Woke up around 9am this morning after a good night's rest, packed my gear, and headed down to the river. Wasn't too busy when I arrived around 9:45am, but by the time 10:30 rolled around, things were getting BUSY. lol
I only managed two bites, and I didn't see a ton of people getting into fish. That said, one fellow couldn't keep them off his line, and must've hooked half a dozen over the course of an hour or so.
The only fish I actually hooked took HARD, and then proceeded to headshake like crazy for a few seconds before it took off like a rocket. I mean, this thing was peeling off line like a demon, and before I knew it nearly 100 yards of line were gone. My medium weight spinning rod was bent to the cork, and throbbing like crazy. The fish finally slowed, and I turned it's head and started gaining line back slowly. This lasted for about 30 seconds, and then zzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!! off the fish went again. By this time I was pretty sure it was no Pink Salmon, every bone in my body was screaming "CHINOOK!"
Again, the fish slowed, and I turned it's head and began gaining line back. By the time I had got the fish half way back, I was sweating like a fat man in a marathon in the early September sun. Suddenly my line went slack, and I began reeling like crazy. I looked up to see a wake "veeing" towards me, and it was all I could do to reel like a maniac in hopes of catching up to the fish. I did, only to feel a couple more headshakes and then the line went slack again. I reeled frantically, trying to gain back the slack line on the fish. My arms were shaking by this point, and I'd only been fighting the fish for a couple of minutes. And then, just as I'd caught up to the fish, the worst happened.
The line went completely slack.
I could feel the hook come loose from the fish's mouth. I once again reeled as fast as I could, hoping beyond hope that the fish was simply swimming towards me again, but in my gut I knew this time that it had come unbuttoned. And sure enough, after 10 seconds or so, I saw my spinner pop out of the water - all by it's lonesome.
Everyone around me that was watching let out a collective groan, as I'm sure they wanted to get a glimpse of the beast almost as badly as I did. But it was not meant to be. Once I finally got the line reeled all the way back in, I sat down on the rocks, shaking, and wiped the sweat from my brow.
"What was it?" asked a fellow on the path behind me who had been watching the whole thing.
Not actually having seen the fish, I couldn't tell him with absolute certainty what had escaped my grasp. But having caught hundreds of pinks in my fishing life, I'm pretty much positive it wasn't a pink. My bet would be Chinook, as every move the fish made - including the big head shakes after I set the hook and the blistering runs - was very chinook-like. Could it have been a big coho or chum? Possibly, but a coho would've likely been on the surface more, and it's very early for a chum.
Regardless, it was exciting. I spent the rest of the day without a bite, but I didn't mind. I'd had more than enough excitement for one morning.
And I'll be back again this week for more.
Tex
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Topic: Tidal Fraser River, September 5th 2011: A run-in with a beast of a fish... (Read 2565 times)