Chinook in a pontton boat

[Old dog]

Just a quick word of encouragement to my fellow pontoon cheapskates and bank fishers. At 62 and semi-retired, I'll probably never be able to get a drift boat, unless I win one in a drawing. Yesterday I landed a fresh 25-pounder from my 8 ft. double banana in tidewater on the Little Nestucca - just let it tow me until played out, then rowed to shore to bank land it. Last year I caught one the same way in tidewater on the Salmon. So, old pardners, don't let the big boys intimidate you, and good fishing this fall!

[Stew]

Thanks for the info old dog. I was wondering how it would be to battle a big nook :shocked: in a pontoon.

[Steelheader69]

LOL, I've caught many fish in my catarafts. Those rocker hulls are a nightmare. LOL. Biggest to date hit 48 in my old 8' Outcast (the REALLY old one's). Kept moving the boat, and ended up putting the rod into the rod holder and oaring to shore like you. Was too much of a pain.

I do know the first fish caught in a pontoon boat was a small 9# king jack on the Humptulips. Was free drifting eggs on a slow moving section. Rod went off, and TURNED the boat upstream. Thought I'd caught a marlin. Much to my surprise it was such a small fish. LOL. Once I caught my first big one, MAN, should've put on waterskis. LOL

[Airborne]

what were you using? drifting? or casting?

[ 09-08-2003, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: Airborne ]

[Old dog]

Airborne, I've never been a fly fishing purist - although last year and this year I'm now using flies the majority of the time for steelhead and salmon (caught my first 4 big guys on flies last year). Since real small corkies and yarn and jigs seem to work so well, I thought that maybe sinking flies were just about the same thing. So now I'm throwing around all kinds of steelhead and salmon flash flies and been having a ball - except for the sore elbow and shoulder.

I first tried the flash flies on Sunday, but the water may have been too dark to compete with all the anchovies that the chinook were chasing. So I gave up and switched to a #4 bright chartruese Blue Fox spinner. A big guy took it after a few casts while I was drifting at about 90 minutes past low tide. Then, switched back to flash flies, but no takers. Since September is a slow work month for me and I've caught the fishing bug pretty good, I'll probably be out a few more times this month in tidewater with the 8' pontoon boat. Good fishing to you and I hope we can all land a few more big ones on flies.

[Airborne]

Old Dog,
thanks for the info, it must be kinda hard to toss a big spinner with the fly rod. I have never tried that technique befor, is it basicly just trolling with the fly rod? Just for fun you should try catching some shakers out of your pontoon now thats fun talk about a ride... yee ha :grin: