend were on Stevenson. He suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, which has robbed him of more than 80 percent of his sight — and what remains of his vision is fading fast.

After failing for two years to catch a chinook on his own, he paid his way into the derby and wrote a letter to chapter members saying he was in a race to catch and see his first chinook before he goes completely blind.

The club got behind Stevenson.

Bill Hickey, the club's salmon-fishing seminar instructor with 35 years of salmon-fishing experience, taught Stevenson the nuances of back-bouncing roe — the most effective way to catch chinook on the Rogue.

A Mail Tribune column Sept. 13 chronicled the pair's efforts, and detailed how Hickey and Stevenson planned to fish together during the derby to get Stevenson his first chinook. The pair were in one of about a dozen boats Saturday morning to fish the stretch from Gold Hill to Rogue River.

They reinforced the adage about the fishing being good ... but the catching not so good.

"There were four salmon caught on that stretch among a dozen boats," Hickey says. "We just didn't happen to be one of them."

The best they could muster was a chinook bumping into Hickey's monofilament — what chinook anglers refer to as "a liner."

"He handled the day well," Hickey says. "He handled the equipment well. He did a good job. That was the idea."

Stevenson says he was a little down Sunday but his spirits quickly turned Monday after deciding his chinook-fishing glass was half-full after all.

"The experience really has been great," Stevenson says. "I learned a lot, and the steelheaders were great."

Stevenson even bought a salmon-fishing reel in Friday's pre-derby dinner and auction.

Tidwell says TU members won't let Stevenson get away fish-less.

"We'll probably do something special for Derrick, maybe get him back in the derby next year and get him a salmon."

One way or another, Stevenson will be back on the Rogue trying to get his hands on his first chinook. "It's just going to be a matter of time," Stevenson says.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.

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