Born in 1915 in Kirkland, Washington, I was drawn to fishing at an early age, spending much time exploring the many creeks and ponds on the east side of Lake Washington. (I) made many memorable pack trips into the high Cascades for trout, namely in the lakes of Snoqualmie and Stevens Passes. A school chum and I made our first trip to the North Fork of the Stillaguamish area in the 1930s., traveling in a 1923 Model-T Ford touring car back when the highway was just a narrow blacktop road. We had to pull ourselves to the north side of the river at Hazel by means of a basket suspended over the river on ropes and pulleys. We camped on the old Mt. Higgins trail in an abandoned Boy Scout cabin and fished Dick’s and Rollins creeks, catching numerous fine rainbow trout. Little did I realize that someday I would be fishing summer steelhead in the river itself.