07-16-2018, 01:38 PM
Spent another weekend up at Strawberry fishing for kokes. Fishing is still excellent as has been the case most of the summer. Saturday my buddy and his little boy came up and joined me. Up at 5:00 and boat in the water by 5:30. It's nice to already be there and not make the drive. Make the run over to the main side and lines in the water by 5:50. Had half our limit in the box by 7:00 and the breaker got tripped. No joy for the next couple hours until someone finally found and reset the breaker. Finished with our limits by 10:30. Nothing huge, just solid fish mostly 17 - 19 with a couple right at 20.
Well my wife and 4 year old granddaughter came up Saturday afternoon and we went fishing Sunday morning. Initially it was a repeat of the day before until about 8:00 when the unthinkable happened. I'm running stacked riggers and the rod at 52 feet just slammed down hard. No popping out of the rigger and coming up. It just slammed down, tip almost in the water and a giant koke launched 3 feet out of the water within 15 feet of the back of the boat! I'm only running about a 7 foot setback. We all happened to be looking the right direction at the right time.
I didn't even need to speak as my granddaughter was already in motion running to the rod. She's not big enough to hold them so we just leave it in the rod holder and she handles it from there. This fish made 4 very big runs with multiple jumps. After about 10 or 12 minutes he's finally coming to the boat, SLOWLY!. The fish was so deep through the body that I could see him flashing down 25 or thirty feet. Finally he tired out and Luci worked right to the back of the boat but he was staying down about 3 or 4 feet. Just too deep to make a stab with the net. I reached back with one hand and gently pushed up on the rod to ease him up. As his head turned up the hooks just pulled out. The monster then kicked and popped up on the surface laying on his side but the boat was moving and he was just out of reach! I was in a panic and quickly grabbed the bow mount remote hanging from my waist and punched the rabbit button while cranking the boat around and running to the bow. The fish was just laying on the surface which was flat calm and shining in the sun as we all just stood in silence staring. I got the boat back to within just a few feet of him and he regained enough energy to point his noe down and give one kick of the tail. As I came next to him he was a bout 3 feet down and heading away. I was just heart broken!.
I know it's all speculation and a fish story since we didn't get it in the net or on a scale but I'm going to tell you anyhow. For 10 years I fished ocean sockeye off Vancouver Island, BC and caught many in the 10 - 14 pound range. This year at the Berry I have had many kokes just over 21" and last week put one 23" in the boat. At the time we lost this fish we had 7 in the box with 2 20 inchers. This fish totally dwarfed all of them. Not the ocean fish but all the kokes I've had in the boat. This fish was 25 inches plus and I estimate right around 7 lbs.
I'm still heartbroken over this. Didn't sleep much last night with so many questions running through my head on what I could have done differently. Did I have the drag too tight, Should I have had my wife help her hold the rod, etc..... It would have been so awesome for a 4 year old to get her name in the books! I called my dad, who's fishing for sockeye and kings on the Columbia right now to tell him about it. His first comment was "I'm proud of you for never taking the rod away from that little girl even though you knew it was a monster fish". No I didn't dad, just like you taught us through example. The kid either catches or loses the fish on their own so it belongs to them. Not the parent that grabbed the rod and landed the fish then claims the kid "caught" it. I guess that's my only consolation. That and the hugs and kisses I got from a four year old when she told me "It's alright Grandpa. God wanted that fish to have babies to get big like her for us to catch." And I hope she will.
I want to thank the DWR for the fantastic job they are doing managing the fishery at Strawberry! How many reports have you seen on this board this year of people limiting out and the fish are just fantastic, 16 - 20 inch average! That is phenomenal for kokanee.
We're heading back up this weekend again to look for her. My little 4 year old is so excited about fishing that when the alarm goes off in the trailer at 5:00 she's the first one to bounce up and holler "Morning". It's been an awesome summer.
Thanks for indulging an old man in a fish story.
[signature]
Well my wife and 4 year old granddaughter came up Saturday afternoon and we went fishing Sunday morning. Initially it was a repeat of the day before until about 8:00 when the unthinkable happened. I'm running stacked riggers and the rod at 52 feet just slammed down hard. No popping out of the rigger and coming up. It just slammed down, tip almost in the water and a giant koke launched 3 feet out of the water within 15 feet of the back of the boat! I'm only running about a 7 foot setback. We all happened to be looking the right direction at the right time.
I didn't even need to speak as my granddaughter was already in motion running to the rod. She's not big enough to hold them so we just leave it in the rod holder and she handles it from there. This fish made 4 very big runs with multiple jumps. After about 10 or 12 minutes he's finally coming to the boat, SLOWLY!. The fish was so deep through the body that I could see him flashing down 25 or thirty feet. Finally he tired out and Luci worked right to the back of the boat but he was staying down about 3 or 4 feet. Just too deep to make a stab with the net. I reached back with one hand and gently pushed up on the rod to ease him up. As his head turned up the hooks just pulled out. The monster then kicked and popped up on the surface laying on his side but the boat was moving and he was just out of reach! I was in a panic and quickly grabbed the bow mount remote hanging from my waist and punched the rabbit button while cranking the boat around and running to the bow. The fish was just laying on the surface which was flat calm and shining in the sun as we all just stood in silence staring. I got the boat back to within just a few feet of him and he regained enough energy to point his noe down and give one kick of the tail. As I came next to him he was a bout 3 feet down and heading away. I was just heart broken!.
I know it's all speculation and a fish story since we didn't get it in the net or on a scale but I'm going to tell you anyhow. For 10 years I fished ocean sockeye off Vancouver Island, BC and caught many in the 10 - 14 pound range. This year at the Berry I have had many kokes just over 21" and last week put one 23" in the boat. At the time we lost this fish we had 7 in the box with 2 20 inchers. This fish totally dwarfed all of them. Not the ocean fish but all the kokes I've had in the boat. This fish was 25 inches plus and I estimate right around 7 lbs.
I'm still heartbroken over this. Didn't sleep much last night with so many questions running through my head on what I could have done differently. Did I have the drag too tight, Should I have had my wife help her hold the rod, etc..... It would have been so awesome for a 4 year old to get her name in the books! I called my dad, who's fishing for sockeye and kings on the Columbia right now to tell him about it. His first comment was "I'm proud of you for never taking the rod away from that little girl even though you knew it was a monster fish". No I didn't dad, just like you taught us through example. The kid either catches or loses the fish on their own so it belongs to them. Not the parent that grabbed the rod and landed the fish then claims the kid "caught" it. I guess that's my only consolation. That and the hugs and kisses I got from a four year old when she told me "It's alright Grandpa. God wanted that fish to have babies to get big like her for us to catch." And I hope she will.
I want to thank the DWR for the fantastic job they are doing managing the fishery at Strawberry! How many reports have you seen on this board this year of people limiting out and the fish are just fantastic, 16 - 20 inch average! That is phenomenal for kokanee.
We're heading back up this weekend again to look for her. My little 4 year old is so excited about fishing that when the alarm goes off in the trailer at 5:00 she's the first one to bounce up and holler "Morning". It's been an awesome summer.
Thanks for indulging an old man in a fish story.
[signature]
Sunrise on the water
]