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74renegadesfor treaty rights shaky because it reflected a lifestyle long gone: “He[an Indian fisherman], probably is going to drive to the fishing spot,use some store bought materials in his gear, land a hatchery fish andtake it home to a refrigerator.”At 2:00 a.m. on March 2, Adams roused reporters to catch Brandofishing the Puyallup River in one of the biggest local news stories ofthe year.“Marlon Brando is coming and we’re going to have a fish-in, justlike the black people had sit-ins,” Bruce Wilkie, a Makah Indian, toldhis attorney, Al Ziontz. “Meet us at the Puyallup River bridge whereHighway 99 crosses the river, just outside Tacoma, Monday morningat eight o’clock.”Brando’s presence drew big-name journalists and stirred emotionsacross the country. The fishing struggle bumped from the sports pageto the front page, and into the American living room. Throngs ofjournalists showed up toting the large television cameras of that era.Charles Kuralt, a cbs anchor, met Hank Adams for scrambled eggsand bacon.“One of the things that Marlon did was bring the news media, andI mean, boy, big time. . . ,” Billy recalls. “And that was part of ourtools of telling the story. Oh, he was great, Marlon Brando was a greatperson, and he took a lot of Indian causes.”Accompanied by Bob Satiacum, a Puyallup Indian arrested forfishing violations in the 1950s, and the Reverend Canon John Yaryanof San Francisco, Brando took a very public stand in support of treatyrights but never caught a single fish. The catch came from Johnny’sSeafood Company. “I got in a boat with a Native American and a . . .priest. Someone gave us a big salmon we were supposed to have takenout of the river illegally and, sure enough, a game warden soonarrived and arrested us.”“We knew the game wardens would make arrests,” confirmed MelThom. The niyc wanted to catch the state hassling Indians on tape,and further its campaign.