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Everybody Has a Story: Fish were biting, but they didn’t misplace their teeth

By Wayne “Bucky” Ritter, Ridgefield
Published: September 14, 2016, 6:03am

One afternoon during the first week of September 2015, my friend Jim came to Vancouver. Jim, my girlfriend, Pam, and I decided to go salmon fishing on the Columbia River. We launched my boat at Langsdorf Landing, on Lower River Road.

We loaded up the boat and headed downstream to fish from the bank below “Tena’s Bar.” We caught some fall salmon — the tide was ending — and we loaded up and headed to the boat ramp. I got out and walked to my truck, then got in line to take the boat out because lots of folks were there waiting. I backed up — and then my lower mouth felt sore.

So, I removed my teeth (partial) and placed them in the ash tray on the dash. We loaded up and headed for home.

We arrived home to clean the fish and I went to retrieve my teeth. Gone!

For two days I tore that truck up and looked everywhere. No teeth! Gee, $1,400 thrown away. What to do?

About 10 days later, Pam and I decided to go fall salmon fishing again. Same place, caught some fish and headed for the boat launch. I walked up to get the truck, backed down and loaded the boat. Pam followed, walking up the boat ramp, and said, “You won’t believe what I found. Your teeth!”

“Where were they?”

“Right here on the concrete pedestal.”

Now what are the odds? Lucky Bucky, wow! Just think how many hundreds of folks walked by those teeth.

A few days later, I went fishing alone, same place. Caught a salmon, tied up my boat at the ramp. Some nice gentleman helped me load the boat onto the trailer. This guy walked up the ramp, stopped me by the pedestal and said, “You won’t believe this. A couple weeks ago, some idiot left his teeth on this pedestal. Can you believe it?”

I said, “I’m glad you didn’t take them, because I was that idiot!”

Everybody Has a Story welcomes nonfiction contributions, 1,000 words maximum, and relevant photographs. Email is the best way to send materials so we don’t have to retype your words or borrow original photos. Send to: neighbors@columbian.com or P.O. Box 180, Vancouver WA, 98666. Call Scott Hewitt, 360-735-4525, with questions.

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