Lightweight Rod.....BIG Fishy

[DocSpotty]

Yesterday morning my work schedule fell completely apart so I decided to head up to one of the local rivers to assuage my pain and perhaps catch a rainbow or two as consellation for missing a fun packed day doing root canals (you guys know you want one). Coincidentally my fishing gear “just” happened to be in the car so I was ready to go….imagine that….gives deep meaning to the boy scout motto, “Be Prepared”. While driving north on the Parks Hwy the weather was fabulous…..was nearly 60 degrees….like a tropical heat wave here in Alaska this time of year. My car windows were rolled down to celebrate the beautiful morning. As I pulled into the parking space, and with great taste, accessorized myself for the river..... a guide whom I know, was just coming back from the fishing the mouth of this river and when asked, told me he hadn’t had much action. This was not to deter me….after all I really had nothing else to do.

So armed with my trusty Loomis 5wt fly rod I headed down to the confluence of the two rivers I was by. No one around at all….looking directly north, hanging over the Big Susitna River, was a beautiful, and rare due to weather, view of Mt. McKinley. As I made the first few casts with my weighted sculpin visions of 25” rainbows danced in my head (which, according to my wife, contains a tiny, four-lobed brain just like the fish). But rainbows were not to be. As a matter-of-fact, my fishing day lasted exactly 6 casts. When the 6th was cast I let the fly quarter downstream and as I did some very minor, but sharp, stripping the fly locked solidly onto something. Of course, there is lots of wood in this stretch of water but this thing bolted like a racehorse downstream. My initial reaction was “YEAH”….big bow…..but about halfway into my backing I realized this was much larger. A few seconds later, a mighty jump and my suspicions were confirmed….my first king salmon of the year! Having fished hard over more than the last 4 decades I assessed the situation rapidly……..and knew I didn’t have a hope in heck of landing this fish on the gear I was using….5wt with 10 lbs tippet (which, because I’m an idiot, I had not even retied from my previous trip.

After 20 minutes, a few more spectacular jumps, I had actually gained half of my line back and had managed to keep this fish out the submerged logs hidden everywhere. But about this time my recently reconstructed rod holding shoulder was burning, getting numb and quickly becoming useless (which the wife says about me frequently). I kept switching hands just to give it a break. Finally at the 30 minute mark I allowed myself to actually believe this behemoth might be mine as I had worked her into shallow water. She made a couple of massive wallows in the skinny water and I was finally able to beach her….I dropped the rod, rushed down and carried her onto the bank…..yeah baby!!

She measured in at 42 inches and nearly 40 lbs. Of course I may have to cancel the next few days of work due to an inoperable shoulder BUT it was worth it. Thanks for indulging an old man.





Brian

[Cap'n Ron]

Whoo hoo!

Nice fishy Brian!

Wow.

I need a dentist like you! Would you throw in a fish trip as an incentive to come up and have ya work on my mouth?

I'm tasting that king this morning in my twisted mind.

[r!der]

Nice fish and good write up!

[Trout-Slayer77]

HOLY $h%T !!! Brian, that is a beast. hats off to you buddy, congrats on landing that monster on the light setup !!! great Pics !!

[big_mike_70]

w0w...on a lite setup...congrats...u have much more patients than me...haha u do cause ur a dentist,,,

CONGRATS AGAIN>>>

[OnDaHunt4Fish]

That is one bis A** fish SUPER GREAT JOB thanks for sharing.......keep it bent

[SoCalGuy7]

What an awesome day for you....That thing is a monster...Hope you had that thing mounted...Must be great (when not freezing arse) to be up in beautiful Alaska...

Thank you!

SCG7

[breeze71]

One of the best reports I've read!!!

Congrats! Great looking fish DocSpotty.

Now when you go back for that root canal, ask for the MAX dose of pain relief & replay landing the fish while you're down for the count. :)

[DocSpotty]

breeze71.....I agree about the pain killer and I should even get a max dose of nitrous oxide (laughing gas)....unfortunately, I am the administrator of the root canals not the receiver (although I have had a few......fun times). Somehow they frown on me being "mood altered" when doing dentistry.

Brian

[johnsfishing]

great post!!! Huge Salmon :cool:

johnsfishing