GARY COE

Gary Coe is a top winning tournament fisherman, fishing instructor and ambassador for his sport. He is recognized for having spent 20 years enhancing fisheries through hatchery programs, educational scholarships and grants, promotion of ethical sportsmanship, tournaments, and youth development.

 To drive these efforts, he established the charitable non-profit Kokanee Power and built it to 1,200 volunteers who donate their time, money and energy toward making California freshwater fishing programs better for all anglers.

 His fundraising generated over a half million dollars toward improving fish pens, kokanee egg collection and events. Along the way, he formed partnerships with the Department of Fish and Wildlife and many organizations to create the foundation to restore and enhance fisheries at many lakes across California.

 Coe bought, delivered and donated food for ten independent projects to grow and release large trout, including at Shasta, Lewiston, Siskiyou and Collins. He developed partnerships with the U.S. Forest Service, which designed pens and the Mt. Shasta Rotary Foundation, which built three pens and set them in a single huge dock structure to grow trout to 4 to 7 pounds for release every April. Coe also has put together volunteers to assist in kokanee egg taking for CDFW at the Little Truckee River.

 As an outdoorsman, he developed trolling methods to catch large kokanee, trout and salmon and fished at nearly every inland water in California. If the lake has large fish, Coe has fished it. His favorites include Shasta, Whiskeytown, Almanor, new Melones, Don Pedro, Shaver, Berryessa, Bass, Stampede, Tahoe, New Bullards Bar, Union Valley, Donner, Pardee and many others. He is a master angler at choosing rods and reels, rigging, downriggers and tackle selection per water.

 There's no secret fishing hole with Gary Coe. He's an angler who doesn't hide what he knows. He is an ambassador for his sport, passing on his knowledge at sport shows and events across the state.

 His enthusiasm is contagious with all who have met him. His nomination to the Hall read, “You leave with the faith that, as long as Gary Coe is involved, the chance of something special happening is just ahead." Asked why he has devoted his life to developing Kokanee fisheries, Coe said, “We do it to allow people, especially parents and their children, the chance to catch a fish of a lifetime that otherwise would be near impossible.”

LARRY GREENE

Posthumous

To thousands of California anglers, 4:55 a.m. Monday through Saturday was a special time.  That's because for nearly 20 years the late Larry Greene's extremely popular “Fisherman's Forecast” radio show was broadcast through KCBS 740-AM out of San Francisco. 

 The highly informative program covered fishing reports for much of California and southern Oregon.  If fish were biting anywhere along that 1,000 mile axis, Larry let you know exactly what was going on.  Anyone who ever heard that show can never forget its parting line: “That's the 'Fisherman's Forecast'; I'm Larry Greene.”

 Larry's passion for sharing the joy of fishing went beyond radio.  His angling knowledge was made available through numerous books, countless magazine articles in regional and national publications, as a mentor, and as an instructor where he taught introductory and advanced fishing classes for over 10  years at Skyline Community College in San Bruno.

 And for close to 20 years Larry was Master of Ceremonies for the annual International Sportsmen's Exposition in San Mateo where he introduced featured seminar speakers to their audiences, and served as a de facto “Ambassador of Fishing” as he patrolled the show's aisles, conversing freely with exhibitors,  celebrities, and “Average Joe” show attendees alike.

 A champion of fisheries conservation, Larry was a huge supporter of the efforts in establishing United Anglers of California.

 Larry's angling expertise was garnered from almost 50 years of fishing practically every mile of both fresh and saltwater environs in California, plus adventures in several US states.

Larry died in 2002 when on special assignment for KCBS-TV2 as a cameraman off the coast of Iran when the U.S. Navy helicopter he was riding in crashed. Greene was covering U.S. servicemen serving in the Middle East.