Wayne in BC
New member
When you hear that downrigger THUMP, and the rod tip stays nearly in the water while the reel goes shrilling into overdrive, while falling over loose objects in a small boat, as you grab frantically to get it out of the holder while telling yourself to slow down and enjoy the trip....it never works! I still get as excited as a kid!
Finally the rod was firmly in my hands, i gave it two hard and sharp strikes to seat the big hook, that added another gear along with a couple more horse/fish power to the big Spring (our name for them) and she took nearly half the 300+ yards of line on my reel with her on an unstoppable, at least not without breaking the 20lb line, rush!
Mitch said, wow! thats a big one huh? I said, seems pretty strong! I have caught many in the 30 lb range and some have not fought as hard as a 20 lb, and some have fought like twice their size. I was getting more excited/nervous because i had never even lost one that had pulled this hard and long.........
It became a battle of fear mixed with exhileration and after 20 minutes of my not gaining much line and Miz Fish not weakening, yep it was a girl and good thing i did not know that yet as it would have wrecked my judgement, the very thought of a girl fish beating up on me
, i felt the tension soften as the fish began moving a bit towards the boat at an angle. Then instant worry as the danged thing began to swim right at the boat!
Danger time! Slack line bad bad! Reel like crazy, Mitch quick! Hit the throttle and move away parallel! Done! Good lad! This happened twice more in the next 10 minutes , then finally the Salmon came to the boat to amaze us, its huge silvery size glinting 10 ft down in the fresh young sunlight through the water...whooooo, now i was even more worried!
They always make another strong run or two when they see the movement in the boat or a net in the water, she was no exception making two powerful but short surges. One does not want to try and net a "green" fish, the temptation is always there when they first come to the boat and it must be resisted. Finally the fish was finning quietly with just her huge back under the water and maybe 6 ft from the boat, i handed the rod to Mitch with instructions to pull her gently to me and the net. No way was i going to put the burden of netting such a huge fish on the boy. Both for physical reasons as well as any possible netting mistake would make him feel worse than i.
We use an 8 ft long adjustable length net handle and a very large bag, it is necessary and technique is crucial.
Mitch had done this numerous times and had the feel for it, so the giant slid towards me and i had the net in the water, headfirst, aim, scoop, GOTCHA!!
It was all i could do to lift her into the boat cause i was unbalanced and leaning over a seat, but it came to be and the two of us starting war whooping and hollering, much to the delight of people in three other boats who had stayed clear, knowing we had a good fish on. They saluted us and came over to say....whatchacatchiton? howdeepwuzit?
We finally put the beauty on ice, my huge Coleman barely held it.........
I got more to tell you later........
Finally the rod was firmly in my hands, i gave it two hard and sharp strikes to seat the big hook, that added another gear along with a couple more horse/fish power to the big Spring (our name for them) and she took nearly half the 300+ yards of line on my reel with her on an unstoppable, at least not without breaking the 20lb line, rush!
Mitch said, wow! thats a big one huh? I said, seems pretty strong! I have caught many in the 30 lb range and some have not fought as hard as a 20 lb, and some have fought like twice their size. I was getting more excited/nervous because i had never even lost one that had pulled this hard and long.........
It became a battle of fear mixed with exhileration and after 20 minutes of my not gaining much line and Miz Fish not weakening, yep it was a girl and good thing i did not know that yet as it would have wrecked my judgement, the very thought of a girl fish beating up on me
, i felt the tension soften as the fish began moving a bit towards the boat at an angle. Then instant worry as the danged thing began to swim right at the boat!Danger time! Slack line bad bad! Reel like crazy, Mitch quick! Hit the throttle and move away parallel! Done! Good lad! This happened twice more in the next 10 minutes , then finally the Salmon came to the boat to amaze us, its huge silvery size glinting 10 ft down in the fresh young sunlight through the water...whooooo, now i was even more worried!
They always make another strong run or two when they see the movement in the boat or a net in the water, she was no exception making two powerful but short surges. One does not want to try and net a "green" fish, the temptation is always there when they first come to the boat and it must be resisted. Finally the fish was finning quietly with just her huge back under the water and maybe 6 ft from the boat, i handed the rod to Mitch with instructions to pull her gently to me and the net. No way was i going to put the burden of netting such a huge fish on the boy. Both for physical reasons as well as any possible netting mistake would make him feel worse than i.
We use an 8 ft long adjustable length net handle and a very large bag, it is necessary and technique is crucial.
Mitch had done this numerous times and had the feel for it, so the giant slid towards me and i had the net in the water, headfirst, aim, scoop, GOTCHA!!
It was all i could do to lift her into the boat cause i was unbalanced and leaning over a seat, but it came to be and the two of us starting war whooping and hollering, much to the delight of people in three other boats who had stayed clear, knowing we had a good fish on. They saluted us and came over to say....whatchacatchiton? howdeepwuzit?
We finally put the beauty on ice, my huge Coleman barely held it.........
I got more to tell you later........
