Kings & Cohos & Steelies

Well I was finally able to take Christiane to the big lake for a couple of days, so we headed out around midnight for some crazy salmon action. I really didn’t want to drag my boat to the lake this time so we hooked up with a good friend that guides there on a regular basis. I knew we would be in good hands and an extra pair of them never hurts either! We arrived at 5:00 A.M. after a long drive and met Greg just around 6 to try & get Christiane into some trout & salmon. Winds were out of the NW at around 5 to 10 knots and the waves were barely 2 footers. This was just what I was hoping for as we set the lines and waited. The first rod to fire came from one of the riggers and Christiane started with a beautiful 8 pound steelhead. The next rod went off soon after and she was battling a steelie of almost 14 pounds. Things were looking up but she still needed the king! Finally a wire line started to scream and this was the reel deal. It beat her up pretty bad but she still managed to land the salmon and after a quick pick it was immediately released. She was working her way up the ladder as this one was around 23 pounds. The next time the rod fired she wasn’t as fortunate, as this one was to live up to its name as “The King”. She was lucky though as it had hit one of the riggers and not the wire line with all the hardware. A painful & lengthy battle of over 10 minutes finally ended when the net was slipped under the 30 pound plus beast. This was definitely her personal best and almost impossible for her to hold for the pictures. She needed help! We continued to fish for several more hours all the while knowing that this fish would be tough to beat. A few more smaller ones (20 pounders) were caught before we decided to try the Abyss for a shot at some steelhead. Greg ran out to much, much deeper water and barely had the first rigger set when it popped and chrome was in the air. He knew it would be more action and that’s what he was wanting for her! Almost immediately after the first fish was netted & released another rod fired and this one put on an aerial show that had at least a dozen jumps in it. Another chunky 10 pound steelie was also released back to where she belonged. This “dog & pony show” lasted for over 2 hours with many more fish coming aboard and lost with the largest landed being a high teens Coho Salmon. Oh there were bigger as one of the kings took the reel to almost 550 feet on the counter and it started around 150. This fish had to be a real giant as it never even slowed down on the first run. Although Christiane managed to gain most of the line back, it finally came off as she neared 200. It was a heartbreaker because we never even got a chance to see how big this thing might have been before it was over. Several more steelhead and a few more Coho’s were landed & released before we decided to call it a day. The fact that her arms were ready to fall off might have had something to do with the decision as well!