A Pioneer Outdoor Broadcaster, The Innovator of Online Fishing Reports, An Advocate for Youth Outdoors Education, The Consummate Outdoorsman and A Major Leaguer Who Embodies the American Sportsman among inductees
Five legendary outdoorsmen will be inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame at the International Sportsmen’s Exposition at CalExpo in Sacramento on Sat., Jan. 18 at 11:30 a.m. This year’s induction ceremony will be preceded at 11 a.m. by a special presentation by the Golden State Salmon Association to previous inductee, Dick Poole.
To be inducted will be a broadcaster who was among the first to bring voice to the outdoors, the California salmon advocate who innovated online fishing reports, a hunting guide and outfitter who started outdoor youth camps, an avid hunter, angler, conservationist and guide who wrote the book on duck clubs, and a Major League Baseball legend whose generational love of the outdoors has taken him far and wide.
“Each of these great outdoorsmen inspired thousands to take part in outdoor adventures and conservation and took part in a paramount scope of personal adventures,” said Outdoors Hall of Fame President Tom Stienstra.
The inductees are among over 100 celebrated California outdoorsmen and women who have been inducted to the Hall since its establishment in 2002.
Belno “Bel” Lange
Every fisherman and hunter raised in the Sacramento/Stockton region from the mid-’50s through mid-’80s grew up to the voice and image of Bel Lange and his ‘The Outdoorsman’ TV show.
Upon his passing a decade ago, the Mountain Democrat (California’s oldest daily newspaper and then home to Lange’s tales of the outdoors) reported that, “His written words put us in the boat, at the shoreline or in the water to reel in that prized catch while his descriptive hunting excursions put us behind the sight and pulling the trigger from deep in the brush.
“We traveled far and near with Bel Lange — to Alaska to seek salmon and halibut; to right here in our backyard in search of trout, mackinaw and bass.
“Lange … delivered keen insight to his readers on how to fish, hunt and enjoy the outdoors. … Lange is probably best known for his weekly TV show, ‘The Outdoorsman’ that won an Emmy in 1955 for best sports show in Northern California.”
Lange started the television program on Stockton’s ABC affiliate in 1954, eventually moving it to CBS’s KOVR, Channel 13 in Sacramento, where he served as Executive Producer, Production Manager and General Manager.
‘The Outdoorsman’ lasted 28 years on TV. Thereafter, Lange hosted the hour-long call-in radio show, ‘The Outdoorsman with Bel Lange’ on Sacramento’s KMJI station. Through it all, each show ended with Bel’s memorable closing line, “Take Time to Enjoy the Great Outdoors.” Those oft-repeated words encouraged many to do just that.
A beloved feature of his show was Bel’s Bafflers, trivia about the Great Outdoors that entranced people who’d never cast a line, bagged a pheasant or hiked a mile along a forest trail. He compiled them into the book (still being sold on Amazon), “Bel’s Bafflers, Outdoors trivia, recipes and cartoons” that featured on its cover, the baffler, “Can you name the bear that is pigeon toed?” If you named any bear, you were probably right, as most bears are pigeon toed. Lange had a knack for engaging people in becoming interested in outdoor topics, through the use of minutiae, humor, oddities, curiosity and little-known facts. Though, he backed up his entertaining delivery with solid information about camping, hunting and fishing.
Lange passed away on April 1, 2013, at 88. He is remembered as “an avid fisherman, hunter, camper and guide to many. Lange’s paramount scope of outdoor adventures retold colorfully on air and in print were an introduction to outdoor sports for generations of Californians. He provided motivating memories, entertainingly described, for nearly six decades. During that long tenure, he was credited with inspiring tens of thousands to mimic his adventures and “Take Time to Enjoy the Great Outdoors.”
Mike Aughney
Mike Aughney, a lifelong advocate for the survival of California’s fish and wildlife, spent most of his 63 years as recreational and commercial angler and environmental advocate. He is singularly recognized as the originator of online fishing reports, beginning with the establishment of USAfishing.com in 1994. He continued his advocacy as a charter board member of the Golden State Salmon Association (GSSA) and is integrally involved in all aspects of this important organization.
Beginning in his 20s, Aughney worked both in the recreational salmon charter boat fleet off the Golden Gate before joining the commercial salmon fleet in both California and Alaska.
In his 30s, with salmon stocks in decline, he began a career with the Marin Municipal Water District, while sustaining his interest in ocean fisheries. In 1994, he started the first internet fishing report website using his many contacts in the charter boat fleet as his information source.
What started out as ‘Fishsite’ became USAFishing.com, covering most of the saltwater and freshwater fisheries in Northern California, attracting a large recreational readership. Aughney developed a reputation as being brutally honest, sharing his opinions on important issues, especially negative impacts on salmon by humans, water diversions, or government agencies. Due to the explosion of other internet mediums, Aughney closed the site after 22 years.
As an outspoken proponent of fisheries and the environment, he was asked to be a charter board member of the Golden State Salmon Association in 2011, currently holding the role of vice chair.
GSSA is the leading California non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and restoration of California’s salmon industry and environment. Aughney enjoys teaching others and sharing knowledge and insights about salmon issues for GSSA on his weekly segment on the California Sportsman Radio show. He has become the leading voice for California’s salmon.
Aughney, a native of Novato, began his fishing adventures for sturgeon in San Pablo Bay before branching off to commercial and recreational salmon. Aughney spent many hours at the mouth of the Klamath for salmon and steelhead, and he currently fishes several weeks per year on the Kenai Peninsula rivers of the Kenai, Russian, Kasilof, Anchor, and Ninilchuk from his vacation home in Clam Gulch. He also targets Pacific halibut from a drift boat, launching from the beach.
Aughney was part-owner of the ‘Reel Magic’ six pack out of Bodega Bay, renovating the boat and building a successful business before selling his interest to the current owners. He is an avid waterfowl hunter who has consistently worked out of a blind in the Colusa region every season.
Brian Riley
Brian Riley is the California originator of what has become a national trend in outdoor youth education.
His lifetime of work in the outdoors began in the 1980s, when at 22 he was hired as a bird boy at Red Bank Outfitters, one of California’s oldest hunting and fishing institutions. He worked his way up, eventually buying the operation from his boss.
Soon after, Riley began offering occasional youth-specific experiences, and realized his deeper purpose in the outdoors… to turn youth into safe, ethical and passionate hunters and anglers.
For over 25 years he has done this, conducting yearly youth-focused outdoors camps and hunts and employing California youth who go on to become outdoor professionals themselves. In just this, he has contributed immeasurably to protecting California’s traditions of conservation and outdoor appreciation.
Many of his young wards are so inspired by his approach that they pass along their new-found love of the outdoors and outdoor sport to other youth. Whether it is through Riley’s camps, seminars and hunts or just by example, Brian has made his life’s work that of introducing youth to the outdoor sports of hunting and fishing.
In youth camps alone, he and his team have educated over 5,000 kids about their opportunities and responsibilities in enjoying the wildlands wildlife around them.
Riley didn’t even realize that his life’s work had transformed from running a hunting lodge to youth outdoor development until 2021, nearly 25 years after he began youth programs when he established the Red Bank Outdoor Academy.
Riley’s Academy is not just for kids; the RBOA team offers opportunities for anyone who wants to learn more about safely exploring wilderness activities, especially hunting and fishing. Red Bank also actively raises funds, providing scholarships for campers who might not be able to attend otherwise.
Three generations of young outdoorsmen and women have now been inspired by their sojourns at Red Bank. Brian’s devotion is not just to make youth skilled in the outdoors, but to inspire safety and ethics among them.
Brian entered into this business because of his love of hunting, hunting dogs, and guiding, and despite the 24/7/365 demands of running a hunting business (and living on the same property) he has managed some adventures of his own. Brian has hunted birds and big game extensively in his beloved California, but also in Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Mexico and South Africa. In nearly every trip, he has taken staff members with him, with an eye to learning about other operations and bringing new ideas back to Red Bank Outfitters and Red Bank Outdoor Academy. Notably, Brian accompanied a group of his youth campers on their first South African safari–but opted out of hunting his own game, in favor of coaching them on theirs.
When pressed about his own hunts, he still marvels at his dream New Mexico hunt-–made possible by a longtime client, who wanted to see Brian experience what he had provided to so many others. This client insisted that Brian “be the client,” and introduced him to the most majestic wild elk in the country. Brian obliged, and harvested a grand old bull that the guides still talk about.
The hunting lodge may be where Brian’s bread is buttered, but it is through his development of young and new anglers and hunters that he is unique among guides, outfitters and lodge operators.
When Brian Riley and his team began inspiring youth to be outdoorsmen and women, youth outdoor camps weren’t yet “a thing.” Today, many lodges and outfitters have followed his trail.
Yancey Forest-Knowles
Described as the “embodiment of the authentic outdoorsman,” Yancey Forest-Knowles has experienced what few other California outdoorsmen or women have.
An avid hunter, fisherman and conservationist with 70 years of experience, Forest-Knowles is also a staunch supporter and advocate for our hunting and angling heritage.
He is highly respected and served on several of California’s leading committees to restore water and wetlands; and he worked to inspire protection of waterfowl, fish and other wildlife.
This great outdoorsman is one of California’s most traveled hunters and anglers. His passions are waterfowl hunting and fly fishing, leading to multiple national and international trips.
As a young man, Forest-Knowles leased hunting rights on ranches and marshes. Later, he became the managing partner in a north Sacramento Valley duck club.
Fishing for both fresh and saltwater species throughout the world has played an equal role in Forest Knowles’ life. A white-water raft guide, Forest-Knowles led trips for over a decade, and helped to develop several of the state’s rivers for commercial and public rafting. He also sailed in races across both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. Forest-Knowles is also a winning competitive sporting clays shooter.
His travels led to a deep appreciation for wildlife. Forest-Knowles became a leader, advocate and supporter of organizations and projects to benefit waterfowl and fisheries. He met with two Interior Secretaries in Washington, D.C., and helped gain the first dedicated water rights for Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.
As California Waterfowl Association Chairman, he successfully led the effort to conserve and protect our outdoor heritage. Forest-Knowles continues to serve on the Regulations and Traditions Committee and serves as Secretary of the Klamath Water Committee. He also is a member of the California Waterfowl Hall of Fame Nominating Committee.
Among his many leadership roles, he served on the Board for the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance, was the California representative for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, was a Founding Member of the Golden Gate Salmon Association, and helped organize a successful sporting clays competition and fundraising event supporting the Wildlife Officers Foundation. He is also a key member of the Pacific Flyway Center Advisory Committee.
Forest-Knowles was inducted into the International Order of St. Hubertus, the oldest (1695) hunting fraternity in the world. As past President of the Russian River Fly Fishers, he led the effort to build a professional casting pond.
Forest-Knowles has authored or appeared in several national outdoor magazine articles and co-authored a highly acclaimed book, “Pacific Flyway – Historical Waterfowling Images.”
His commitment to leaving a healthy environment with abundant wildlife inspires hunters, anglers, conservationists, the public and politicians to take part in the wonders of the natural world and protect all nature for future generations.
Dusty Baker
Major League Baseball legend Dusty Baker is also known to California outdoorsmen and women as an angler and duck hunter of renown. This inspirational speaker, fundraiser, leader of youth and former baseball champion has inspired thousands across his home state and the nation to head to the outdoors, with a personality that mixes honesty, vibrance, buoyancy and tough-love.
Baker has fished for dozens of species across the U.S. and western hemisphere: fly-fishing for brown trout in Montana and, with conventional gear, for peacock bass in Kauai. He has sought sturgeon on the Columbia River, tarpon off the coast of Mexico, giant bluegill in Missouri, bass in Florida, and many species in San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento River, Delta, Central Valley and on lakes in the Bay Area foothills and throughout California.
He said, “Not only do I love it, but I need to be out there. I just gotta be outdoors, There’s something about it.”
His scope of adventures has made him one of America’s most traveled anglers, fly fishing for trout on Hat Creek near Burney, and bass at Lake Berryessa, Clear Lake and many lakes in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and beyond. Baker came close to catching the California Game Fish Grand Slam, a sturgeon, halibut, striped bass and salmon, in a single day when late in the afternoon he lost a 50+-pound salmon after a 2 1/2-hour fight off the Marin coast.
After missing this great accomplishment, he said, “You know, ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ was one of my favorite books, because I didn’t know whether I was pulling for the old man or the fish. That day that fish (50+-pound salmon) got me, took me in the rocks, and he won. You want to win all the time, but you have to tip your hat to the opposition. I didn’t lose. He beat me. There’s a difference.”
For his love of the outdoors, Dusty credits his dad: “I really love my dad for turning me on to fishing when I was a kid. We fished almost every weekend. The thing that I remember the most was getting up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. My dad would already be up, ahead of the alarm, and I would say, ‘Hey, Dad, let’s go.’”
Baker said, “Those are some of the best times I’ve ever had.” and they led him to pass along his passion for the outdoors, by taking youth on adventures to waterfowl marshes, allowing children to experience the magic of the marsh coming to life at dawn, while he regales the kids with talk of the various birds, their behaviors and calls.
Baker has contributed his dynamic and inspirational speaking skills to fundraise for several organizations and is a champion of the California Waterfowl Association. His success led to All American Speakers, where he is contracted to provide inspirational speeches to groups across North America.
“When I was 23 on the Braves, Luke Appling (baseball Hall of Fame shortstop) took me aside and told me, “To be lucky, you’ve got to think lucky.” That goes for anything. If you don’t think lucky in fishing, you don’t catch any fish. Am I lucky? It’s true, I’m lucky. If you think you’re lucky, that’s what you get.”
Learn more about the California Outdoors Hall of Fame is found at www.COHOF.org.
