THE Fish Story I Promised :-)

[glassblower]

A friend of mine and myself decided we needed to take the boys out fishing this last fall. We had his son Alex 13, the boy next door Ricky 14, and his 17 y/o exchange student from Germany Ollie (big city kid, never seen a wild fish). So we go down to Geribaldi and launch the boat and head to the jettis. We had been trolling for about 2 hours when I heard my friend yell "fish on" and turned in time to see him hand it over to Ollie, the smile on that kids face made the day, he fought it for about 15 to 20 min and we got it netted and in the boat, nice 30+lbs chinook hen, 30 or so minuts later Alex has on anouther fish and after a 10 min fight a nice coho about 12lbs in the boat, an hour goes by and I set the hook on a anouther chinook useing a short little boat rod of about 50 years ago with an antique Penn reel, and hand it off to Ricky, he fights it for about 15 to 20 min and gains nothing, Alex takes over and does the same, Ollie takes it and wears out, Alex takes it back agian, while Alex is at it again Greg and I are woundering why this fish is not in the boat yet? about that time we seen it roll about 40 to 50 feet off of the transom and it was a hog. So we stood and let the boys keep cranking on cheering them on and trying to get them to crank harder on it, but this thing was not letting them get the best of them. So Greg grabs the net and tells me to get the rod he wants the fish in the boat. So I start pumping it in and get it to the boat, it was a big chrome buck, easy 45+lb pound nook. As Greg was getting ready to net the fish he reached out and grabed hold of that 20oz ball thats when everything just kinda went dead, and greg is just holding the ball saying it's gone? I said whats that man? he says whats what? I said that snap swivle man what the *^%$ is that? He says, well thats my snap swivle whats it look like? I said, well looks like a trout snap swivle? one that is all pulled out straight with no hook or fish (did I mention this was also Gregs first time out for salmon). Greg had done loads of deep sea fishing, for bass and the like, and some river steelheading and of course trout fishing. I asked what line he had on his rods the night before and he said they all had 40# or better on them. So I figured hey he has solid gear, who would have thought to check for 10# snap swivles. After we lost that hog we all sat in the cabin of the boat for the first time that day, sat there for about 45 min saying we could not believe we had lost that fish right at the net after about an hour on the line. We never hooked up again that day, but the boys are still talking about that day yet. Those days out with the kids are the best, being able to hand one off, or even better yet seeing them get the hookset. And then hearing them talk about how sore it made their arms, and even though they are sore they are always ready for more. Those boys BTW are hooked just as bad as the fish were. Every time Greg and I turn around they are all asking, when we going fishing again? can we go this week? fun seeing them get pumped up like that.

[ 01-06-2004, 08:34 PM: Message edited by: glassblower ]

[hankstr]

Good story gb sorry about the hog running away kind of ironic it lasted so long on that small swivel until the moment it was needed the most. Hook a big one Hankstr

[glassblower]

Originally posted by hankstr:
Good story gb sorry about the hog running away kind of ironic it lasted so long on that small swivel until the moment it was needed the most. Hook a big one Hankstr

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Had I left it to the kids we would have had it, I am a big guy and tend to horse em in. Oh well, what can you do right?

[glassblower]

Originally posted by Beefcake:
GB - Sounds like it may be worth buying that license after all! I understand your frustration with the fee increases, but days like this are priceless, and I feel we owe them to our kids. Besides, it is obvious that you love the sport of fishing, so please don't let the license and tag fees stand between you and your happiness. You owe it to yourself, too.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Well my wife says I am getting the licence and tags wether I like it or not, she also said she won't allow me to sell my gear (just gota love pushy women somtimes huh). I got a good wife, but I still tend to be perty stubburn. And your right there are allot of great times to be had.

[Beefcake]

GB - Sounds like it may be worth buying that license after all! I understand your frustration with the fee increases, but days like this are priceless, and I feel we owe them to our kids. Besides, it is obvious that you love the sport of fishing, so please don't let the license and tag fees stand between you and your happiness. You owe it to yourself, too.