Pat Neal

PAT NEAL: Going down the sucker hole

IT WAS GOING to be one of those days. I remember it like it was yesterday, because maybe it was. It all started with a… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Yet another bad idea

THAT WAS YET another bad idea in last week’s column. When out of concern for the well-being of our fellow sportsmen and women who pursue… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Steelhead season’s sinking feeling

EVEN WITH GLOBAL warming, January is the coldest month. When all the rabid chickens come home to roost. When the slings and arrows of outrageous… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: New Year’s resolutions

OFTEN, NEW YEAR’S resolutions that seem like a good idea on New Year’s Eve can seem like a bad idea in the harsh light of… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Christmas of yesteryear

IT WAS DAYLIGHT in the swamp on the shortest day of the year. Christmas was coming and I wanted to get a goose for Christmas… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The fish and game commission is irrelevant

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news as the Washington Fish and Game Commission passed more laws restricting steelhead fishing on the waters of… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Waiting for steelhead season

IT’S BEEN ANOTHER tough week in the news, as we wait for the state to decide if they’ll cancel steelhead season. This would be devastating… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A COVID Christmas letter

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU SURVIVED the latest COVID-holiday, Thanksgiving. Where we gathered together to celebrate the fact that we didn’t burn the house down frying the turkey,… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A ‘Dirty Thirties’ Thanksgiving

THIS IS A story of an Olympic Peninsula family celebrating Thanksgiving in the olden days. “It was back in the Depression, the ‘Dirty Thirties.’ Pa… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: It’s spawning season again

IT WAS DAYLIGHT on the river on a dark and dismal day. It’s a favorite time of year. When the rain cleans the river of… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Opening day of elk season

IT WAS DAYLIGHT in the swamp on the opening day of elk season. It is a day steeped in a tradition that harkens back to… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The day after the election

“THE WHOLE COUNTRY is going to hell in a bucket now that we’ve elected those idiots,” my fancy friend shrieked the day after the election.… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: How to get lost

AUTUMN MUST BE my favorite time of year. There are just so many things to do in this outdoor recreational wonderland that we call home.… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: October fishing madness

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news. An invasion of desperate anglers spread quickly across the Olympic Peninsula from the Dungeness River, west to… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A star is born

Embarking on a new reality television career

PAT NEAL: A modest fish proposal

What can be done to restore our legendary salmon runs?

PAT NEAL: An old fish story

A look at how things changed

PAT NEAL: Living in a smokehouse

Things have been this bad and a lot worse

PAT NEAL: All aboard the love boat

It’s tourist season on the Peninsula