KWONG: Wait a minute - if Oregon was really hot last summer, why is this creek full of fish? Fields baked, and streams dried up, or they flowed so hot that the fish died, but you wouldn't know it from the unbridled joy of these of biologists. I was there filming for the nature show, 'Oregon Field Guide,' and this was last August, during one of the worst droughts the Pacific Northwest has ever seen. SCOTT: We're wading up a small stream in eastern Oregon called Bridge Creek. But I'm guessing these scientists are gathering salmon and steelhead specifically for some purpose. KWONG: As far as fishing goes, this kind of sounds like cheating. WATHEN: There's our first steelhead of the day, No. But just temporarily, and that allows the other three biologists to scoop up the fish with nets and drop them in a bucket - or at least, in this case, the salmon and the steelhead.
It looks kind of like a backpack out of 'Ghostbusters,' and it runs an electrical current down the poles, into the water, that stuns the fish.
One of the biologists, Gus Wathen, is walking through the water with two poles, yes, but they're attached by wires to a device on his back. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, 'OREGON FIELD GUIDE') Emily, this is the sound of a bunch of biologists going fishing.
