Dale Bard

Dale Bard, Stone Master

Dale Bird first rappelled at the age of 14 through the Southern California Falconry Club. That sparked a life-long love of climbing.

He became one of Yosemite’s pioneering rock climbers, known for pushing the boundaries of free climbing and for big wall climbing in the 1970s and ‘80s. He was a key figure of Yosemite’s "Stone Master" era, established numerous first ascents and is remembered for his skill, minimalist lifestyle and mentorship of other climbers.

So committed to climbing was Bard, that he lived for an entire Yosemite season on fifteen borrowed dollars, demonstrating that a “simple climbing life was possible.” Many of Yosemite’s climbing pioneers lived seasonally as one of Camp 4’s ”dirtbag climbers” (individuals who lived out of their cars and tents in order to climb as much as possible, as described in Wikipedia).

While Dale did not promote himself, he was a kind and welcome ambassador to the outdoors. At Camp 4, he met with uncounted numbers of the millions of visitors to Yosemite, sharing his love of climbing and inspiring thousands to enjoy the outdoors. From across America, many children, for instance, invested their time at local climbing gyms, trying to be “just like Dale.”

 Climbers talk often of “standing on the shoulders of giants.” In Yosemite and beyond, Dale Bard was one of those giants—not always the loudest voice, but one whose presence, style, and determination helped shape a generation. He is remembered as one of America’s greatest climbers, so highly respected among climbers that they called him “The Crack Master.” 

Climbing achievements

A pioneer in free climbing. Dale was instrumental in shifting Yosemite's focus toward this style. He established many difficult free and aid routes, including the first ascent of Blind Faith, On the Rostrum, was part of the first ascents of significant big walls such as Sea of Dreams, Bushido and Sunkist, and established classic bouldering problems like High Plains Drifter. With Dave Diegelman and Jim Bridwell, he led the ascent of Sea of Dreams on El Capitan, considered to be the hardest-ever aided route (27 pitches, 39 drilled holes). His early efforts helped “free the Nose on El Cap,” before such an idea seemed possible.

Epic expedition

Dale embodied endurance and grit. In 1976, he and Nadim Melkonian completed the first 250-mile Sierra Crest traverse in mid-winter, enduring 44 days in which they faced storms, avalanches, and near starvation, but pushed through with sheer resolve.

Closing the gap

Bard was closely tied to the Stone Master era, bridging the gap between free climbing progress and big-wall boldness. He even appeared in the iconic film Moving Over Stone, capturing the spirit of that time.

"Dirtbag" ethos

Bard embodied the "dirtbag" climbing lifestyle, living simply and often in a tent. He was known for surviving off very little money. This commitment to living on his own terms made him an inspiration to many, especially those he met and inspired at Camp 4. To fellow climbers, the term “dirtbag” was not pejorative, but inspirational, describing someone who would sacrifice personal comfort and a career for his sport. It became akin to monastic mountaineering.

Mentorship

Dale was a significant mentor to many younger climbers, including legendary climber Randy Leavitt who credited Bard with providing a turning point in his own career. Climbers remember him for setting a high bar as a partner and for his calm, supportive nature.

Later life

Dale Bard continued to be involved in the climbing community throughout his life, even after he moved away from Yosemite.

He lost his battle to cancer at age 71, on October 1, 2025, in a Moab hospital, yet his name is invisibly etched along the climbing routes he pioneered on the big walls of California’s Yosemite National Park.

Block and Tackle, First Ascent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YncbLeXjD8

Original Stone Master - The Crack Master https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xquzLfQ4Cio&t=375s

Mike Baxter

Mike Baxter

Sportfishing Captain, Salmon fisherman, Conservationist, Radio Host

Captain Mike Baxter is unique among California outdoorsman as his experiences run the gamut from ocean charter boat captain, commercial salmon fisherman, radio show host, creator and organizer of a major fishing event in the Central Coast, board member of the Monterey Bay Salmon and Steelhead Project, outdoor writer, passionate angler of varied fish species ranging from steelhead to bluefin tuna to swordfish, and dedicated hunter of wild boar. He is constantly living the legacy of a sportsman and teaching and recruiting others to be good stewards of our natural resources.

Baxter started commercial salmon fishing with his father, and at the age of 19, he wound up working the decks on San Diego long-range boats on the Royal Star and Royal Polaris on trips up to 23 days. 

He attained his 100-Ton Masters Captain’s License and started running charter boats at the age of 21 out of Santa Cruz for ‘Shamrock Charters;’ eventually running the well-known Wild Wave, a 70-foot sport fisher with a capacity of 49 passengers.

His passion for steelhead has taken him along the Pacific Northwest where he spends as much time in the winter and spring on the Olympic Peninsula in search of giant steelhead. He has mapped and learned to row his drift boat down these rivers and has caught and released three steelhead well over 20 pounds. 

He enjoys pig hunting, and he has captured several trophy boars including two over 300 pounds. An aficionado of bluefin tuna, he has landed several over 200 pounds along with an Opah over 100 pounds on rod and reel. 

Baxter has been in pursuit of a swordfish for over five years, hooking and lost three, before recently ending his quest with fishing partner Jason Young with a 322-pound swordfish off Nine Mile Bank outside of San Diego. He dedicated thousands of hours to reach this quest.

Baxter started, produced, and hosted the ‘Let’s Go Fishing’ radio show through KSCO in the late 1990s and ran the seasonal show for 13 seasons. He obtained his own sponsors along with writing and producing their custom ads. He also wrote for the local Paper Press Banner, Western Outdoor News, and other publications.

In 2004, Baxter envisioned an affordable fishing tournament to provide Central Coast anglers an option during the slower winter season, and this spawned the Sand Crab Classic Perch tournament. Along with Allen Bushnell, he organizes over 30 volunteers and 300 participants, and dedicates all proceeds from the annual event to the nonprofit Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project (MBSTP). 

Baxter has been a Board of Director with MBSTP since 2006, donating his time and attention to capture wild brood-stock steelhead for production of juveniles. He recruited crews to man a trap 24 hours a day until the goal was met, allowing 30,000 juveniles to be released in the San Lorenzo River. He also assists with various other projects including the annual spring release of 200,000 Chinook salmon off the Santa Cruz and Monterey wharves.

Baxter is both a passionate outdoorsman and contributor to the future of the sport.

Doug Laughlin

Doug Laughlin

Love of and Service to California’s outdoors.

Doug Laughlin’s life, from child to senior, has been shaped by his love of and service to the outdoors. 

From an early age, Laughlin knew the outdoors would be his life. He became an avid outdoorsman as an Eagle Scout, providing ethics that drove his life in the outdoors as a diver, boater, fisherman and volunteer.

He became a world-class diver who devoted his skills to saving California aquatic species and helping others. As a scuba diver, Laughlin was perhaps most widely known as the guy who developed a skill to remove barnacles, mussels, slime and hard scale from ocean-going hulls. For over 20 years, he provided that service to hundreds of boat owners. 

An accomplished boater and repairman, an angler with the skill to fish for all marine species including salmon, halibut and tuna, Laughlin was equally at ease on lakes and streams as on sea and shore, casting for anything that swims. Whether he is sport snorkeling for abalone or setting traps for Dungeness crab, Laughlin is a master sportsman. 

Adept at underwater photography, Laughlin was hired by renowned cinematographer Al Giddings to capture a whale shark in action. Later hired by ABC and KGO television, he became a filmmaker on all levels of stories, including news, sports and special events. He won a series of Emmys and is revered as one of America’s best outdoor videographers. In his own words, “As a videographer, the camera is a very powerful tool that offers viewers a glimpse into our amazing environment.”

Laughlin dove for abalone for 50 years, always snorkeling in search of giants. Barring bad weather, he never missed an opener for Dungeness crab. His biggest tuna weighed 155 pounds, and he participated in 20 straight salmon openers, taking more than 500 people out for salmon while declaring, “Unless the ocean is nasty, we’re going.”

As a volunteer diver at Steinhart Aquarium of the California Academy of Sciences, Laughlin maintained three large aquarium tanks, often connecting with different fish species and many in the public viewing him. He was a volunteer with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, supporting marine enforcement, marine research activities, waterfowl hunter checkpoint stations, kids fishing events, state lands improvement projects, creel surveys, abalone checkpoints, stream bed classification, hatchery fin clipping, outreach festivals, game warden “grizzly support” and many administrative duties. As an abalone diver, Laughlin served on CDFW’s recreational abalone advisory committee (RAAC), and represents California’s sport abalone diving interests.

He was well known as a Board member of the Coastside Fishing Club, based out of Pillar Point Harbor on the San Mateo County Coast and helped craft the group’s 15-year+ chinook salmon net pen acclimation program, where roughly 750,000 salmon each year - totaling more than eight million salmon - have been protected in a net pen, fed and acclimated to saltwater before being released. Millions of fish have thus been saved from water pumps, diversions and predators.

Laughlin helped establish and operate countless fishing derbies, veterans fishing and crabbing events, disabled kids fishing events, family fishing events, outreach at fairs and fishing festivals, and hatchery vaccinations. He was selected to participate in the Whale Safe Fisheries (Whale Entanglement Working Group), helping to set recreational salmon fishing seasons by the Pacific Fishery Management Council and negotiating seasons, gear restrictions, depth limits and other regulatory changes by CDFW for our ocean fisheries. And, he continues to mentor Scouts in their quests to climb the ladder of scouting and become Eagle Scouts.

Every organization needs an ethics-guided hero behind the scenes who can master details, results, schedules and team work. For many in California’s outdoors, that person was Doug Laughlin. 

Frank LoPreste

Frank LoPreste, A life spent greatly at sea.

If California ever chose its most legendary sea captain, Frank LoPreste would surely be on the list.

His life at sea began in 1951 as an eight-year-old deckhand on the Clemente, San Mateo, Frontier, then Sea Raider, starting at $3 a day. By 21, he was a licensed captain, running his own vessel.

Today, LoPreste is widely regarded as a pioneering figure within San Diego’s long-range sportfishing fleet. He was among the first sportfishing captains there to voyage to remote areas in search of trophy game fish. He popularized Clipperton Atoll in the eastern Pacific, 1,600 miles southwest of San Diego, and further expanded the San Diego fleet’s range beyond Mexican coastal waters to the Baja & Revillagigedo Islands. For his exploits and long-range sportfishing adventures, Frank LoPreste is described by the International Game Fish Association as a “Living Legend.” 

On Royal Polaris, LoPreste innovated kite fishing, a technique where a kite is used to carry baits far from a boat, keeping them in the water at the surface. LoPreste recognized its effectiveness in targeting species like sailfish, tuna, and kingfish and presenting live bait and lures in a way that imitates a skipping baitfish or avoids the boat's wake. Once the bait is bitten, the line releases from a clip on the kite, allowing the angler to reel the fish in more reliably and safely than other methods. With his novel approach, sportfishermen were more successful in landing big fish and better enjoying their trips. 

Now 80 years of age, LoPreste has been cutting back, though he is remembered as having been tireless in serving his guests, working late hours, mentoring crew, treating guests and crew alike with respect and compassion, and always willing to help bait a hook and teach others what he knows about fishing. His concern for the guest experience is noted on social media by many past customers. “RubberHook2” commented on SatFish that at 14 years old, he was called to the bridge by LoPreste to take the helm and experience steering Royal Polaris in large S curves across the swelling Pacific, a childhood memory he has cherished into adulthood.

His expertise as a blue-water navigator, sea captain and sportsfisherman is unexcelled. LoPreste introduced advanced fuel, refrigeration, and bait-storage systems, making multi-week voyages possible. More than any other captain, Frank LoPreste molded today’s great San Diego sportfishing fleet and pioneered long-range sportfishing expeditions to far-flung and remote islands across the Pacific Ocean. Many of San Diego’s sportfishing captains were mentored by LoPreste and owe their lives, skills and success to his guiding hand.

When fellow Captain 39-year-old James “Rollo” Heyn - who began as a deckhand for LoPreste - lost his life at sea in 1999, LoPreste - joined by friends and anglers - established the non-profit organization Friends of Rollo (also known as Captain Rollo's Kids at Sea). Its purpose is to keep Captain Heyn's legacy alive by providing ocean fishing and marine life awareness trips for disadvantaged, underserved, physically challenged, and at-risk youth who otherwise might not  have that opportunity.

Through Captain Rollo’s Kids at Sea, LoPreste and his friends sought to share their love of fishing and the marine environment, which was a passion of Captain Heyn's, with as many children as possible. The organization covers all costs, including the boat charter, fishing tackle, and lunch, to ensure the experience is accessible to all participants. Since its inception, the program has introduced over 150,000 children to ocean fishing and conservation.

Over his lifetime, Frank LoPreste has captained and owned several vessels including Sport (‘65-66), Sea Horse (‘67), Fury (‘67), Patrician (‘68-70), Webfoot (‘71), Prowler (‘71), Searcher 1 (‘71-74), Nova (‘75-76), Cape Polaris (‘74-77) and Royal Polaris (‘78 to today).

However, it was on the 109’ Royal Polaris that his fame as a long-range skipper was founded. He made her the fastest long-range sportfisher in the world, equipping Royal Polaris with the latest navigational and fish-finding gear. Her range is virtually unlimited due to her enormous fuel, bait, and refrigerated fish storage capacities. And, she has coursed the wide Pacific in search of innumerable exotic sportfishing adventures, ones that remain available to anyone. What he accomplished while innovating American sportfishing has led to Frank LoPreste’s Royal Polaris to be acclaimed near and far as the world’s finest sportfishing vessel.

Royal Polaris is a great boat, but it is Frank LoPreste who made her and himself legendary. From boyhood deckhand to blue-water skipper, Frank LoPreste has led a life of adventure and innovation on the high seas in service to those involved in the sport of ocean game fishing.

Frank LoPreste on Casting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJHhs3xUms8

Frank LoPreste on Bite Zone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9L_XJKo0V4

Friedman on Frank LoPreste - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kohv325Q1AA

Pat McDonell

Pat McDonell

Champion of tournaments, sportfishing, outdoor reporting and philanthropy

If there were a Mount Rushmore of California outdoorsmen, Pat McDonell would be at the center, wrote one of the nominators of this inductee.

Sportfishing was and remains his passion. When commercial fishermen were depleting near-shore populations of game fish off California through their use of gill nets, McDonell helped lead the long fight to secure over 200,000 signatures and raise $1 million in 1990 to fund Proposition 132, the Marine Protection Zone and Gill and Trammel Net Prohibition Initiative. McDonell was one of the founding board members of United Anglers of Southern California which championed Prop. 132.  In due part because of their efforts, the initiative was approved by a margin of 55.76%. Since then, white sea bass, halibut and other species have rebounded along the California coast.

McDonell began directing fishing tournaments and leading fishing trips to Alaska and Cedros Island near Ensenada while working at Western Outdoor News. Among the more than 60 tournaments which he directed is the world’s largest tuna tournament, the Cabo Tuna Jackpot (CTJ). 

Impressed after competing in one of the Bisbee tournaments, McDonell and Kit McNear founded CTJ, described by McDonell as, “one that was fun, cost less money to enter, and in a tuna format.” Since then, their creation awarded over $19 million in payouts and hosted as many as 158 teams. Over its lifetime, CTJ has welcomed tens of thousands of anglers and partiers. Its motto, after all, is “Fish Hard, Party Harder.”

From its beginning, CTJ was designed to benefit local children. The latest beneficiary has been Smiles International (SI) which helps children with facial cleft deformities. As a result, thousands of kids have “become more normalized and functional with abilities to enter their societies with the ability to speak, eat, hear and breathe properly, as well as having beautifully functioning SMILES as they complete their lives.” wrote SI’s Dr. Jeffrey Moses. Nearly a half million dollars has been raised for charitable causes by McDonell-led tournaments throughout his lifetime. 

Pat McDonell has fished in ten countries, including Australia, Panama and Canada’s British Columbia. For the past 23 years, he has led fishing trips to Sitka Alaska, Cedros Island and Costa Rica, taking thousands on “life’s list” expeditions. McDonell was among the first outdoor writers to write extensively about Baja California and its sportfishing, traveling throughout Baja (including its most remote spots) more than 80 times.

For three decades, he wrote for and was Editorial Director of Western Outdoor News (WON). His articles and columns were so popular among sportsmen that one of California’s most celebrated outdoor editors said, “Readers would tell me Pat’s columns were the first thing they’d read upon opening Western Outdoor News.”

A lifelong journalist and sportsman, McDonell began writing for the student newspaper at San Diego State University. After joining WON a few years later, he covered fishing and hunting issues, personalities, destinations, tactics and anything else worthy of a headline. 

He is most proud of “Erik Sinking; Two Survivors Tell Their Story,” an investigative article that he wrote about the tragic loss of eight souls who were on the Mexican sportfishing boat Erik which sank overnight out of San Felipe. That poignantly written and carefully researched column took First Place in the 2012 Outdoor Writers of California Craft Awards and influenced the Mexican government to tighten lax enforcement of safety standards and the accessibility of lifevests on charter boats, saving untold lives.

McDonell was also one of the first regular guests to broadcast sportfishing news on various radio and TV broadcasts to promote fishing, tournaments, conservation efforts and the Fred Hall outdoor shows. He began these appearances in 1988 and continued his radio reports for over almost four decades, often appearing on “Let's Talk Hookup.” 

Saltwater sportfishing hasn’t been his only outdoor passion. He was a rated beach volleyballer; summit-ed two Sierra Nevada 14ers - including Mt. Whitney; hunted Mule deer, wild boars, turkey, dove, pheasant and waterfowl in California and Mexico; skied and snowboarded the Sierra; surfed the Pacific; cycled European roads; competed in half marathons, marathons and triathlons; SCUBA dived; and perennially held court at festivities the night before the Eastern Sierra trout opener, after which he’d break away to wet a fly. He was twice an IGFA all tackle world record holder; caught two world record fish, and landed seven tuna weighing over 200 lbs, including a yellow fin that still has his arms aching (and that’s a fish story).

Pat McDonell’s life has been filled with outdoor adventure and accomplishment. He stands as one of California’s most knowledgeable and storied outdoorsmen. And yet, he is the first to say, “No matter how much you know, the fish know more.”

Cabo Tuna Jackpot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpcy4niisIo

Friedman Adventures Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxDNXXE0Fvg

Let’s Talk Hookup - https://letstalkhookup.com/podcast/lets-talk-hookup-7-8am-pat-mcdonell-from-western-outdoor-news-2/