PAXSON OFFIELD

Posthumous

A pioneer in the pursuit of big-game saltwater fishing off Catalina Island and a leader in the protection of billfish and white seabass of Southern California and endangered plants at Catalina. Paxson “Packy” Offield was a beloved member of the Tuna Club of Santa Catalina Island and known as a conservationist who made a difference.

His involvement in the research of reproductive problems facing the Bald Eagle population at Catalina Island led to their survival and made national news. Working with the San Diego Zoological Society, he was instrumental in funding the successful effort to save the California condor from the brink of extinction. This family interest, heralding back to his great grandparents’ world famous aviary in Avalon, took him to far-away places. As Chairman of the Peregrine Fund, the President of Panama personally presented him with the Comendador Award, one of the nation’s highest civilian awards, for helping save their national bird, the Harpy’s Eagle, from the brink of extinction.

Packy joined the Tuna Club in 1987 and was extremely proud of his membership. His contributions to the Tuna Club and his commitment to ethical angling and good sportsmanship never waived. As an angler, he earned his qualifying button in 1988 and his Silver Fame Medal in 1990. He earned his Gold Fame Medal in 1994, Tag and Release Pin in 1997, with four buttons total. He was selected Angler of The Year in 2003 and 2004, and held several Tuna Club Records, with two still standing for a 3 thread white seabass and a 3-thread albacore.

The Paxson Offield Center for Billfish Studies opened in 2000 with cutting- edge technology. His quest to understand more about the mysterious behavior of the world’s billfish populations inspired his working with anglers and scientists to accumulate more sound scientific research on marlin behavior. By placing archival tags in the fish, information was transmitted to satellites when they surfaced, then downloaded for scientific analysis. There was an immediate source of new information about their habits and migrations due to his work. The Center coordinates the most innovative data collection program in existence. Placing hundreds of satellite tags in 16 locations around the world and counting is a historic accomplishment. Even the trial and error work involved in developing reliable satellite tags was a major scientific achievement.

Some of Packy’s other angling and conservation acknowledgements include the Rybovich Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 for his long- standing contributions to the Billfish Foundation, of which he also served as a Past Chairman. The Billfish Foundation acknowledged that his efforts brought attention to the billfishes decline before the International Treaty Management Organizations for the first time. Paxson’s induction into the International Game Fish Association’s Hall of Fame was most befitting as a reflection of what he has done for the sport of angling in general. As Chairman of the organization, he has provided excellent leadership during changing times. He was the driving force behind the Great Marlin Race, encouraging anglers to participate in placing tags and advancing research on his beloved billfish.

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.

ROGER THOMAS

San Francisco's Roger Thomas has spent more than 10,000 days on the ocean chasing salmon, albacore and whales on his boat the Salty Lady — and who crusaded for salmon and water interests for 40 years — was named on 60 percent of the ballots and will also be inducted.

HANS FLORINE

Climbing Yosemite’s El Capitan in record time wasn’t enough for Hans Florine to get voted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame.

Five years later, after Florine used his stature to help disabled athletes, children and families participate in the outdoors — as well as set a new speed record for El Cap and climbed the epic nose route for the 100th time — Florine was the top vote getter for this year’s HOF class.

Florine, of Walnut Creek, was named on 70 percent of the ballots of past winners and industry leaders and will be inducted Jan. 23 at the Sacramento International Sportsmen’s Exposition at Cal Expo.

ROY WEATHERBY

Stoked by a fascination in ballistics and firearms, Weatherby’s experiments in his Los Angeles garage in the 1940s led to creation of the Mark V action rifle for Weatherby Firearms. It is still considered the world’s strongest bolt-action rifle, and the name Weatherby is world famous among hunters.

His early ballistic experiments proved that lightweight bullets traveling at high speeds perform better than heavier bullets fired at low velocity, which revolutionized the gun industry. Weatherby developed several high-speed cartridges, all of which are still popular and bear his name, such as the .300 Weatherby Magnum. To test his creations, Weatherby hunted from the Arctic Circle to Africa.

He also devoted his life to wildlife conservation. In 1956, he created the Weatherby Hunting and Conservation Award, which recognizes efforts to educate the non-hunting public about the beneficial role of ethical sport hunting, especially its contributions to wildlife conservation.

His foundation, the Weatherby Foundation, has sponsored more than 1 million people in events in 19 states that emphasize a combination of shooting along with wildlife conservation and education.

DAN BACHER

California’s foremost “watchdog” journalist for fisheries and conservation, Bacher writes a far-reaching column that appears on websites and in newspapers and e-mail lists across the western United States. He takes on politicians, government agencies and their appointed directors, corporate agribusiness interests and big oil companies — “anybody who does harm to California’s natural resources and fisheries,” Bacher said.

“The biggest problem we face in the battle to restore our fish populations is that agribusiness, big oil, developers and other powerful corporate interests wield enormous influence over the government agencies that are supposed to guard our natural resources,” Bacher said.

His stories include identifying the first salmon deaths in 2002 on the Klamath River in a fish kill that went on to number 70,000 adult salmon.

Bacher is a founding member of both the California Inland Fisheries Foundation and Restore the Delta, and he promotes American Indian cultures and rights. He has also served on the board of directors for United Anglers of California, the California Water Impact Network and Water for Fish.

He is best known as the 30-year editor of Fish Sniffer, a biweekly newspaper for anglers. He used that position as a springboard to visit hundreds of lakes and streams, and in the process has become one of California’s most traveled anglers. His adventures span from Canada to Central America, where he has caught and released many exotic species of fish.

ARMAND CASTAGNA

A world-renowned angler, bay and ocean skipper, communicator and conservationist, Castagna pioneered a catch-and-release approach to world-record fish after returning a 32-pound, 8-ounce steelhead to the water in 2000.

He filmed the release of that potential record-setter but was denied the standard by the International Game Fish Association because he didn’t kill the fish. Castagna pressed the issue and created a worldwide debate on the ethics of trophy fishing, prompting the association to set standards for registering potential world-record catches that have been released.

Two years after that catch, he released another world-record steelhead (28.5 pounds on 8-pound line), and this time he was awarded a game fish association world record in a watershed moment.

In the 1980s, to the disbelief of many, Castagna had begun releasing steelhead and other elusive trophy fish that he caught. He knows there were some who thought he was crazy. Now, however, many anglers from Northern California to Alaska release their trophy catches.

“Why would you kill what you love the most and then remove the very genetics that inspire you?” Castagna asks. “I release them to fight again another day and to pass on their world-class DNA to their progeny.”

Castagna’s special charter trips aboard his boat on San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean have attracted numerous celebrities, including former manager Dusty Baker and other members of the Giants. Rather that running standard-timed trips, day in and day out, Castagna custom-designs each trip according to that day’s tides, feed conditions and fish patterns.

Castagna is also a teacher. He has produced two films on steelhead fishing (in which all the fish are released), published more than 40 articles, provided free seminars across California and the Northwest, and donated fishing trips and equipment to youth organizations.

He promotes a conservation message in everything he does, from fighting for adequate flows on the Trinity River to the net-pen release of juvenile salmon in San Francisco Bay. He is renowned for his fishing expertise and leadership in catch-and-release fishing, yet his impact on people, one at a time, is also recognized by anybody who has met him.

BILL POOLE

Posthumous

Many on the Pacific Coast consider the late Capt. Poole as the greatest pioneer in saltwater fishing in the past 50 years. He is best known as the founder and owner of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego.

He built many legendary boats in the San Diego local and long-range fleets, developed techniques to catch yellowtail, tuna, wahoo and other big-game sport fish and then hired, trained and mentored many of the most famous and most highly regarded skippers on the Pacific Coast.

Poole, who died in 2009 at age 87, was also an avid hunter who traveled the world and stalked big game. Even though he was one of the world's most well known outdoorsmen, he shared his knowledge with anybody who wanted it, including at free seminars available to the public.

RANDY HOUSTON

The rebel outsider who has refused help from corporations is the founder and president of Purple Heart Anglers, a group of volunteers who have taken more than 1,000 disabled veterans into the outdoors to fish or hunt. Houston required that Purple Heart Anglers be nonprofit, nonpolitical and non-ego, and exist only to support disabled vets for the therapeutic value of the outdoors.

"We don't take help from corporations (that want a commercial presence), so nothing interferes with the cause at hand," he said.

Hunting and fishing have been a lifelong passion for Houston, who got his first hunting license at 9, his first buck at 12, and put a record in Boone & Crockett for a deer in Northern California. He has also fished "forever" and has ventured "everywhere, trying everything" in lakes, streams, the bay, the delta and up and down the coast, always looking for the best of California.

In his office, he prizes a folded American flag, once flown in Afghanistan, which was presented to him by a group of vets from the F\5-159th Medevac Unit. Houston runs Purple Heart to honor his brother, a Purple Heart two-tour Vietnam vet who died from complications from exposure to Agent Orange.

DICK PENNIMAN

He is the nation's foremost expert on ski safety and avalanches and an outdoorsman with a world-class scope of adventures. Penniman has taught more than 3,500 ski patrol officers and others about avalanche safety and has never had a person injured by an avalanche among the tens of thousands who have enjoyed downhill winter sports on his watch.

As an instructor, he has taught for 30 years at Sierra Community College, the National Avalanche School, Outward Bound and elsewhere, and provided free lectures at REI stores in Northern California. As an expert in ski patrol, Penniman has worked for Sugar Bowl and Alpine Meadows, and has been hired as a consultant across the United States and Canada and in Chile, Argentina and Australia.

His adventures also have spanned the globe. Penniman sailed six months from San Francisco to Jamaica, trekked over 360 miles in Nepal to Everest Base Camp at over 20,000 feet, and twice kayaked the length of the Grand Canyon. He has completed the Markleeville Death Ride on a bicycle nine times and has raced in the Great Ski Race seven times.

JOHN KOEBERER

John Koeberer is best known as the innovator who brought new-style concessions based on serving the public - from kayak rentals to cabins - to parks and lakes in California, including Lassen Volcanic National Park, San Pablo Reservoir, Asilomar in Pacific Grove and dozens of other recreation destinations across California.

What is lesser known is that Koeberer is the founder and creator of FitKid, a program that rewards children for participating in outdoor recreation and making healthy choices, and Capture California, the first outdoor online social media game.

Koeberer was the first person in America to appoint a child, a 7-year-old, to a national parks foundation board of directors, to provide advice about what youngsters want at parks.

Koeberer is an avid fly-fisher who fishes in California, Oregon, Montana and the Rocky Mountains, and an accomplished skier, runner and hiker, having hiked every trail at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

BOB FORD

As a police officer, Ford's perspective on youth led him to volunteer and then direct the San Francisco Police Department's Youth Fishing Program. "We just want a chance to steer kids in the right direction," he said.

In 25 years, he helped introduce thousands of youngsters, many of them disadvantaged, to fishing, and in the process provided a window where they could see a better way of life. Trips ventured out the Golden Gate for salmon and to Lake Merced for trout.

He also volunteered to help turn the therapy pool each year at Shriners Hospital For Children into a trout pond so physically challenged young people could catch a fish and have a brighter day. Ford is also an avid outdoorsman whose adventures have taken him across North America from Mexico to Alaska on world-class adventures.

Among thousands of trips, he has caught giant salmon and halibut in Alaska, marlin, tuna and dorado off Mexico, and grouper in Florida, and has dived for lobster in the Caribbean.

NORMAN CLYDE

This 20th-century mountaineer (1885-1972) achieved more than 130 first ascents, many in California's high Sierra and Yosemite. He set a speed climbing record on Mount Shasta in 1923, where he climbed from Horse Camp (at 8,000 feet) to the summit (14,179 feet) in 3 hours and 17 minutes. In 1925, he completed 53 climbs in the Sierra Nevada. Clyde has 1,467 articles archived at the Bancroft Library at the UC-Berkeley. He was a guide, naturalist and author.

"In my 80s, I still prefer to sleep outside at my ranch house, in my sleeping bag, not a bed," said Clyde, according to the Bancroft Library.

In 2018, Tapon returned to his California home after a series of expeditions in which he hiked 10,000 miles, including 2,000 miles across Madagascar, and climbed 50 of 54 of Africa’s highest peaks. Tapon has traveled to more than 100 countries and has written two books, “Hike Your Own Hike,” from 2006, and “The Hidden Europe: What Europeans Can Teach Us,” in 2012.

“The whole five years in Africa, it cost me $110,000,” he said. “It’s a lot of money, it’s true, but a lot of people could afford to do this if they wanted to. I camp, I live simply, buy street food. My biggest expense was a reliable 4x4 pick-up truck to get around Africa.”

MICHAEL FARRIOR

Michael Farrior is a world-renowned figure for his volunteer work with the International Game Fish Association and the Tuna Club of Catalina Island, and as a historian and benefactor for wounded soldiers and youth. His scope of adventures includes 15 years in Alaska, across much of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and in many countries, including Australia, New Zealand and nations in Africa. He is a member of the game fish association's Hall of Fame and was appointed as the first historian in the association's history.

His passion is big-game fishing for giant tuna, with special interest in the history of the sport in California and around the world and sharing that passion with others. Farrior was among the first to privately fund fishing trips for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq. In the past 10 years, he has been the catalyst for launching a series of Junior Angler Tournaments from San Diego to Northern California.

Farrior has contributed to fishery management around the world. In 2009, the game fish association honored Farrior with a special proclamation that declared him a "national treasure." In Washington D.C., then-Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-San Diego, entered into the Congressional Record that Farrior is "sport fishing's own national treasure."

ED MIGALE

Ed Migale is a pioneering saltwater angler, world-traveled expert hunter and a supporter of youth hunting programs who has shared his expertise with thousands.

Migale may be best known for developing light-tackle saltwater fishing techniques, with which he helped invent and refine drift-fishing, including building new-style custom rods designed for salmon, halibut and rockfish. Thousands have attended his seminars.

Lesser known is that Migale, as a hunter, completed the "royal slam" of turkey hunting, taking all five subspecies of wild turkeys found in North America. He has hunted and fished throughout California and much of the United States, Canada and Mexico, along with Argentina and Africa.

Migale has served as a primary volunteer for conservation organizations, including the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited and the California Waterfowl Association. With California Waterfowl, he was a founding member of the Youth and Education Committee. When federal law first allowed for a special "Youth Hunting Day" in 1996, Migale arranged for dozens of youngsters to hunt at his duck club.

In addition to teaching through seminars, Migale has shared his expertise on fishing, hunting and conservation in national and regional publications, and through Wilderness Unlimited.

JACQUELINE DOUGLAS

Jacky Douglas has been California's No. 1 goodwill advocate for salmon, fisheries, conservation and water issues during a 50-year career. She is charismatic and accomplished, one of the most popular party boat captains in America, and has taken an estimated 150,000 people from all over the world fishing out the Golden Gate. She is the first 84-years-young professional female skipper on the Pacific Coast.

She has donated her time and boat to the San Francisco Police Youth Fishing Program, Golden Gate Fishermen's Association and KGO Leukemia Cure-A-Thon. Douglas is also an excellent naturalist; she can find describe seabirds, marine mammals and ocean anomalies to her customers.

To protect salmon and water resources, Douglas has represented the Golden Gate Fishermen's Association at state and federal hearings and met with several members of Congress.

Douglas passed her Coast Guard examination in 1972, purchased her first party boat and managed to find a niche in a male-dominated profession. With a mastery of boating, safety and fishing, she won over the public, and in turn, her mates at the docks. Her work with newspapers, radio show hosts and TV broadcasts has brought the world of the outdoors into the homes of millions of Californians.

FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED

Posthumous

America's preeminent landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted came to California in 1863 to manage John C Frémont's Rancho Las Mariposas in the Sierra Nevada. He then became an important leader of the nascent conservation movement in the United States.

Considered to be an expert on Caliƒornia, he proposed through Senator John Conness, that Congress desgignate Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees as public reserves, making it the first wilderness set aside by a government for public use. His recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to preserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity."

Olmsted described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff or tree, "but in the miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected in the most placid pools and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and pastoral beauty.'"

Olmsted Point in Yosemite National Park identifies the importance which he held to the park's preservation. He is revered as the designer of New York's Central Park and the grounds of UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Though, his influence in preserving wild places including Yosemite, Niagara Falls, the Adirondacks and Presque Isle forever endear him to anyone who appreciates the untouched landscape.

BILL SCHAADT

Posthumous

Schaadt discovered fishing at an early age along the public piers of San Francisco Bay. He quickly became obsessed with the art of angling. In his late teens, Schaadt moved with his mother to the small vacation town of Monte Rio along California's Russian River.

During the post war years along the Russian River, Schaadt built a reputation as a skilled fly fisherman. With his angling skills and quirky, elusive demeanor, he became the subject of countless classic fishing stories. From the 1950s to mid 1990s, he was regarded as one of the top fly fishermen in the country, if not the world.

An innovative user of shooting head fishing lines, Schaadt helped pioneer Chinook salmon fishing on California's Smith River. He was one of the first to use flies to catch saltwater fish, including striped bass and rock fish. He medaled in fishing contests 12 times over the course of 19 years, usually in the chinook salmon category, and reportedly "caught more big salmon and steelhead than any other man who ever lived."

JIM ADAMS

This professional fishery biologist has an unmatched passion for fly-fishing and its techniques, history and gear. As a biologist, Adams supervised 80 scientists for the benefit of trout streams in California, and he led the pioneering study that transformed Hat Creek into a wild trout stream. He's fished in 14 states, 10 other American countries and provinces, nine European countries, and a few South Pacific venues, mainly New Zealand. Among other things, Adams is credited with inventing methods for catching giant salmon on fly-fishing gear in the deep waters of the Smith River, and he was a contemporary of Bill Schaadt and others featured in the recent film "Rivers of a Lost Coast." He teaches Rocky Mountain summer classes in fly-fishing entomology, and in retirement he fishes 180 days a year and runs a worldwide business selling secondhand books and angling gear to collectors. Named on 65 percent of ballots.

Inducted posthumously: Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture and parks; Bill Schaadt, one of the world's top fly-fishers.

SEP HENDRICKSON

As a tackle innovator, he has helped shape the landscape of fishing across the Western United States. He is also a radio show host, author, photographer, seminar speaker and television personality with the ability to capture the excitement of the adventure. Sep and his wife and partner, Marilyn, are devoted to fishing for trophy-sized trout and kokanee salmon in many Western states, Canada and Alaska. He is best known as the inventor of Sep's Pro Fishing Tackle and is an innovator who designs light tackle and techniques for trout. He and his wife also run the California Inland Fisheries Foundation Inc., which exists to improve kokanee salmon and trout at lakes in California. Named on 70 percent of ballots.