The One That Didn't Get Away! - Alaska Salmon Fishing

Guest Post by Aaron Dolphin-Chavie

It was the last week in July, 2011.  The water was high, the fishing was getting better by the day and I was rowing on about four hours of real sleep.  Perfect conditions for the Kasilof prevailed.  Fumbling clumsily in the darkness over bait trays and coffee, we set out for the morning tide.  I was a bit early, but that just meant we didn't have to race down to the incoming tide.  Drifting through the Traps Hole about five minutes into the drift, the boat suddenly jumped with excitement.  "Front right!  Front right - grab it!!!"  All attention was on a 25-30 pound fish screaming away from the boat.  “Reel them up boys…get those rods out of the way!” I enthusiastically instructed.  We were so focused on the hot-headed spectacle jumping furiously downstream, that no one had noticed the other rod still in the water. "Uh, I have one too," said the thirteen year-old son of the man fighting the fish.  That's when total chaos erupted.  And to think that we were on the cusp of slumber not minutes prior.  

We had one fish moving upstream and one heading down!  I handed the net up front and said “Sorry dad, the boy’s fish is bigger.”  He replied "Don't worry about me.  You just grab his!" as water misted off his reel.  

By now, we were nearly at the bottom of People's Hole.  Finally, the hot fish on Mike’s (the dad) line calmed while the boys just kept digging right under the boat.  I knew we needed to get one in the boat fast, so as not to get tangled.  “Reel fast Mike!  I'm going to net yours - but as soon as I do, cut the line!!  After that first fish was in the net, we could now focus on the fish no one had yet seen.  It took another 3/4 of a mile to land that fish.  At a solid 50 pounds, the boy’s fish rendered his father’s 30 pounder quite small indeed.   

We pulled over to shore and, as I prepared to box the fish, Mike and son turned to me and said, “We’re not keeping any fish today!  We have enough fish and want to fish all day!!”  We would float the river twice and land 11 fish that day.  Another great day on the Kasilof!!! 


Aaron Dolphin-Chavie
Aaron's Alaska Fishing
(907) 830-3129
aaronsalaskafishing@gmail.com
www.aaronsalaskafishing.com