My Place Among Fish: Misadventures on the River

by Kris Millgate

Following fish from the ocean to Idaho during a pandemic is impossible . . . until it’s not. In the follow-up to her first memoir, My Place Among Men, journalist Kris Millgate migrates with Chinook salmon, the kings of the Pacific Northwest, from the Oregon coast to the Idaho wilderness. Her solo travels during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic prove more challenging than anticipated, but those she meets along the 850-mile river route shine light on one of the most fascinating sagas for endangered species. Road trip with Millgate as she interviews the people of the Pacific Northwest—farmers and fishers, dam builders and dam breakers—who have a stake in the narrative of disappearing salmon. Each year dwindling numbers of protected fish nearly kill themselves on the journey back to their cribs to lay eggs and die. They swim against the current through four rivers across three states twice to spawn only once. Millgate as their witness, she documents their struggles, the vestiges of dying but resilient wildlife. My Place Among Fish is the story of how one woman chases salmon migration from the ocean to Idaho. And, just like the fish, she falls apart along the way. What happened in front of Millgate’s cameras appears in the film Ocean to Idaho produced by Tight Line Media. What happened behind Millgate’s cameras is revealed this book. This is her back story. “A deeply personal journey, by turns both hilarious and moving. This is a fish story not about what is caught, but what is lost if we do nothing.” — Matthew L. Miller, author of Fishing Through the Apocalypse “Frank, painful, reflective—the only kind of story that could be told during an unprecedented year.” — Rebecca Gottberg, Rediscovered Books

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Tight Line Media CEO Kris Millgate is a bold storyteller, but she wasn’t born brave. Millgate, an Emmy-winning outdoor journalist born the same year as the Endangered Species Act, grew up painfully shy and afraid of beards.

She spent a decade in TV news before starting Tight Line Media in 2006. With three decades of multimedia storytelling, Millgate traverses the country in search of dynamic topics.

Tight Line Media productions tour with film festivals and win national honors. As
producer, writer, videographer, photographer, certified drone pilot, editor and gear
hauler, Millgate engages in every project with inspiring enthusiasm and unmatched
intensity.

In the edit bay, she never tires. In the field, she never stops. She hikes, bikes, rows and
flies her cameras into the wilderness to collar grizzlies, catch trout, and count birds.

Millgate is also a trail runner, fly fisher, bird hunter and avid seeker of awkward moments. She’s outgrown her shy side too. She talks to strangers daily and she hangs out with beards often.