Confessions of a newbie - first ever salmon!

[Boatless]

Just back from fishing - instead of my usual west tributary pier, I decided to try the mouth of the famous river.

Although I have scouted this location a couple of times during the day, it was still tricky negotiating all the big rocks. I was surprised that it was not shoulder to shoulder.

I got set up with a 3/4 oz Little Cleo - glow in the dark orange/white and started chucking. After about 30 minutes - BAM! It took me a couple seconds before I realized what had happened - I was so not ready for what was about to happen next..

Here comes my confession - I forgot all the basics - I did not even think let alone try to set the hook. Luckily, the salmon did all the work but the only thing that kept coming into my mind was "NOW WHAT!". The reel just started to scream and line started to disappear - I then realized that I did not have my drag set properly - I did not even know that I could screw down the drag so far - but managed to set is so that the salmon did not have a free run.

Luckily, there was gentlemen next to me who immediately offered to help - he grabbed my net and we proceeded to try to land the fish. It had a couple good, long runs and I was able to get it close to shore. My heart started to pound when he turned his flashlight onto the fish at the edge of the water - then it made one final run, fish tailing on the surface.

It turned out that my net was not big enough - 24" in diameter - but he managed to scoop it out of the water. Unfortunately, once on the rocks, it jumped out of the net and wedged itself between the rocks in the water - it looked like it was trapped but my new fishing buddy managed to coax it back into the net and I was able to pull out my lure and get it back into the water. My buddy revived the fish while holding it in the net and after what felt like an eternity, the fish swam away.

It was a male chinook - just starting to turn dark - I have no idea on the weight but I am guessing based on the size of my net that was over 30" - it was a beautiful, healthy fish. In all the excitement/panic of landing/dropping the fish, I did not have the wherewithal to take a picture but the image of the fish is not permanently recorded in my mind.

So, I think that I may be addicted Need more gear (bigger net) and more time on the water. Hopefully, I will be better prepared for the next salmon!

Thank you everyone for all your useful tips.

[Toasty]

Good job! I've never caught a salmon on a pier or at the mouth, basically because of the landing issues. In the river I can easily grab it's tail and revive it properly with no fuss. Goodluck, hope you catch some more soon

[OldTimer]

Great post!

Congratulations.

Neat adrenalin rush huh?...certainly clears out the cob webs in your mind..........

.......yep............. you're hooked.

Cheers,

OldTimer

[Boatless]

(09-21-2014 11:38 AM)Toasty Wrote:  Good job! I've never caught a salmon on a pier or at the mouth, basically because of the landing issues. In the river I can easily grab it's tail and revive it properly with no fuss. Goodluck, hope you catch some more soon

Thank you Toasty - I realized all the challenges of salmon fishing from the mouth of the river - the rocks were tricky in the dark and it did a number on my line - I was lucky that the line did not get cut - I had to cut off a long length of my line that was damaged after landing the salmon. River fishing does seems to make landing the fish more manageable - I will consider moving up stream in the coming weeks.

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(09-21-2014 11:47 AM)OldTimer Wrote:  Great post!

Congratulations.

Neat adrenalin rush huh?...certainly clears out the cob webs in your mind..........

.......yep............. you're hooked.

Cheers,

OldTimer

Thank you OldTimer - it was a great way to wake up the body at 5:30 in the morning! I was utterly amazed at the power of the salmon - I have fished recreationally and have felt a fish pull on my drag but nothing like the salmon when it decides that it will make a run.

With Toasty's post - I may need to start thinking about going up the river - more gear - now this fishing habit is starting to sound more and more like an addiction...

[zippyFX]

Nice story! The first fish panic is a right of passage glad you managed to land it. Did you get a picture?

[MuskieBait]

Congrats. Once you catch enough, you will be experienced enough to land them within a few minutes with no fuss.

In the future, set you drag properly before you even make your first cast. You don't have to set the drag too tight. You need to allow the fish to run to use up energy. Pulling a fish in on a tight drag will land it way too quickly and the fish will kick and thrash too much on land. That can be quite damaging to the fish. On the flip side, you don't want to set the drag too light so you allow the fish to run too long. A fish that took too long to land will expend too much energy and develop lactic acid build up. It is not good for their survival.

[MichaelAngelo]

Big congrats there Boatless! What a rush it must have been. Hope you get many more, these mudsharks are a lot of fun!

Like you've already discovered, a proper net is an essential item! Some of the bass nets we see out there on the piers... just make me shudder .

[Boatless]

(09-21-2014 09:48 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Congrats. Once you catch enough, you will be experienced enough to land them within a few minutes with no fuss.

In the future, set you drag properly before you even make your first cast. You don't have to set the drag too tight. You need to allow the fish to run to use up energy. Pulling a fish in on a tight drag will land it way too quickly and the fish will kick and thrash too much on land. That can be quite damaging to the fish. On the flip side, you don't want to set the drag too light so you allow the fish to run too long. A fish that took too long to land will expend too much energy and develop lactic acid build up. It is not good for their survival.

Hi MuskieBait,

Thank you - after reading your post and "replaying the tape", it is likely that I set the drag too tight and horsed in the salmon too fast because I was on newbie adrenaline. That is probably why the salmon was panicked and kicked itself out of the net and into the rocks. I was worried that the salmon may have been injured - I hoped that the salmon was able to survive and make its way upstream.

Definitely, I will get myself a bigger net and be much more prepared - mentally and physically to deal with the next hook up.

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(09-21-2014 09:17 PM)zippyFX Wrote:  Nice story! The first fish panic is a right of passage glad you managed to land it. Did you get a picture?

Thanks zippyFX - with respect to a picture, it was a total fail - I was so overwhelmed that the fish jumped out of the net and wedged itself into the rocks that I did not even get my camera out - next time, I will be more ready!

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(09-22-2014 11:23 AM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  Big congrats there Boatless! What a rush it must have been. Hope you get many more, these mudsharks are a lot of fun!

Like you've already discovered, a proper net is an essential item! Some of the bass nets we see out there on the piers... just make me shudder .

Thanks MichaelAngelo - It was quite an amazing combination of a rush and panic - if my neighbour did not offer to help, I would not have been able to land the salmon - he was not a newbie like me and definitely knew what to do. I will keep at it for the remainder of the season!

[MichaelAngelo]

(09-22-2014 07:36 PM)Boatless Wrote:  with respect to a picture, it was a total fail - I was so overwhelmed that the fish jumped out of the net and wedged itself into the rocks that I did not even get my camera out - next time, I will be more ready!

This isn't a bad thing. You guys got the fish back in the water first. Honestly, if that was my first salmon I'd be trying to get a picture first. You've got your priorities right!

You can build an extension for just about any big net so it can be used as a pier net. Fishfight would be the one to ask about this. I've seen it done with metal pipe and broom handles. Just need a hole through both and a clevis pin or something similar.

[FishingAssasin]

Great job catching the fish! Coincidentally, I caught my first salmon 2 , 2 days ago.
My profile picture is pic of the biggest of the 2.