Previous Next

Hahahaha! I finally got my Sky River King! Had a job interview out in Monroe, had the gear in the car and thought I'd give it a go since I was out there already. I get to the river, still in my suit, check it out, and change. The river looked spectacular, and what do you know, the first two holes I fish I get nothing.

Then I come up to the next hole and see a fish roll, and I'm stoked. It's on now! I tell the fish. So I have to add about an ounce of weight to reach bottom, it's deep. I gradually add a bit more lead after three casts and on the fourth cast I finally feel the bottom after switching out pencil lead for a one ounce cannon ball sinker. It's a really slow drift, so I was weary and debating whether or not I should re rig and put a bopbber on. At the end, just as I'm about to reel up, bump! A gentle nibble, the tell tale sign of a bite. I set the hook hard and it's fish ON!!!!

Now, I wasn't in waders, and I didn't have a net. I didn't think the fish had much size to him the way he was fighting, kind of a lazy half hearted kinda fight. About thirty seconds of that and I get a look at him, and man was I wrong! It was a decent fish.

I found out the reason why he didn't put up more of a fight when I went to unhook my gear. He had a double hooked side drifting rig with fresh roe still in the egg loop attached to his mouth. As you can see from the photo, he's got 3 hooks in his mouth. Somebody must have broken him off earlier and took the fight out of him for me! I was fishing with my 9' Loomis ultra light which would have been tested by the size of this fish with full power, but he was still fun. A good day to be on the river.

So I get all excited and end up knee deep in the water, after a couple more minutes the fish rolls over and gives up. I get it next to me and run my hand down it's back to check if it's hatchery or wild, and yep, it's getting bonked! Of course I cut up my fingers on his teeth grabbing it by the gills, but I'm not letting go and not gonna risk any other method of landing the fish. Well, it was hooked solid in the inside of the jaw, so no worries there.

Fourth cast at a new hole, and I got my fish in under 45 minutes. I had one more take, but after a quick head shake he popped off. The fish gods smiled on me today, and I went home with half a limit.

The fish was 32" with 19" of girth and 15 pounds 2 ounces. It was a buck, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

fear_no_fish

6/27/2011 8:01:00 PM

Nice work!! i still havent pulled a king out of the sky, my dad will come though

returnofthefish

6/27/2011 8:23:00 PM

good job Nate

colin

6/27/2011 8:30:00 PM

What hole where you at? If you don't mind letting us know.

BMGW

6/27/2011 8:53:00 PM

Hey Nate, good job and nice report. Got a question: How did you get the first two photos morphed into one? I would like to know as I often times would like to share more photos with my reports..

Aaidian

6/27/2011 8:55:00 PM

gj! Be real nice if you get the job too.

leviP

6/27/2011 9:35:00 PM

hey nate! im 15 and i cant express to you how much i love to go fishing. i fish on the skykomish alot, only caught 2 steelhead this year(from a guide boat), but i need to find spots to fish from shore, ive tried the cracker bar, and mouth of the wallace, but nothing. where did you catch this very nice king?

leviP

6/27/2011 9:36:00 PM

hey nate! im 15 and i cant express to you how much i love to go fishing. i fish on the skykomish alot, only caught 2 steelhead this year(from a guide boat), but i need to find spots to fish from shore, ive tried the cracker bar, and mouth of the wallace, but nothing. where did you catch this very nice king?

RiverChromeGS

6/27/2011 10:02:00 PM

Nice king! i gotta get down there in my sled... been koke fishin too much lol

Anonymous

6/27/2011 10:07:00 PM

damn i was out in monroe today too, wishin i had a rod in my work rig... lol nice one

blurock

6/27/2011 10:11:00 PM

Nice fish Nate! I really gotta get into the river!!! Been playin' with little fish too long haha!

natetreat

6/27/2011 10:57:00 PM

@ BMGW - I used photoshop, just put the two pictures together. But you could do it with MS Paint if you just cut and pasted two pictures into one bigger file if you don't have photoshop.

@ Levi - Reiter will be opening up later this week, there's a good chance you'll hook up there. Also there will be a ton of guys up there I'm sure of it, and they could let you in on some tricks if you're nice. I fish the Wallace Flats and have done okay, us bankies fish all the same spots.

@ Every one else - Thanks! I was down by the Lewis street bridge in Monroe, didn't have the time to go that far, but I guess it paid out right?

blurock

6/27/2011 11:49:00 PM

Nice fish Nate! I really gotta get into the river!!! Been playin' with little fish too long haha!

zodiacman

6/28/2011 12:15:00 AM

Great fish!!! Im a stilly guy but that one has me thinking......

afk

6/28/2011 6:03:00 AM

Hopefully the job comes through too!!

Matt

6/28/2011 10:45:00 AM

Way to go dude!

dmangler69

6/28/2011 11:11:00 AM

Where you using any bait? How do you get to this spot?

knotabassturd

6/28/2011 3:45:00 PM

Nice! Better to get that first one the easy way. U can let the next one be a rocket screaming downstream testing your light weight gear and chasing abilities.

leviP

6/29/2011 8:55:00 PM

ive heard alot of kings and some steelies are being pulled out by the lewis st. bridge, thats the one in monroe right? and also do you wanna fish by the boat launch? in that parking lot?

leviP

6/29/2011 8:56:00 PM

ive heard alot of kings and some steelies are being pulled out by the lewis st. bridge, thats the one in monroe right? and also do you wanna fish by the boat launch? in that parking lot?

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save