71 on the wall from the Kenai like Fred but got a pic of a 50 off the Chehalis years back.

Whoa! Way to dig this one up again, Doc!

7 years later and Still no PNW 50 for me. Pretty close to the 50 mark with a Kenai buck up with doc, but that's it.

Maybe I'll get lucky (not in that kinda way!) up in Las Craigas this summer. My goal is to get a 40+ out of the salt.

Yes, the Old Man did land a 58lb. Kasilof King and got his AK Trophy certification along with it. The absolute hardest slow water egg/diver take down I've ever seen in my life!

I love how a replica completely changes depending on the light source used and at what angle it is viewed from.

I've been lucky to hook 3 mid 40s Nooks on the Olypen but nothing that taped out to over 50.....

Seems now you hardly hear of nooks in the 40s on the coast...miss those days

Haven't seen anything remotely close to 40 in local waters since 2008.

Here's f4b with the boat's first 30 plus since who knows when?

I crossed the bar at Illwaco the first time when I was 5 years old in an 18' Glasspar. I've fished out of every port from Tillamook to Neah bay and I have fished them often. Neah bay has been my second home for July and August for the last 15 years and I have killed a ton of kings over the last 45 years. I have yet to kill a sport caught ocean King over 30lbs and wouldn't be surprised if I ever do but ill keep trying. Hardly a day goes by fishing out of Westport that 30s are not caught and lost on the radio. It's strange that these are almost never caught by someone in the derby. Yea I've caught a few at B10, the Harbor and Rivers but for me they just don't count. I'm sure I broke 50 on a fish I now regret killing above White bluff in the mid 80s but it looked nothing like Steve's fish. Steve's fish is my holly grail. Any King off one of Washington's North beaches does it for me but over 30 sure would make it a bit better.

I remember seeing a few 50+ springers at the Kalama Falls hatchery in the late 70s. At about that same time there were supposed to be 50s in one of the coastal rivers, also springers. IF it was springers that carried the last 50s to WA then marine fisheries should often miss them as they would arrive before folks really got after them in the salt, right?

Size only matters to those who aren't getting their needs met.

My largest is 30# but I've never fished in Alaska or over true trophy kings. Fastwater got a 40 - 42# out of the Duwamish a couple of years ago on light Coho gear. Largest in-sound King I've heard of in some time....

Here's one of those Vedder river "springs" from about 15 years ago. It weighed 53 lbs. on the guy's scale that I gave the fish to. You don't see many this size anymore up there. But then again... it's been a few years since I've fished it. They are very similar to Tules. They turn black as soon as you bonk them and the meat is pale and mushy... but they fight like crazy under the right conditions. You don't land too many this size without the proper gear either, eh!

That's one THICK stumpy beast, 4salt. Look how the girth just carries into the tail!

I wish it were as pretty as Robbo's or Gweed'os fish. It's hard to delineate where the anal fin is because of the dark grey / green color. I caught a 62 on the Kenai back in '88 that is my biggest king to date.

Never in the Salt. Possibly a couple out of the Hump, and believe it or not the Cedar River. We're talking late 70's there were some huge Chinook in them waters.Not to mention a big Steelhead run.

In general, I DON'T FISH CHINOOK.....I get asked to fish Buoy 10, Willapa, GH.....just lost the interest to fish "big fish".

Now that's not to say I've never been a big fish chaser. Humptulips, late 80's caught one that weighted 49 when I got it home after 8 hours and one in the Chehalis that "local" had to help me net.....it was BIG, I didn't want so "local" said he take....but changed his mind and released.

There area few big fish, left but......not like the days past.

Do 50+ year old bar flies in Westport count?

Some GOOD memories of some big kings (50 plus) on the Green that flowed into the Toutle.

That story about the woman who caught the 50+ at RI, story I read was that they tied it to a tree, the hubby came back in with a couple fish in the mid-twenties, he took a look at the beast and said "Just catch the one?"

My best is only 35#, from Langara Lodge in its first year (1986), but it sure was fun!!! Went back to the lodge (actually a shack on a barge) and woke the wife, whe came out and nailed a 30.

42 lber from the Hump. 44lbs from the "old" Toutle in the 70's.

There was not a month on the Toutle that there was not fresh coming in of some kind! The Green was fly fishing for them big kings.

Best I could do... 37# ..fresh from the Hoh

I was super close a few years ago, about as bright as an upriver can be in mid September. A couple pounds short. Still tryin.