Outdoors notebook: Angler's first king salmon is a big deal

By Mark Yuasa
Seattle Times staff reporter

In Sitka, Alaska, a late-summer king salmon is considered a bonus for anglers to catch.

On Aug. 20, Kevin McNamee, a captain with Island View Charters, and his five clients from Minnesota not only got a treat, but a big one at that off Point Amelia.

At around 7:30 a.m., Jay Alfers from Warren, Minn., hooked a king just off the bottom in 160 feet of water, the first in his life.

"When he (Alfers) first hooked it, we knew it was a king because it came upward and started going out away from the boat, and the fish kept going and going," McNamee said. "Since we were anchor mooching, you cannot just pick up the anchor and chase the fish."

The king continued to pull more line off Alfer's Penn International 975 reel, which holds about 200 yards of 30-pound-test fishing line.

"I was getting worried and the line was running out fast on the reel," McNamee said. "I was thinking through my head about what to do."

Luckily there were only a few sport boats and no commercial trollers around, so the likelihood of snagging with someone else was minimal.

"I was waiting for the salmon to stop, and when the reel got down to about 50 or 60 feet of line, I grabbed one of my halibut poles and got it ready to hook onto the salmon reel," McNamee said.

McNamee planned to attach the halibut swivel clip to the cross members of the salmon reel where you rest your thumb.

"When the salmon reel got down to 10 or 15 feet of line, I told him (Alfers) to throw the G-Loomis rod and Penn reel overboard," McNamee said. "The client looked at me goofy, like I was crazy."

The king salmon peeled off another 300 feet of line off the halibut reel, then finally came to a stop.

McNamee was praying the knot tied to the salmon reel wouldn't come undone as they slowly regained line on the halibut pole.

Once the salmon rod and reel reappeared on the surface, McNamee noticed there was only one wrap of line left on the salmon spool. McNamee's deckhand, John Nelson, reached down and picked up the salmon rod from the water, and Alfers once again began fighting the king.

It took Alfers a good 55 minutes as the king ran around the boat twice. At the time they didn't know if it was snagged, but the king continued to stay down deep in the murky water.

"At that point we thought OK, the king must be 50 pounds-plus," McNamee said. "After some more muscling we had the fish about 25 to 30 feet off the boat, and it was thrashing like crazy. I could hear the teeth snapping on the line, and that is when my deckhand said it was bigger than 50 pounds."

The king then ran around the boat one more time in a desperate attempt to get away.

"My deckhand finally netted the king, and it was so big that it was hanging out of the net," McNamee said. "It was a very exciting moment. The motors were blocking Alfers' view, so I don't think he realized what he caught until the fish hit the deck of the boat."

McNamee, a resident of Sitka, who has been a guide for more than 10 years, says he doesn't know of any king landed by a sport angler bigger than the one he witnessed.

"I've caught some 60-pound kings, but this one weighed 75 pounds and was 52 inches long," McNamee said. "I was grunting trying to hold the fish up."

Earlier this summer a commercial troller landed a king that weighed 93 pounds and also was 52 inches long.

"The next day it finally sunk into him (Alfers)," McNamee said. "That is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime fish in my book."

WOW! Chrome bright too.

That's the brightest chinook I've seen of that size. Or is it due to the color contrast from the angler's suit?

Thats why I love S.E. Ak., give me a (chrome) king that fights like that, over 1 of those 90 lbs. Kenai boots anyday.

The part I loved was when the skipper hooked the rods together and told the angler to toss his rod over the side. Now that was creative problem solving.

Nifty little trick with the rods... its a nice fish alright... I guuuuuess...

I caught a 50 pounder 2 years ago up in Canada near Alaska. But, 75 pounds is crazy. What did throwing the pole over accomplish? That confused me.

He was still anchored up with the boat and running out of line with the salmon rod. He would have had to run in circles with the boat to pull the anchor and would have undoubtedly increased his chances of loosing the fish. I just want to know how many more halibut rods he had! That's quick thinking in the clutch.

Its actually fairly common among a number of guides I know up there, I always had a rod ready but never had to use it.
A guide I worked with once tied a buoy off to a rod and tossed it over while he was fighting a large butt, came back to the rod and ended up reeling in the largest king of the year for the resort, 64 lbs. He swears to this day, he was sure he had doubled up on big butts.

Once while fishing out of Ucluelet with the Oak Bay boys, a fish swam under the boat and got fouled in lines on the other side. (this rarely happens;))Being a pretty nice fish the deck hand (Biker guy with Mutton chops)cranked the drag all the way down and instructed the guest to "throw the rod in the water" after a few strange looks the guest casually tossed the whole rig over. The deck hand then got it on the other side of the boat, cleared the lines and handed the rod (with drag loosened;)) back to the guest.

Pretty Clever, Eh?

wow, that is a nice fish,