'Salmon Patty' a seashore regular

FISHING: Patricia “Salmon Patty” Carlile of Anderson caught this salmon off Trinidad on the opening day of ocean salmon fishing season Aug. 29.

When on the coast in Trinidad, everyone knows Patricia Carlile, 79, of Anderson as "Salmon Patty" because she loves to fish for salmon.

Salmon Patty can clean and filet a salmon slick as a whistle. She can cook or can them like no one else. She can even stuff and barbecue an entire 25-pound salmon on the grill that is so good.

Patty and her husband, Don, made their first trip to Trinidad in 1972 and have returned ever since. Back then, it was just on the weekends and during vacations. When Don retired in 1988 from the state Department of Transportation, things changed.

Now they stay on the coast from May through September.

Patty says they love it there - the fishing, their many friends and their family members who visit and fish with them.

"Years ago when we were much younger, we would be the first ones to leave the harbor in the morning in our boat, and the first ones to return with our limits ... but not so anymore," Patty said.

Ruby Rollings, co-manager of the Bait & Tackle Shop on Trinidad Pier, said that she did not think the salmon population is as low as most people think.

"Traditionally, we never get salmon around here at this time of the year (September). Right now, they are pooling around near the Klamath River and beginning the fall run up the river," Rollings said.

Rollings is a proud Native American with Yurok, Karuk and Chetko ancestries. She said she has heard from friends and family members and the salmon run currently taking place on the Klamath River is excellent.

The Bait & Tackle Shop on Trinidad Pier is holding a salmon derby. The current winning fish weighs 17.7 lbs. Rollings said the biggest salmon caught so far this season weighed 39 pounds, and the fisherman who caught it wasn't in the derby.