My father and some of his friends told tales of going to Friant Dam in
the early 40s. The upstream flow was just being blocked and the salmon
were piling up below the damsite. The Game Wardens were letting people
take all the fish they wanted. He said he caught them on using a
clothsline rope and a lure made from a bottle opener ( churchkey). He
said they hauled them back to camp by the toesack full. I have read a
couple of stories about the salmon in the Smithsonian histories. If
your were an okie use to eating beans and taters a meal of even a
strange fish like a salmon was a memorabel feast.