That's what MP's sister Paula said 30 years ago when a 72 pounder stopped her spin and glow drifting down the river... This one on memorial day happened so fast that it almost got the same response, I've seen the rod go off literally thousands of times, but this one was sooooo quick it had me and MPeasy wondering.
And what a day it was. Sunny and warm, memorial day when we can fish on Monday and it coincided with MP's ss;;;;;th , ah forget about that, it was just also her birthday and she finally felt good enough to sit in the boat for a couple hours. We launched at the civilized hour of 7;00 a.m. and I just had to run down the river to Eagle Rock where I expect there has been more King salmon sport caught in the last 40 years than any other place on the entire planet. I set up the troll and handed MP three lures, two t-50 flatfish and a brand spanking new K-15 Kwikfish. She grabbed the chartreuse Flatfish telling me that the gold Kwikfish had never caught a thing....that's the difference in our perspectives I guess, I like new, she likes proven just kinda like the guides who show off the teeth marks...We ran it out 54 feet, it dove and started to wiggle and then as is the typical flatfish strike it stopped wobbling as ol slimey touched it and then the hook got him and wall...feeesh on, that quick.
Not a person or boat in sight as we float down to beaver Creek with this fish pulling hard. We actually see him right away and of course I thought he was bigger than he turned out to be but he's certainly a noble fish right at 45 pounds...one of the new 'large' targets that are now the total of our sonar counts.
She's fished enough that I do no coaching at all. Only thing I said was at one point she had the Lamiglass a little to high and I mentioned she might break the rod and she replied with a " no I won't" which is good enough for me because we have enough rods that we could break one a day and not run out...a collection I just don't need anymore. The fight timing and netting was text book and within 10 minutes we had him in the net and released, swimming away healthy as can be.
She came to the stern of the boat and gave me a kiss and we both agreed the fish was a gift to us, a wonderful surprise driven by the joy of sport fishing, the chase , the mystery , the people and of course the river....
Now that she's getting ambulatory I hope to get out more but she's told me she most likely won't want to go as much as I will. It's the strangest thing, it was easier to find people to fish with when I was charging a couple C notes for a trip than it is find people who want to fish on the right day for free....mmmm....I'd never have guessed it and just more stuff I'm learning about being retired.
We only fished for another 45 minutes and we actually had another good chance that never got the hook good enough and I also saw one role ahead of the boat. So just based on that I think there's quite a few fish in the World Famous... But that's not what the sonar counts are saying so it's going to be interesting to see what happens as we move through this early run management plan. You know me, I'm of the opinion, and highly educated opinion I'll add that C+R fishing has absolutely NO negative effect on this salmon run. As I've said many times that with single hooks and educated fishermen mortality is virtually zero. So if the numbers don't project I really hope the ADF+G will maintain the C+R fishing...who knows some day it might be all we have. Having said that if they do close it to all fishing it will really underline just how little understanding of sport fishing there is at ADF+G...maybe really not such a surprise when you consider they're all commercial fish guys in all aspects of decision making in our state. We'll see what happens, I have my fingers crossed but I'll tell you this....people are getting real tired of the status quo around here on the commercial / sport front...So my advice to ADF+G is simple, throw the people a bone. Quit taking and give something, anything...don't poke the bear toooooo much.
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