One night in the fall of 1966, a 30-year-old man named Sam and his three friends snuck along the banks of the Eel River Estuary near Eureka, California.
When they found a good spot to fish, they set down their gear and opened their tackle boxes. All four of them pulled out special glow-in-the-dark lures and quietly attached them to their fishing rods. Then, they slowly waded into the water.
Sam and his friends had to remain extremely quiet and careful because what they were about to do was illegal.
They had come to fish for salmon, which, by itself, was perfectly legal. However, fishing for salmon at night in this area was against the law. At night, the salmon gathered together in deep, slow-moving sections of the river to sleep, making them incredibly easy to catch. You could practically walk out, hit one over the head, and instantly have a salmon. On one hand, it was considered unethical because it wasn’t really fishing anymore—it was simply taking advantage of defenseless fish.
More importantly, it was very easy to overfish the salmon population if there were no rules protecting them at night.
The glow-in-the-dark lures Sam and his friends were using were also illegal because salmon were highly attracted to them, making it even easier to catch large numbers of fish. These lures were designed specifically for nighttime fishing, making them a major violation of the law.
Although Sam and his friends knew these regulations existed to protect the salmon, they didn’t care. They made a lot of money by catching large quantities of salmon at night and selling them illegally.
For weeks, they had been sneaking into this part of the estuary every night to fish. To make sure they weren’t caught, they even stationed lookouts along the road leading to the estuary. If any Fish and Wildlife officers appeared, the lookouts would warn Sam and his friends so they could escape before being caught.
That night, Sam and his friends cast their glowing lures into the river. Within seconds, Sam felt a bite. It wasn’t surprising—the salmon were practically asleep beneath them.
It took all of Sam’s strength to reel in the fish because the salmon in this estuary were enormous. Some weighed as much as 100 pounds. Eventually, he wrestled the fish onto the riverbank and immediately cast his line again.
About an hour later, Sam and his friends had caught so many fish that he wasn’t even sure how they would carry them all back to the truck. He decided it was probably time to call it a night.
Just for good measure, he cast his lure one last time.
As usual, he got a bite almost instantly. But when he started reeling it in, he felt far more resistance than ever before—even more than the biggest salmon he had ever caught.
This was a monster.
Sam could barely turn the reel. Whatever was on the end of his line was incredibly heavy.
He thought to himself, This has to be the biggest salmon I’ve ever caught.
Excited, he shouted to his friends.
“Get the net! Hurry! This thing is huge!”
His friends rushed over with their nets. Everyone was excited.
Sam kept reeling. In the darkness, they could hear loud splashes coming from the water. Although they couldn’t clearly see what was happening, they knew whatever was on the line was fighting with tremendous force.
Finally, with one last powerful pull, Sam hauled the creature out of the water.
His friends leaned in to see what he had caught.
The moment they saw it, everyone froze.
After standing motionless in terror for a split second, Sam turned to his friends and screamed,
“Run!”
Sam hadn’t caught a giant salmon.
In fact, he hadn’t caught a fish at all.
He had hooked a game warden from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Warden Terry Grosz knew poachers had been illegally fishing for salmon at night along the estuary. Because the poachers used lookouts, game wardens had never been able to catch them before they escaped.
So, Terry decided he needed a more creative strategy.
On the night of Sam’s biggest catch, Terry put on a full-body wetsuit and quietly slipped into the water before the poachers arrived.
Hidden among the sleeping salmon in the darkness, he waited for the perfect opportunity to surprise the poachers.
Instead, the poachers caught him first.
After Sam reeled Terry out of the water and yelled for everyone to run, Terry calmly pulled back his hood and announced,
“You’re all under arrest.”
News of Terry’s unusual tactic spread quickly. Once people learned that a game warden had literally hidden among the salmon to protect them, poaching at the Eel River Estuary dropped dramatically, at least for quite some time.
Terry’s creative strategy became so successful that it inspired several other game wardens along the West Coast of the United States to use similar methods to catch illegal fishermen.