Salmon

I have a very nice preseason salmon that I caught in September  

I just renovated my boat completely, gutting it down to the aluminum shell.  I own a 18ft bass tracker (1984) with a 50 HP mercury.  Upon completion of this 2 week-endless project it was time to get the lines wet.  My test run, or maiden voyage, was off the pier at Olcott.  At approximately 11:30 pm, anchored off the Red Pier, I was quickly losing interest in fishing as the night was progressing with no strikes.  Without warning, I hooked into the battle of a lifetime, 29.5 lb 46.5” king salmon.  I use a guide series 7’6” rod, with a Pfleuger m/h action reel spooled with 14lb fire line.  This fish came up like a marlin, did a back flip out of the water before running 50yds of line in 3 seconds.  

As the fight progressed, I noticed the glow spoon was 3-4 feet up from the fish.  I was scratching my head trying to figure out why the spoon was not hooked into the fish.  Oddly enough, when the fish hit he jumped, tangled the line around the bone plate on his jaw, spit the hook up and out; but subsequently the lure bird-nested 3.5 ft up from the fish.  Meanwhile the only thing holding this fish to my line is the wrapped noose on the gill plate.  After a 10 minute fight we were able to land the fish successfully, finally seeing the fire line wrapped around this bone plate, and completely in tact. 

I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing, a fish that was basically caught without hooks, but just the line and noose;  all by complete luck was I able to land this fish. [fish was later released]

Fire-line has become my new best friend as I recommend this to anyone fishing for salmon.

Attached are the copies of my Salmon, and then also a couple of other pics reflecting some brown trout that we have caught this past week.

All together out of 3 evening trips and one day trip we have caught and landed 2 kings, 1 Coho, 2 browns, and lost 3 others, and also had one break off last night.

Fishing is not in its prime as of yet, but with the lake flipping from 73.0 down to 53.7 degrees since Sunday, the run will come fast and furious over the next couple days and subsequent weeks.

My counterparts on the fishing expedition for the salmon and brown trout over the past week have been Bryn Smith and Ryan Thomas.

Enjoy the photos.

Justin's Summer Walleye

Justin  Wekenmann holds up a nice  Brown Trout caught at night again at  the Olcott Pier in September