My p b was a white sturgeon caught in the columbia river just out of Astoria. I was out of my 22 foot boat we could not take it out of the water but he was almost as long as the boat and we gussed he was close to 1000 lbs.
When I was diving and collecting shells I would put them in pine sol and let them sit for a couple weeks and nothing left but the shell. The pine sol covered up the smell.
When I first joined the Army in 59, after basic I was sent to Ft. Bragg. I came home on leave , I didn't have a lot of money(our bass pay at that time was 79.00 a month) so I had to hitch hike from Ca, to Nc. I wore my uniform and I would no more than get out of one car and get into another one . I made it all the way in three days. Now I would not try to go any where that way
I was at Ft. Lewis years ago and fished Black lake a lot close to you and at that time was good trout and some bass. The Puyallup at that time was very good for some 20 and over steelhead but that was over 40 years ago.
Haven't been up there for about 3 months but according to all the reports it's pretty hot. I 'm in orland and not much going on at black butte for the last month but going to give it a try Sunday any way.