Registered: 05/03/01
Posts: 10878
Loc: McCleary, WA
Closest I've come is 29lbs for a king. 27lbs for a steelhead. 19lbs for a silver. Caught a lot of nice fish over the years, but never near that mark of 50lbs.
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"Give me the anger, fish! Give me the anger!"
They call me POODLE SMOLT!
The Discover Pass is brought to you by your friends at the CCA.
I have the original issue of Fishin Holes with the story in it, I'll try ad scan and paste it up if I can find it. The fish was hooked by a guide out fun fishing with fellow guides after work. Fish came close more than once but finally broke off , was for sure estimated well over 100.
That's the one I remember. I read that article and painted mooching weights on a warm summer night when I was +/- 12 yrs old.
That story has kept me awake many nights. Still does.
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"...the pool hall I loved as a kid is now a 7-11..."
If you don't like our prices bring your wife down and we'll dicker.
An OLD friend of mine still holds the Washington Satate record for a 70 lb saltwater chinook from Pillar Point. I believe it was in the 60s. He is quite old and I have not seen him for a few years. I do hope he is still around. Chet Gusta.
Record book says Sekiu, but he told me Pillar point.
Registered: 12/11/02
Posts: 5187
Loc: Carkeek Park
I've always wondered back in the old days how many fish over the 70.5 saltwater record were just caught and eaten without ever being weighed. I bet plenty. Largest I've ever seen in person was a 63 lb our neighbors daughter caught with us on a family trip to Campbell River. That was in the early 70's. There are some great fish people are posting, keep the toad pics coming!
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Go Dawgs! Founding Member - 2023 Pink Plague Opposition Party #coholivesmatter
high 30's for me. saw a 50 or damn near. funny story about that day. Cowlitz trib. fished one day, cohos and kings came almost on top of each other. limited on both in very few casts. was super excited to go back the next day. Saw my mothers physical therapist for her back surgery at tumwater sports that night getting gear. never fished by herself yet, husband was at work. she was headed to the cowlitz in the morning( she said with a sigh). my stepfather and i looked at each other and took pity. gave her directions to this zipper spot.next morning im fishing, landing another high 30's fish ( 35 minute battle) i see her fishing. short leader ( 10 inches maybe!) and a kenai or wild steelhead sized golf ball of a cheater. she was excited when she saw me and fish were getting caught everywhere. i hear her say fish on!. 3 cohos and a king later for me...she's still got this fish on. im thinking...well shes never fished by herself before, so i walk over to give her a hand. shes in the process of trying to beach this MONSTROSITY. when she finally see's the fish ( hour later) she almost drops her rod, she starts keening ( crying and yelling) she gets it close and cant beach it...so i put the size 12 to good use and couldnt budge it...had to pounce on it and wrastle this thing onto the beach. i look down and really get a view of how big this fish is. im 6'5" and took two hands under its gills to lift it...jaw was high stomach to chest level and the tail was on the rocks. i had landed a few fish in the 30's that day and this thing dwarfed them. she cried for awhile. blubbering. couldnt even punch her card because she was crying and shaking so much !! she wasnt sure how her husband would feel about catching a fish without him, bigger then anythings he's even come close to, and on her FIRST KING! hhahahah. it was dark...but i dont think she cared.
Same river two years later i saw a 50+ year old man almost have a heart attack packing out a 50+ pounder. dude was Purple...i actually told him to pause a sec because i was worried about his color. and if he wanted me to carry the thing the rest of the way up the trail. he declined but collapsed on a stump. i styed for a second because i was truly worried he'd blown something. never seen a guy actually turn that shade of blue and purple. it was a hen and bright. hahaha i still have this image of a 5'8" man holding this fish in front of his face by the gills, the tail almost on the ground doing the two step down a trail while puffing like he ran the boston marathon. ha.
Edited by Mergantroider (12/01/1107:24 PM)
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“If fishing is interfering with your job, get another job.”
. The battle was rather pitiful.... there was almost no load in the rod thru most of the battle. While Ploeger was being interviewed mid-fight, the rod tip was only bent half way to the ferrule at mid-shaft.... about what an 8-10 oz cannonball would accomplish.
When fighting a BIG fish, what part of "deep heavy bend in the rod" do folks not understand? Good thing I wasn't the "guide" in that boat. I'd'a been all over that guy's a$$.
Pull GDI! Pull HARD! JFC! I said H-A-R-D, GDI! You're NOT gonna break the f'n rod!
I got little girls that'll make a rod bend better than a lot of the grown men I take fishing. Seriously, I wanna see it bend right to the corks.
Like this....
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"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)
"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)
#722377 - 12/01/1109:08 PMRe: Who's officially in the 50+ club?
[Re: eyeFISH]
Dan S.
It all boils down to this - I'm right, everyone else is wrong, and anyone who disputes this is clearly a dumbfuck.
Registered: 03/07/99
Posts: 16958
Loc: SE Olympia, WA
Quote:
Pull GDI! Pull HARD! JFC! I said H-A-R-D, GDI! You're NOT gonna break the f'n rod!
You don't spaz out like that all the time do you?
Because i think that would get on my nerves.
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She was standin' alone over by the juke box, like she'd something to sell. I said "baby, what's the goin' price?" She told me to go to hell.
Glad the hook didn't pop (notice how I didn't reference "spitting the hook") at the end there. Camera girl was in the DANGER ZONE! That woulda left a mark for sure.
All this talk of putting pressure on the fish is gonna hurt BFD's feelings.
How did I know I was gonna get drug in to this. Knew it was curtains when Francis started chanting about bend in the rod or some kind of odd thing like that. We all have something to work on...........
not nice.
at all.
Good thing I got old scotch. Don't think I could take the abuse. Here's your chance.......fire away.