F
Fisherman.Z.
0
My uncle who is stationed at mcchord afb in washington sent me this story from the washington fishing forum he belongs to. i thought it was good enough to tell everyone about!
"Dear Friends and Fellow Fishermen,
As some of you may already have heard, last week, on Friday, 20 February I was out fishing on the Hoh River with Shirley. It was a wonderfully clear
day, the temperature a little below freezing and a herd of elk were grazing
in a Riverside pasture. The river was running exceptionally low and clear
and we were swinging flies through some attractive water. I was using my
15-foot Spey rod, Shirley was using her eight-weight, single-handed rod.
There had been little action but I had seen one good-sized fish roll a
little ahead of me and, for a brief few seconds, I had hooked into what
appeared to be a 12-pound or 15-pound fish. At around 2 PM I was swinging my
fly through some good-looking water and something that I can only describe
as a lightning bolt hit my whole body. Suddenly my Ross reel was screaming
at a decibel level usually reserved for Rolling Stone concerts. In a couple
of heartbeats 200 yards of line had disappeared from my reel as the fish
headed for Alaska. I told myself not to panic, but my whole body was
shaking; I knew that if I could survive the first round I would at least
have some chance of getting the fish to the bank. For the next 30 minutes I
battled the fish, standing at times chest deep in the middle of the river on
a submerged bar.
At this point I had not seen the fish, but eventually I managed to make it
back to the river bank and was able to stand on dry ground. At that time the
fish exploded into the air, executing three cartwheels. I couldn't believe
my eyes, the fish was almost 4 feet in length. I had never seen a steelhead
like it. After 45 minutes of battling the fish I managed to beach it gently.
My intention was to let it go, having first measured the fish, but it was
bleeding quite heavily from the gills. As it seemed likely not survive the
ordeal, and because it was the fish of a lifetime, I decided to take the
fish. In 10 years of fishing Washington state rivers this is the first fish I have ever taken, of any kind, from a river.
At this point, several boats appeared, heading down river. In one of the
boats was my good friend and mentor, Jim Kerr; with him in his boat was a
state biologist, who measured the fish and took some fish scales. A couple
of other boats arrived and had spring scales with them, and we weighed the
fish. One set of scales said 31 pounds and the other said 32 pounds. The
fish was dragged for about a mile through the forest to our parked car and
then taken to Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks. We weighed the fish on their
scales and it registered 31-1/2 pounds.
As many of you already know, there is a formula for estimating the weight of
a fish. In essence you square the girth of the fish and then multiply that
by its length and divide by 800.. My fish was 44 inches in length with a
girth of 23-1/2 inches. That would result in a fish weighing 30.38 pounds.
It was not until the following day, 23 hours after the fish had been caught,
that I managed to get the fish to a State-accredited set of scales, at Key
City Fish Company in Port Townsend. The fish had obviously lost a little
weight due to loss of fluids and bleeding, but it still weighed 29.5 pounds
at that point.
I have subsequently contacted the International Game Fish Association to
check on records for fly-caught steelhead. It turns out that the existing
world record for 8 kg tippet is a 28-pound fish caught by Chuck Stephens on
the Skeena River on 20 October 1985, 24 years ago. I am now in the process
of submitting my fish of last week as the new world record. On further
research it also appears that this would also be the largest steelhead ever
caught on a fly rod for all tippet classes.
Hopefully you all enjoyed the story and the pictures. Many people got to see
the fish before I dropped it off at a local taxidermist. One state biologist
confided in me that he was 62 years old and had personally caught over 5000
steelhead and that this was the biggest steelhead he had ever seen in his
life. Another chap simply shook me by the hand, looked me in the eye and
said, "This isn't the fish of a lifetime, it's the fish of a thousand
lifetimes."
"Dear Friends and Fellow Fishermen,
As some of you may already have heard, last week, on Friday, 20 February I was out fishing on the Hoh River with Shirley. It was a wonderfully clear
day, the temperature a little below freezing and a herd of elk were grazing
in a Riverside pasture. The river was running exceptionally low and clear
and we were swinging flies through some attractive water. I was using my
15-foot Spey rod, Shirley was using her eight-weight, single-handed rod.
There had been little action but I had seen one good-sized fish roll a
little ahead of me and, for a brief few seconds, I had hooked into what
appeared to be a 12-pound or 15-pound fish. At around 2 PM I was swinging my
fly through some good-looking water and something that I can only describe
as a lightning bolt hit my whole body. Suddenly my Ross reel was screaming
at a decibel level usually reserved for Rolling Stone concerts. In a couple
of heartbeats 200 yards of line had disappeared from my reel as the fish
headed for Alaska. I told myself not to panic, but my whole body was
shaking; I knew that if I could survive the first round I would at least
have some chance of getting the fish to the bank. For the next 30 minutes I
battled the fish, standing at times chest deep in the middle of the river on
a submerged bar.
At this point I had not seen the fish, but eventually I managed to make it
back to the river bank and was able to stand on dry ground. At that time the
fish exploded into the air, executing three cartwheels. I couldn't believe
my eyes, the fish was almost 4 feet in length. I had never seen a steelhead
like it. After 45 minutes of battling the fish I managed to beach it gently.
My intention was to let it go, having first measured the fish, but it was
bleeding quite heavily from the gills. As it seemed likely not survive the
ordeal, and because it was the fish of a lifetime, I decided to take the
fish. In 10 years of fishing Washington state rivers this is the first fish I have ever taken, of any kind, from a river.
At this point, several boats appeared, heading down river. In one of the
boats was my good friend and mentor, Jim Kerr; with him in his boat was a
state biologist, who measured the fish and took some fish scales. A couple
of other boats arrived and had spring scales with them, and we weighed the
fish. One set of scales said 31 pounds and the other said 32 pounds. The
fish was dragged for about a mile through the forest to our parked car and
then taken to Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks. We weighed the fish on their
scales and it registered 31-1/2 pounds.
As many of you already know, there is a formula for estimating the weight of
a fish. In essence you square the girth of the fish and then multiply that
by its length and divide by 800.. My fish was 44 inches in length with a
girth of 23-1/2 inches. That would result in a fish weighing 30.38 pounds.
It was not until the following day, 23 hours after the fish had been caught,
that I managed to get the fish to a State-accredited set of scales, at Key
City Fish Company in Port Townsend. The fish had obviously lost a little
weight due to loss of fluids and bleeding, but it still weighed 29.5 pounds
at that point.
I have subsequently contacted the International Game Fish Association to
check on records for fly-caught steelhead. It turns out that the existing
world record for 8 kg tippet is a 28-pound fish caught by Chuck Stephens on
the Skeena River on 20 October 1985, 24 years ago. I am now in the process
of submitting my fish of last week as the new world record. On further
research it also appears that this would also be the largest steelhead ever
caught on a fly rod for all tippet classes.
Hopefully you all enjoyed the story and the pictures. Many people got to see
the fish before I dropped it off at a local taxidermist. One state biologist
confided in me that he was 62 years old and had personally caught over 5000
steelhead and that this was the biggest steelhead he had ever seen in his
life. Another chap simply shook me by the hand, looked me in the eye and
said, "This isn't the fish of a lifetime, it's the fish of a thousand
lifetimes."
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haha
I was being a little sarcastic. Can't really say anything bad about it, what a beast!
