Air coho

[rogerdodger]

I felt real good driving to Siltcoos this morning with my friend Gene, I even told him we were both tagging an adult coho today. He did not argue against that outcome but neither of us was prepared for how my coho would 'hit the boat'.

we were working along the shoreline with spinners in an area with lots of downed trees laying in the water, I caught my spinner on an underwater log 3 times, got it back all three times and said something like "one of these hard stops on my spinner today is going to be a big a$$ coho...about then I saw a nice one roll not far OFF, told Gene I was moving us that way so I could target it and I got up on the bow and hit 'anchor' on the motor remote.

I was targeting the area all around where it rolled and on the 5th cast, it hit hard, maybe 30' away and went airborne, coming right at the boat, tail dancing around the bow so fast that I had slack line laying all over the water...big jump and thrashing just OFF the other side of the boat and I am reeling like crazy to get some tension when it happens- instead of tossing the spinner or making a run away from us, this well built 29" buck launches himself cleanly over the side of the boat and lands on the carpet. all I could say was "you saw that right?"...Gene said "yep, that coho just boated itself". I marked in red on this image the path taken by "Air Coho":



well the fight wasn't over, this coho seems to have planned to jump on my boat and kick my a$$ but after a brief wrestling match on the deck and some blood splatter (his, not mine), he was on the stringer and bleeding out over the side....

my fishing day complete, Gene trolled a bit and then I moved us along the shoreline so he could cast in and sure enough, about an hour after I tagged mine, he hooks into a nice 27" hen that we put in the net real quick.

 

[hobster]

Awesome Roger, good looking fish! Killer story too:thumb:

 

[pinstriper]

Good job, Roger !

 

[Irishrover]

That is a great fish tale! I've had them ram the boat but never jump in like that!

 

[hobster]

Just reminded me of the live Grateful Dead album.........Without a net

 

[Hooked Up]

Nice fishes and a funny story! We had a small (non hooked) fish almost land in the boat on the Wilson one time.

 

[rogerdodger]

thanks everyone, it was so unexpected that I actually had to consider how the regs would deal with it. For anyone curious, this is how I thought it out:

--------------------------------------------
General Restrictions [h=1]Angling and Harvest Methods, Hours and Restrictions[/h]

• Harvest Method: Angling.
• Restrictions: It is unlawful to:
• • Snag, spear, gaff, net, trap, club, shoot or ensnare any freshwater game fish. A hand-held landing net may be used to land a legally hooked fish. A gaff may not be used to land salmon, steelhead or other freshwater game fish in inland or ocean fisheries.
  • Take game fish other than those hooked inside the mouth.

--------------------------------------------------

First, the spinner had one tine of the treble solidly hooked inside the mouth and it did not come out during the jump. In fact, I was very aware the other 2 tines during the on-boat wrestling match. I use wide gap trebles on my spinners and getting one of those rammed deep into my hand was something I wanted to avoid.

Next, did we use any of the unlawful techniques (Snag, spear, gaff, net, trap, club, shoot or ensnare)? Nope, the fish jumping onto the boat does not fall under anything in that list, so the fish was legal to retain and tag.

cheers, roger

 

[Gulfstream]

That is a GREAT story!

 

[EOBOY]

That was an "Oh S#!t" moment for you AND the fish.

 

[rogerdodger]

That was an "Oh S#!t" moment for you AND the fish.

thinking back, I should have tossed that lazy coho right back into the water, spinner still firmly in it's jaw, grabbed my rod back from Gene and shouted "fight! fight me you lazy salmon..."...lol

 

[montym]

Nothing that says a fish can't commit suicide, what?


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[EOBOY]

Good one Monty! Are ya getting settled over there?

 

[rogerdodger]

well my hope that coho would continue to just jump onto my boats was dashed just a couple of days later, I was actually required to net this 30" buck at Siltcoos....oh well.

 

[troutdude]

Stupid requirements! LOL

 

[hobster]

Pepper is smiling too! Coho bandit reprezenin:thumb:

 

[Coburg44]

great story