A fish tale with Fishtale

What an absolutely delightful and memorable trip this was.

On Monday, my wife and I, along with two other guests, Mary Ellen and her adult son, Ben, accompanied Andy Couch of Fishtale River Guides on a morning king salmon fishing charter on the Little Susitna River. The weather was gorgeous. The company was excellent. And the fishing was good!

We arrived at our chosen fishing hole about 5:50 a.m. and spent the next 10 minutes getting set up. When Andy said, “make your casts,” my wife hooked up on her first toss. After a short fight, Andy landed the 10-12 pound fish and Debby told him to put it in the box.

Ben had waded a few feet from the anchored boat into shore and was hooked up on his fourth cast. He landed the king and was preparing to release it when he noticed blood coming from the gills. He immediately removed the fish from the water and bonked it with a club. In less than 10 minutes, two of the four anglers were limited out.

Mary Ellen was next and hooked a nice king. She played it perfectly and Andy slipped the landing net under the fish. Mary Ellen decided to release it and try for a larger one. That was to prove ominous as the day progressed.

I had a strong hit but failed to get a good hook set. I mentioned that, with my luck, I’d probably end up with a sub-20-inch jack as my fish. Sure enough, I hooked and landed a 17-inch king jack a few minutes later. Hey, I had dinner and my day wasn’t over.

All these fish had been caught casting spinners. Andy decided to try some backtrolling with plugs, so I was able to break out my “special” rod-and-reel combo. When I left the Board of Fisheries, the other members had chipped in and gotten me a nice baitcasting reel, engraved with my name and years of service on the board. I bought a nice rod to mount it on and set the combination up for king salmon fishing. That was five years ago — I had not caught a fish or even fished for kings with the rig in that period of time.

Mary Ellen and I were in the stern seats as Andy backtrolled through the hole. I had a hit using my special rig and landed another, even smaller king jack. I figured my skill-set was oriented for quantity, not quality. A few minutes later, I had a hard strike and hooked into a nice king salmon! Andy’s expert coaching kept me from losing the fish in my excitement and after a few minutes fight and a couple of strong runs, the fish was in the net!

Andy later estimated my fish at around 25 pounds!

It still had sea lice attached near its vent — a nice, bright king. Larry, if you’re reading this, Andy said my fish might be even bigger than the one you caught when fishing with him in May! It was not quite 7:30 a.m. and three of us were done.

Mary Ellen switched back and forth between casting spinners and backtrolling for a short while when the decision was made to look for fish in other holes. As we travelled upriver, we arrived at the Fish and Game weir. The attendant told us they had counted 700 kings through Sunday night and 400 kings through the night before. Eleven-hundred kings in two days really perked our interest.

We continued prospecting for fish via backtrolling as we moved upriver. After travelling several miles above the weir, Mary Ellen hooked into what might have been the biggest fish of the day. The fish made a long run and was fighting hard. Mary Ellen said she could feel the head shakes just before the fish threw the hook. We were all a little disappointed that she hadn’t gotten that fish in the boat!

The weather had been perfect and the fishing good. Everybody either had a fish or had the opportunity for a fish during the trip. Debby caught her fish on her first cast of the day. I had finally been able to fish with and catch a king using my “special” rod-and-reel combo!

The most memorable part of the trip came when Mary Ellen told me how she and Ben had been fishing with Andy since Ben was a baby, 30-something years ago. This trip was the first in quite some time where she and Ben had, once again, fished together.

That’s special!