The late Fred Owens knew he was onto something when he started publishing his quarterly Northwest Fishing Forecast in La Conner four decades ago.

Owens, who died earlier this year in Santa Barbara, California, had enjoyed a loyal readership through his witty and pithy reporting for the Puget Sound Mail and Channel Town Press.

Later, he would earn still more fans as editor-publisher of the on-line Fred’s Almost Weekly.

But in the 1980s, prior to his move to Anahuac, Texas, Owens briefly switched gears and lent his unique wordsmithing style to a locally based specialty journal devoted to fishing...