It was a beautiful summer day, one of the nicer weekends out at Tat camp, and it was going to be a busy one. It was nearing the end of the salmon run and the eddies and shorelines were littered with freshly expired salmon. Bob was out this weekend in order to help run trips.
For whatever reason that weekend we decided it would be fun to toss some fish carcasses at each other, gross I know. On this particular trip, Bob and I had a bachelorette group split between our two boats. The sun was shining and it was the perfect summer day. I started chatting with my boat and eventually, we moved to a topic about the deceased fish, and maybe throwing them at their friends. Everyone was aboard the idea! We zipped ahead of the rest of the boats and raced to grab whatever salmon we found drifting along the shore before anyone else noticed. Eventually, we had 3 ripe salmon ready for tossing.
There’s a spot on the Blanchard where typically all the boats stop to regroup, the main eddy was on river left with a small, one-boat eddy on the right almost directly across from it. So naturally, I slid into the right side eddy, that way nobody could interfere with our well-schemed plan. Bit by bit the rest of the rafts filed into the main eddy, but no Bob yet. Then he appeared around the corner, the last boat, it couldn’t have been better organized if I had spent a week planning. To make things go smoothly the last boat almost always cruises through without stopping. Having the other half of the bachelorette group Bob decided to come in close so our boats could splash each other. I whispered to my crew to wait, and keep the fish out of sight until I gave the signal. Bob came closer and closer and as he cruised in beside our boats I hollered “NOW!”
The ladies pulled out 2 of the salmon and chucked them directly at their unsuspecting friends, who started screaming.
I glanced over at Bob and he was bent over in laughter totally unsuspecting. It was then that I pulled out the last salmon. We made eye contact, no doubt I had a massive mischievous grin. Bob’s face instantly changed from laughter to more of an oh-shit face. I threw the salmon and hit him square in the chest. Knowing what I had started I yelled at my crew to paddle and we high-tailed it out of the eddy and bolted down the river. You don’t just huck a salmon at Bob and expect him to sit pretty, I knew I was in for trouble, but I could never resist poking at him.
He caught up to us around the corner….in a massive nearly river-wide eddy, I knew there was no escape and as Bob closed the distance between our boats, he had that grin on his face, the one where you know he’s up to trouble. There was no escape, as he reached for me I panicked and ditched my boat. Jumping into the water I started swimming for shore, but of course, Bob got ahold of me and dunked me a few times before I managed to get free.
Was it worth it? Absolutely! My crew even paddled to shore to pick me up!
The next morning the guides are getting the rafts ready for the day, when we notice Bob putting on probably one of the oldest, rattiest splash jackets I’ve ever seen. We asked him what he was doing. And he replied with “getting ready for the day“. We all looked at each other, and we knew, he had this look and the way he said it, we knew we were in for trouble on the river.
As we predicted, that day turned out to be a full-on salmon war, I think we all walked away smelling of rotting salmon that weekend
Bob would sometimes come off as a hard character, fun absolutely, but you wouldn’t pin him for a sensitive person. He had a mischievous side and I think he definitely liked causing trouble. But if he could tell you were going through a hard time or having problems he would pull you aside and let you know that if you need, you could talk to him anytime. He was observant and cared a lot about those around him.
