When I was a fishcop honesty and integrity was essential. Often I would estimate the weight of salmon and steelhead and became really accurate over the years.

Then I discovered what made people happy when I became a guide in Alaska: the guide's estimate of the size of the fish. I'm guilty of exaggeration on many counts. My guests won lots of the lodge's hats for coho that were "stretched" by me. A good coho of 12 pounds became 14. "Pretty broad shoulders on that one". Smiles all around, and that's what's important. I did weigh the largest coho that I caught, trying to hit the 20 pound mark. Seventeen was the top ever. I've caught Satsop coho almost as big years ago. I have a picture of a 52 pound king that I caught on a day off in Kelp Bay on Baranoff Island and weighed on the lodge's certified scale. I've wondered for a long time where that fish was bound for. Skinny or not, I love salmon.