So I called Shanna and before I even got a chance to tell her what was going on, she suggested that I not come home until I had something in the cooler. I couldn't tell at that point if she was just being nice or simply mocking me (come to find out, she is the coolest wife ever), but I went ahead and took advantage of the momentary lapse of reason and stayed the weekend.
By Friday afternoon we were back on the river, this time with two boats and four fishers. Kreg was the only one responsible enough to go to work for the day.
So picture this:
Jason and David in one boat, and Steve and I in the other. Sounds great except that the two guys that know what they're doing are both in the same boat - and it aint me!
Steve and I manage to get organized nonetheless, and wouldn't you know it, not 15 minutes up the river I hook into a nice heavy Chinook.
This is where the picture should be....BUT
After a very good fight and only minor choas as Steve tries to clear the junk off the deck and stay out of the way, the fish gave a funny wiggle and then took off in a straight line towards the bank. Was really confused until a seal popped his head up out of the water with a fish (my fish) in it's mouth. So we chased the dumb thing around with the boat, got it to let go of the fish, but then all I had hooked was the seal. Chased it some more and finally gave up and broke the line off. Aaaargh! Being the optimist that I am, I was really quite pleased that I had 1) caught a fish and 2)caught it on my own rigging. Things were looking up.
The next morning, Steve and I went out early early and started trolling.
And we trolled and we trolled and we trolled...and finally by 2p- a hookup! We had slowed down to work on the steering bracket for the motor, and right as we came to a stop, I noticed that my rod tip was bumping around. I thought I had a snag and didn't pay much attention to it. Then a few seconds later it dipped again and I knew something was going on. Ended up being a 13lb Chinook (or King). Kind of small, but it still fought real good for about 5 minutes before Steve kindly (deftly, expertly, professionally, etc) netted into the boat. Since it was a native, we had to dig out the regs to make SURE it was a Chinook and not a Coho since you can keep one and not the other. Now that's a good problem to have!!
