SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- Jon Payne lifts the oars out of the rushing water and sets to work baiting a hook with a special concoction of salmon eggs and sand shrimp.

"And that is known as a shrimp cocktail," Payne says. "We're going to go out here on the McKenzie River and see if we can't get lucky and catch a spring chinook salmon."

There aren't any takers at the first hole, but the fishing picks up at the next hole.

"Oh, boy. Set the hook, set the hook," Payne says. "Hard. Hard. Hard. Harder. Harder."

"We got him," Payne says. "Harder. Keep going. Now lift up. Lift up."

The catch, however, earns early release.

"We're going to call this one a young, native chinook salmon," Payne says, "and we're going to let him go."

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