Born in the tumbling, oxygen-rich waters of a Pacific Coast stream, Salgair quickly learns about survival of the fittest. Following Salgair, a steelhead trout, as he grows from a small fry in a river to a trophy fish in the ocean, and experiences the dangers, both man-made and natural, that he faces during his life cycle. Barry Thornton is one of British Columbia's best known and respected fishing authors, having earned the Outdoor Writers of Canada Award of Merit, as well as the Roderick Haig-Brown Memorial Award. He has been involved with fishing and the outdoors all his life, as a professional educator and as an outdoors writer and photographer.