Paul Merz

I have lived in Oregon fishing towns all my life. Born and raised in Florence, OR. Moved on to Coos Bay, where I lived and fished for 34 years. Today, I live in downtown Charleston.

I serve many functions for Pacific Fish Trax’s salmon Project CROOS. I am on the advisory council, a volunteer sample collector and Oregon salmon fleet coordinator and liaison.

My fishing boat is the Joanne. A 50-foot wood boat built in San Diego, California in 1916.  It is made out of Port Orford Cedar planking that covers an Oregon White Oak frame.  It was re-built in the mid 1940's and again in 2000-2001, and re-powered in 2009.  Maintenance on this old boat is time consuming, expensive, and seemingly never ending, but enjoyable.

I fish alone about 50% of the time or with my wife or son when one of them is available.

When I am not out fishing, my favorite past times are to “spend time with my family, and in no particular order: salmon spawning surveys in coastal streams, helping to raise fish with Coos and Coquille River STEP organizations, watershed restoration projects, elk hunting, reading.”

My favorite “fishy quote” is a Babylonian proverb. “The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.”