Confessions of a newbie - first ever salmon!

[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!