Northwest Fishing Reports

I know we have Tacklebox Tales and some other page of stories, but I would like to see more fish stories of yours. These will not have to be writer-class work, and hopefully we will have more than what we have currently in Tacklebox Tales.

When my dad was in Alaska, he was salmon fishing a lot. The chum salmon were in, and were making large, visible circles around the entrance to the river. My dad casted to one of these circles with a lure, hooked a good one, and it broke his line. He proceeded to tie on the same lure in a different color. He casted out again, and all the fish in the circle on that cast ignored his lure. He did the same thing again, with the same result. Finally, after about one revolution of the circle, he got a bite. He set the hook, (or so he thought) and reeled in a nice size chum. Upon bringing the fish out of the water, he noticed something strange. Namely, it was the same fish that bit his lure the first time! It still had the broken-off lure hooked on its lip. And even stranger, the fish had been played the whole time with the hook of his lure inside the eyelet of his other lure!

I have story similar to that one. I was fishing the Umatilla River at Echo, Oregon for Salmon in the fall. I was using roe as bate. The salmon were everywhere but weren't really interested in biting. I kept casting until finally I had a fish on. As I was trying to bring the fish in I noticed that my lane seemed to be hooked at the dorsal fin. There was very little chance that I had snagged this fish so I was very confused. The current was very strong and I had to pull this fish broadside through the current. After about five minutes I finally got the fish to shore and figured out how I had caught the fish. The fish and a spinner caught in its dorsal fin. My swivel had snagged on the treble hook. To this day that is the only salmon I have ever caught and I coudln't even keep it.