Thursday, June 5, 2008

You won't believe this fish story, but I've got pictures!

Yesterday evening a friend and I went fishing for King salmon at the mouth of Ship Creek. We weren't there much more than 5 minutes when Barbara snagged some fishing line in the water. I didn't think much of it for nearly every time I've gone fishing, I've either found or snagged line, but it was what Barbara said next that caught my attention "There is a fish on that line!". I didn't have enough time to say anything when this huge fish jumps up out of the water and 1/2 way in between Barbara and the fish, up pops another fishing pole!
Now, when the fish jumped, that caught the attention of all the people fishing around us. With the encouragement of the forming crowd, Barb reeled in the fishing pole, then grabbed the wet pole and reeled in the king. Turned out that it was snagged in the tail, but before we could release the fish, some guys that had been trolling for kings to tag for an up coming fishing derby had come over and wanted to tag it. Since Barb couldn't keep it, she let them tag it and release it.
In the mean time, the guy that had lost his rod had come over wanting to claim his rod and fish. Turns out the the guy is not from Alaska, well, he never actually said that he was from the lower 48, it was the comment "What do you mean I can't keep it?!". Not only was he not from Alaska, he was most certainly a novice fisherman for he had placed the pole on the ground to chase a piece of plastic that had blown out of his tackle box. Now, I consider a pole with a lure in the water the equivalent of a drink at a night club, you never put it down and you most certainly do not take your hands off it!
The two guys that helped Barb get the pole and fish to the bank told her, after the guy who had lost his pole had left, that they would have made sure that she kept the fish. I do believe by law, that it would be hers since she was the first to have her hands on the pole when the fish was on the line.