Ok, Now I know this is the cyber world, You know, the place where we have all landed 30lb steelies and 60+ Kings.
But with as much honesty as you can muster , tell us about your most memorable fish battle.
Mine?:
I was fishing on my birthday, Oct 28th last year, On the Sacramento river out of Red Bluff California, the late fall run on the Sac.
My brother John was with me, who has no river fishing experience.
We are drift fishing for Kings from the bank,
I had caught a 30lb buck and about an 18lb hen, when I set the hook on a pig.
I have caught hundreds of kings and can tell a foul hooked fish immediatley. This ole boy is fair ball!
Well, this bad boy sets down on the bottom and won't move.
I'm locked up with my Loomis 8-12 IMX, 15lb main line 12lb leader (Maxima Ultra Green).
I continue to work the Hawg for about 20 minutes, and I get him out of the main current of the river , and he gets his wind and bolts right back out into the main channel where he lays.
Finally I work him into the frog water again and into a pool to my left, I work him into a position where my brother can get to him with my oversize net.
Suddenly I see that huge tail come out of the water, and I know this is the biggest fish of my life.
After a few more short runs, I have him near the bank and my brother takes a stab at him with the net,
************ S-N-A-P-! ****************
:
well my brother hits my leader with the net. and It's OVER.
I am sick.
I reel in and feel the deep frays on my line.
I know nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught, but that was a TOAD!
The record for the Sacramento river is 88lbs.
This pig was in the fifties at least.
It still hurts.
Come on guy's lets hear it!

Mine was over a third child (she was for and I against). It lasted 5 years and I won.

KK: Not even close. I'd play Duc to 100 potato launchers rather than go through the 3rd kid battle again.

The avatar is a classic. If I hadn't been standing on my seat taunting Bob with the pelvic thrust I don't think I'd have the alias I do today. Also, I've been given a fair amount of [Bleeeeep!] for ducking in that photo when the potato missed by about 6 feet, but I can assure you given reaction time, when that spud left his gun 300 feet away it looked like it was headed strait at me.

How bigga boy are ya............

Mine isn't a massive king, or even a salmon at all. It was my first ever river caught trout on a flyrod...size 20 BWO no less!

LAst year I took a trip to the South Platte, the dreamstream section, to try and step up from lakes and learn REAL flyfishing . It was early spring, 40 mph winds and cold as...well...you know. There were no hatches to speak of, and it didnt matter cuz you couldnt cast anyways. I was in shorts and a T, and I quickly said forget this, and huddled behind the little footbridge, in the only place I could get out of the wind. Not the greatest spot to fish, but at least I could cast. I was goofing with a bugger when I noticed a few bugs starting to come off the water...I mean a FEW, like maybe 3 every few minutes. I kept hearing what sounded like a rise, but never saw anything. I tied on the #20 BWO and started casting, no luck. I got bored quick and just let it drift behind me while I tried to figure out what the heck I was doing. I heard a sucking sound, and pure reaction snapped up hard, I really didnt think at all, just instinct, and my line took off! Suddenly I was hooked into the biggest wild trout of my life, with 6x tippet...hoo boy. I must have made a comical sight, this crazy teen in shorts and a t shirt stumbling through the frigid shallows in skate shoes

Easy answer.. 70 lb Yellow fin Tuna. 1 hour of blood, sweat and tears.. Those things pull so damn hard.. And this was on 60 lb test with a rod and reel that was more like a crane than a fishing pole. Best part is when you put some on the BBQ.

Wild Steelhead Release, Statewide, No Exceptions

Dec 27th 1970, I got a spinning reel/pole combination for Christmas. I had no idea how to set the drag or steelhead fish. I bought a license for the last 3 days of the year. I talked with a friend about my plans to catch a steelhead. He told me to tie a pink spin glow on a three way swivel and a plunking weight on the other end. He told me to go to the river and throw it in the water and wait. I drove out to Johns rv and went 12 miles up river to an area that is about 15 feet across. I tossed the spin glow in the water and went to place the pole in the crouch of a small tree. My pole started to bounce up and down and line went off the reel. I had just hook and landed my first steelhead on my first cast. I threw the rig back in the water and the same thing happened except this time the fish took all of my line because I didn't know how to set and use the drag. I was very lucky the first cast because the fish did not take off. I was so new at this that two other fishermen saw my fish and offered to clean it if they could have the eggs. I told them they could have the eggs because I did know what to do with them !

This this a TRUE story.

Conserving giant Kenai kings.... and sad to say, a bit of a losing battle at this moment.

OK, back to keeping this thread on topic. If we're talking hand-to-fin combat, here's my story:

Backtrolling the Pillars on the Kenai with K-16's and divers, just me and my brother Noel in 1998. Line angle on one rod starts to go vertical.

I tell my brother, "Hey you're snagged up."

He says , "Nah, the plug's still working, it's OK"

"No way, its almost straight up and down... you're diver is snagged up and the line is just slipping through"

"OK, you're right"

He starts reeling and the line is now past vertical and pointing upstream. He says, "Damn, it's really snagged up.... motor up."

"I am," as I begin powering upriver.

"I said motor up, dammit"

I barked back, "I am, dammit! Look... we're way above that other boat now," pointing to the boat that was alongside us just seconds earlier.

OK we'd had him on for the better part of an hour. No problem, he's leading very nicely... just drift down across Chicago (aka the Crossover)and beach him on the next bar above Beaver Creek. As we're working our way across, the line suddenly goes limp.

After more than an hour, all we had to show for our efforts was a swivel, 3 ft of 80# test leader, a mangled up 00 Zebra Spin-N-Glo, and a pair of 7/0 octopus hooks! OK, we did get some video footage, but not one scene showing the actual fish. After it porpoised in the first minute of the battle, it never suraced again. The only other glimpse I had was a vague headshake.... I could only imagine how much fish was beyond the 2 ft of viz we had in the water.

When I think about the odds.... giant fish breaks off a previous angler, a one-in-a-million hookup on a barrel swivel, the epic battle, the predicament of running out of rod, then running out of beach, only to have the hooks pull loose.... WOW! I've yet to touch another fish that size again....but you never know! That's what keeps me coming back year after year.

AWESOME Story Keen Eye!
I have landed a couple of fish by hooking the barrel swivel. What are the odds?????
I went to highschool with a guy named Dan Bishop.
He moved to Alaska right out of highschool and his first year of guiding for kings on the Kenai, he had a client that now holds the record for the longest fresh water fish battle...37hrs!
You may know the story.
They lost the giant king at the net.
The battle has been questioned by many, including myself, It would seem that a fair hooked king, regardless of size wouldn't take that long.
Oh well, Who knows????
Once Again Doc,
Thanks for the story!!!!!

PNP-

that exact same thing happened in my boat 2 years ago, below poacher cove. The fish came up on my buddies rod, but like you, we stood around saying what-the-f#$*, as there's the spin-glow but the rod is still hitting the drink.

Luckily, our drift set-up had a much shorter leader than your diver-quickie. Our hook was also through the swivel, but we were able to boat the fish. The kicker is that the fish was 50 pounds. That's story number 1. Now to the best story of them all...

Last Year the same thing happened again, but this time in my fishing partners boat @ falling-in. The exact same thing happened as yours, being on a quick-fish, and hooked through a swivel. Because of the amount of line out below his rig, my friend wrapped the line around his jacket, the other guy cut and tied tied a blood knot to existing line, and they landed the fish. Here's the kicker of ALL kickers. The fish weighed an even 62 pounds.

The funny thing, they didn't seem that impressed by their teamwork and quick-thinking. When you fish the Kenai every year however, it's hard to get impressed anymore. More like depressed! Actually, there's A LOT of fish swimming around the kenai with knots and swivels dangling about. It's a fairly common occurance

fNp: Same thing happened to me last winter, exept different. The fish was not as big. My buddy Steve and I were side drifting the Hoh last March. I happend to be sitting on the hot rod that day. I put my buddy through slot after slot first, only to have my rod go down hanging out the back of the boat (batting clean-up I call it). I think I was like seven fish to his one when my rod goes down again. After a few battling the fish for a while I started getting it up to the boat. When the slinky sinker appeared, Steve redied the net. Up came the four-foot leader, but no sign of a fish, yet there was clearly one bucking at the other end. When my hook became visible, it was pierced through ANOTHER slinky!

Beyond that was another four-foot leader that the fish was attached to. My buddy Steve threw the net into the boat with some profanity about me being a lucky SOB. He put the boat on the beach and I slid the fish up on the cobble.

This fall I had a pretty good fight on the Hanford Reach. I was backtrolling a herring/jet diver at B/C Reactor when my rod doubled over and started peeling line fast. I joked that the fish was trying to spool me as I started fighting it. I had several hundred yards of 50lb braid on top of a few dozen yards of mono backing, and have pulled literally hundreds of chinook from this hole, so I wasn't worried... at first. I threw the kicker in neutral as the fish kept running. I threw it in reverse as the braid ran out. I gave it full throttle reverse as the mono backing dwindled. I watched the revolutions slow almost to a stop as it got down to the arbor knot... and reached the rod out pointing at the fish to get the last few inches possible as the boat was nearly catching up to the fish's epic run. But at the last possible instant... pop! I felt the line snap at the spool. Dejected, I looked down at my now-empty reel as the boat flew backward down the river. Huh? A slight tug, tug on my rod. I looked again at the reel and turned the handle. Still empty. Another tug, tug. I looked up to see that the curlicue of the broken knot has snagged in the third-to-last eyelet on my rod, and with the line nearly slack as I'm backing downriver, it's holding. I quickly handed the rod to my buddy and handlined in about 20 feet, and told him to rethread it through the line guides. When he was done I handed the line to my other buddy who kept handlining in some slack while I retied the arbor knot. When I reeled in about 20 yards of slack line, I still had the fish on-- although it was all the way on the other side of the river and downstream. By this time the fish was about played out, and I just had to reel in all the line-- good thing, because the level-wind pawl picked this time to malfunction also. I landed what turned out to be only a 32-pound hen, but she was a chromer and it was the hottest run I've ever seen. She must have had some assistance from the current at the tailout of the hole.

I was 10 years old and was with my Father and two of our old fishing/hunting buddies. We were fishing Neah Bay in a 21 foot Bayliner, and needless to day I was a bit seasick. We had run out to the buoy and ther were 30 ft. rollers. The guys had left me the wheel of the boat, told me to keep it pointed up the waves and gone to sleep. Dad had a big a$$ canadian fly rod with one of those Daiwa fly reels that holds about 300 yards of mono. The reel starts peeling out line like crazy, and of course, being young I grabbed the rod out of the holder and as I'm screaming for someone to wake up I reach in to stop the handle on the reel. Thankfully I only lost the skin on three knuckles and didn't break a finger. I stopped the reel and got control of the fish. I landed the biggest Coho of the trip at 16.5 pounds. That was the one and only trip to Neah Bay.

Top secret spot in the Salt, BC Canada. Here you mooch horse herring 10 feet off the rocks in 100+ feet of water for kings to 35lbs and silvers. I was fishing with a guy from work that had been bugging me for a few years to take him. I always caught a lot of fish and he was sure he could out fish me.Fishing was slow so I decided to troll hootchies in a small bay that you have to surf over the kelp bed at high tide to get into. It's 30 ft deep with a rock hump right in the middle. You troll a hootchie over that rock hump in less than 10 ft of water and just slay the black cod and sea bass. It provides some fun action to break up the day. My rod goes off and the tip of the 11 ft rod buries in the water. I think I snagged the rock. So I take it out of the holder and give it a couple of tugs up and it tugs back. So I set the hook and it takes off like a rocket for the kelp bed 400' away. I tighten the drag a bit and it swings the back of the boat around. The guy with me starts guessing , Halibut, Skate while I try to slow the beast down. It just keeps taking line and I hold on. Whatever it was stopped just short of the kelp bed and the open ocean. I guess I had some 300' of line out on the Canadian Moochie reel. Then I feel the unmistakeable head shake of a big King. I tell the guy it's a King. They start laughing why would a King be in this bay. I fight the fish for 20 minutes. I would get it close to the boat but it would stay on the bottom and then make a run. It did the traditional 3 king run and then stayed under the boat and just thumped from side to side for a few minutes. I still maintained it was a King and the guy just laughed. It finally gave up and just layed over on its side. I reeled it up off the bottom and you could see the silver sides as it came to the surface. Then it appeared it was the biggest King we had ever seen. There was a mad scramble for the net and he was hauled into the boat. We just looked at each other then started to scream and high five. The fish was way too big for the boats cooler so we layed it in the bottom of the boat and fished for a few more hours. When we got back to the dock a local suggested a store with a big scale. We took it in and five hours later it weighed 74 lbs.

Mine had to be in December of 2002. I was on a guide trip on the queets river. The guide hooked some fish, and handed me the rod to fight them. Even though that was great, I still wanted to hook one by myself. And finally in the last hole just above to take out, I casted my spinner and started to retrieve. It felt like I snaged, and remembered that the guide said the fish hit and then feel like a snag. Realizing to late, this fish (about 15lb coho) jumps out of the water and spits the hook. I felt bad, and thought that fish could have been the only one for me that day. I told my self NO! I will catch a fish. On the next cast into the same spot, a hudge crome bright silver hammers the lure and tail walks on the water. I end up fighting this fish for about 20 minutes, then it was landed. I could not believe it. This silver weighed 20lbs. I will never forget that day.

Lower Columbia river oversize Sturgeon.
It was like a tank!
But I won the battle!
Then released him.

One of the most memorable (and humorous) fish fights for me was a couple years ago in the summer on the N.F. Stilly.

I'd been fly fishing all day catching nothing and with the heat of the day coming on was about to call it a day. My ever optimistic fishing buddy talked me out of it so I went to my favorite twenty yard stretch... again.

Fished about 15 yards of it using more and more line then I usually would with each step and not really paying attention to well... just about anything.

Then I got one of the biggest strikes I've ever had, and coupled with the fact I was'nt paying attention it scared the hell out me.

I jumped so hard it sent all my loose line flying over my head, arms, rod..etc.

I still had the fish on though and for it's first run I had to do two standing 360's to free up line wrapped around me. Then I realized the next loop of line went over my head so I started running downstream to accommodate the second run.

I got that loop of line off only to realize there was still another loop over my head and conveniently stuck on my elbow.

I somehow got that dealt with very ungracefully and managed to finally get the fish on the reel.

Once I got it on the reel I clearly remember thinking " ha, your mine". At that exact moment the fish came unhooked.

Felt like a nice six pound something and I somehow maintained my composure and got a real laugh about it. Next time I'm just gonna take that fish and the line wrapped around me up on the bank.

Oh yeah I found it pretty humorous that FnP misspelled physical.

Took a charter this year at Westport....Had a great time catching big Kings in the 20lb range (see archives)..Best fight was with a huge blue shark...Must have been in excess of 8ft..

Anyhow....everyone is telling me I should break it off but I am having a bit of fun and after about 10-15 minutes..I have the thing alongside the boat for the release. We looked at each other (me and the shark) smiled a little and went our separate ways.

Those freakin' lines the charter guys use must be in excess of 150lb test....lol

8 years or so ago on the lower Hoh. It was raining like a mother and the Kings were moving through. I hooked 1 that ran me a 1/4 mile down river (through a shoot) and I was able to land her (30lb). The river forked at the time but I had walked it earlier that morning and knew I could cross where I needed to. I watched other people hook fish and break them off instead of doing what I did.

Later on I hooked one that I weighed at 38lbs when I got home. It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes (in front of witnesses) to land. I would get him in to about 10 yards out and then he'd go NUTS. Finally Fishhead ....... (he had been watching) yelled at me and wanted to know what was taking me so long. I told him what was happening and he said that was because the fish was hitting it's belly on the sand-bar 10 yards out. Eventually I got him tired enough and over the bar. At that point he was netted easily. I was one tired and sore boy for the 4 hour drive home.