Old local fishing journal a catch for Plug Ugly owner

The late Fred Owens knew he was onto something when he started publishing his quarterly Northwest Fishing Forecast in La Conner four decades ago.

Owens, who died earlier this year in Santa Barbara, California, had enjoyed a loyal readership through his witty and pithy reporting for the Puget Sound Mail and Channel Town Press.

Later, he would earn still more fans as editor-publisher of the on-line Fred’s Almost Weekly.

But in the 1980s, prior to his move to Anahuac, Texas, Owens briefly switched gears and lent his unique wordsmithing style to a locally based specialty journal devoted to fishing and outdoor recreation.

Northwest Fishing Forecast sold for $2 an issue. Its hometown advertisers included La Conner Drug Store, La Conner Tavern, Moore-Clark, Skagit Bay Books and La Conner Landing – the latter a Texaco fuel station at First and Morris streets that also sold fishing gear and marine supplies.

Through the years, it has retained its value. And then some.

La Conner resident Jon Peterson attests to that.

The longtime owner of Plug Ugly, a La Conner fishing gear, sporting goods and collectibles store, recently came across a copy of the October 1984 edition of Northwest Fishing Forecast at a trade show in Portland.

The lone copy was priced at $5, more than double its original sales price.

Having known Owens, Peterson could not resist buying the nearly 40-year-old tabloid-sized paper, which is in perfect condition.

“I was at a tackle show in Oregon,” Peterson told the Weekly News, “and one of the guys who knew I was from La Conner showed it to me and said: ‘You want this?’”

There was no hesitation on Peterson’s part.

“They know I gravitate toward La Conner-related stuff,” he explained.

Northwest Fishing Forecast was certainly that – from Owens columns on smelt jigging along the town’s waterfront to an essay on the 1937 construction by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the rock jetty between McGlinn Island and Goat Island to photographs taken by the late Art Hupy, founder of the Valley Museum of Northwest Art, forerunner of today’s Museum of Northwest Art.

Peterson’s issue includes a verse submitted by legendary poet, self-proclaimed “River Rat,” and one-time La Conner mayoral candidate Robert Sund. There is also a photo of Tracy Powell’s famed 24-foot carving of “The Maiden Of Deception Pass” at Rosario Beach.

To attract younger readers, Owens invited children to send in their drawings of fish and boats for publication.

In the issue before the 1984 presidential election, Owens couldn’t help but poke fun at national politicians guided by public opinion. Instead of analyzing polls, Owens suggested reading Northwest Fishing Forecast to “find out which way the wind is blowing.”

Now, almost 40 years later – thanks in great part to Peterson – Owens’ fishing journal is still being read.