Pinks!?!

[fear_no_fish]

Nope. How about them big Nookies? YES!
My dad took me up to area 7 to troll one of his old salmon haunts from back in the day. We got lucky and found a couple hungry fish to give us a tug! Along with 3 or 4 dog fish and a small ling cod. Right after the ling I hooked up for a few seconds on something heavy. With the big long, slow head shakes I'm guessing it was another ling. Lost another fish that felt salmon like but probably wasn't very big. I did catch a small pink, maybe a pound but let it go along with a couple pound hatchery chinook and a wild one around 6 pounds or so. My dad brought one about 20 pounds up, got it within 5 feet of the net and popped the hook! I had another 20 or better fish in the net, but it flipped or something. I looked away for a second.. splash! My fish is gone, with the spoon in mouth. The flasher popped loose and smacked my dad in the face. That's what he gets for loosing my fish
My dad finally got his fish. A hatchery buck that went about 23 pounds give or take a little. Man did that fish make some sweet runs! I got another chance at a good fish. After a good fight with some nice runs I brought a nice mid teen fish to the net, looked down.. a fin, crap! got a quick picture picture and she was off swimming. After we got done fishing my dad called his buddy only to find out you can bonk wild fish

[chongo469]

Yeah, the difference in Area 7 compared to others can really mess with ya..... My buddy did the same thing 4 days ago.... released a beauty because it had the extra fin..... On the other hand, Imagine those coming to fish this area and not being allowed to keep a wild fish when they are used to doing so..... Think of it as helping building the future run....

[fear_no_fish]

After being up for 30 plus hours with a hour long nap all I could do was laugh when i found out. Completely my fault. I was sure we couldn't keep them since you have to let wild fish go everywhere else. But at the end of the day having 4 kings around 20 pounds to the boat was beyond cool. It helps with the sting of letting that nice keeper go..