gumpucky
2012-04-28 16:40:57
Dressed over 60 lbs. had her hold it up so it would look even bigger.
John Murray
2012-04-28 17:27:51
There a lot less large kings around overall I beleive.Any others obserse that?
Seems to be small ones across the board for me in the past several seasons as a deckhand and a skipper. I did have a gigantic one shake the boat last season, launch from the water and straighten the hook out before it swam away. I was in awe. It was huge, brilliantly colored...like a small whale or something wonderful. Maybe they are still out there, but have learned to avoid our Superiors. Maybe they have a newsletter that goes out at the beginning and end of each troll season with new spoons and hoochies to be wary of. Only those young and dumb ones bite the old superior while the big ol guys are just shaking their heads.
salmon4u
2012-04-28 21:25:23
I recently met a cool old guy, 85, who grew up trolling the coast with his mom and dad. They fished from Crescent City to SE. He showed me pictures he had.. Unbelievable!!! I'll have to go back and visit him again to make some digital copies, the photos belong in a museum. He had a picture of him holding up a hundred pound king. Talk about the good ol days... everything was pretty much open for trollers. They did eventually have to move 4 miles out from Canada I think he said, That really pissed them off.. of course he hates what's happening in general to our country now. He kept a 30 foot double ender in his front yard, a stream that runs into Puget Sound! Always painted the bottom there, got a little sanding dust into the water, the EPA got him in trouble, I didn't ask what they fined him. If like Seattle probably only 20k or so, just a slap on the wrist to an old retired guy huh? , so he pulled it onto the shore where it sits rotting away.
Salty
2012-04-29 17:46:16
Can you imagine the mess this country would be without EPA, the clean water act, and the clean air act which were passed during the Nixon administration? Compared to the Republicans today, who block any important environmental or progressive legislation, Nixon looks like a hero.
Abundance
2012-04-30 01:09:16
I personally have never caught a salmon as big as those that I hear stories of. I saw a picture in a rewinds house of a hundred pound king caught by a early power trolled in 1916. He got paid a whole dollar for it. I agree in principle about the environmental regulations. Those rebuilt king stocks didn't come about by luck. I think that sometimes they overdo it, but I can't fault their motives. Maybe we should keep this thread about big kings.
Salty
2012-04-30 01:13:28
I agree, Garrett. I never caught a big king. A few nice ones to 65 pounds.
Abundance
2012-04-30 02:58:48
Dang autospell! I meant friends, not rewinds. Yeah, my biggest dressed out at fifty four pounds. I've lost some real linkers. I had one in Chatham spring fishing a few years back that I couldn't get aboard. I fought to drag it into the boat, again and again, afraid that it would break my line. Finally I worked it in to the boat, got its massive head in the right position, and conked him dead. I gaffed him and tried to pull him aboard. A wave lifted me out of the water at that minute, and the gaff just ripped through his head. I watched that massive beast float dozen toward the bottom, making crabs quite happy. I can't say for sure that was the biggest king I ever had up to the surface, but its the one that pops the most prominently to mind. It was the only bite I got that day too.
Kelper
2012-04-30 06:52:43
You guys ever shoot big kings in the head with a .22?
Salty
2012-04-30 16:32:49
A big shark hook on a stick or a halibut harpoon handy are part of the tools of the experienced troller.
salmonfish
2012-05-01 08:56:55
Sounds really good guys, what about putting a rope through the gills and mouth with a good knot and drag it back to shore... Heard about that sometimes. Some only to get the head back, others a great success. haha!
Abundance
2012-05-25 23:21:57
Here is that picture of that 1916 power troller with a king that dressed out at 95 pounds. He got paid a whole dollar for it!