I was fishing the tidewater from shore this evening, and hooked a coho on a spinner. The fish made a couple of strong runs to my left, and I was aware that my screaming reel and his splashing might catch the eye of one of the nearby seals. It did
and there was a large boil in the area where the fish was.
The fish escaped, but the seal had him herded up along the shore and, 40 feet to my left, the seal lunged out of the water and partly onto the shore in another attempt to grab him.
Somehow, miraculously, the coho escaped again and this time he ran along the shore back towards me while I reeled like a madman trying to keep up. He zipped past me just a few feet offshore with the drag slowing him to a stop about 6 feet away to my right.
Not wanting to mess with the net, I grabbed the leader and lifted him onto the shore, just a little bit concerned that the seal was not far behind and would lunge after him again, with me in very close proximity!
I admired the chrome wild coho and while I would normally revive the fish in the water, there was no way I was going to hold that fish by the tail in the water. So I gave him headfirst shot into the water and sent him on his way.
Just a little exciting