Newest launch site lures river runners.

Byline: Ben Fuchs The Register-Guard

Expertly maneuvering his McKenzie drift boat through the riffles and eddies of the river bend, Gabriel O'Campo recounted his fish tale of the big one that didn't get away.

It was a beautiful spring day on the Willamette River in 1998, and O'Campo was getting ready to reel in his line when he felt a Mack truck-like force slam into his pole, doubling over the thin fiberglass rod. A fierce tussle brought the 11-pound spring chinook salmon, lip-hooked by the slimmest thread, to the edge of the boat. And not a moment too soon.

"As soon as I set (the fish) in the bottom of the boat, it shook that hook loose," said O'Campo, now 46 and a father of three.

The fishing fanatic may soon be able to add a story or two to his ample collection thanks to a new stretch of the Willamette made safely accessible by a new boat launch, located on the west end of Alton Baker Park south of Day Island Road. The launch, completed in November, was officially dedicated Saturday before about 50 people in a brief ceremony followed by a floating parade.

Funded by a bond measure passed in 1998, the launch cost about $300,000, Eugene landscape architect John Weber said. And he should know - Weber has been working on the project since 1996, the same year the old boat launch, located about a mile upstream of the new one, was closed due to vandalism and illegal dumping.

"The bond measure gave us the funding to make this a reality," said Weber, who also designed West Alton Baker Park.

Working with a team of consultants, Weber and others involved in the project, including local fishing and boating organizations, chose a section of the riverbank where the conditions were near-perfect for the ramp. There's a very thin riparian strip, a solid, sediment-free river bottom and a calm stretch of water where boats can put in safely.

"It had all the right ingredients," Weber said.

So they built it. And on Saturday, kayakers, fishermen, rafters and plain-ol' floaters came out to take part in the flotilla, which drifted about two miles from the new launch to a take-out point adjacent to the Valley River Center.

Everyone seemed to be excited about the new launch, open only to nonmotorized watercraft, for different reasons. O'Campo, a member of the Emerald Empire chapter of the Northwest Steelheaders, said the ramp provides access to a prime stretch of fishing water. This section of the Willamette was previously accessible only by traversing the rapids under the Interstate 5 bridge upstream, a maneuver O'Campo and other fishermen saw as too dangerous.

"This boat ramp is going to provide access to those fish, now and in the future," said Jeff Ziller, a fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

But the launch, the only ramp of its type in Eugene, will benefit more than just fishermen. Outdoor enthusiasts of all types will now find "getting wet" much more convenient, according to Therese Picado, the floating parade's unofficial director.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to invite people to partake in the river," said Picado of the city's Parks and Open Space Division.

CAPTION(S):

Ian Blanchard jumps up and down to help pull on his spray skirt before paddling with a parade of boats that celebrated a new ramp on the Willamette River south of Day Island Road. This section of the river was previously accessible only by traversing the rapids under the I-5 bridge upstream.