Bobber fishing fall chinook in tidewater of the Wilson with my Dad in the mid-80s. A boat was anchored just above us in the Milk Hole. The bite was finally starting to turn on when one of the guys in the other boat hooked a monster.

This fish was right along the brush line about twenty feet from their boat and the guy was using an old 6' solid fiberglass rod with a Penn reel and really putting the pressure to the fish to try to keep it out of the sticks. The fish was fighting back like mad and raising a boil about 6" above the surrounding water and three feet across!

About then, we got a glimpse of the fish's tail and it had to be a foot wide. The fish put on a powerful run for the brush when the guys reel came loose from the real seat and, with drag screaming, fell into the bottom of the boat.

Dad turned to me and said, "This won't take long!" The reel came flying up the rod and hit the first guide with the dude grabbing for it the whole way. It would hit the guide which would break the drag loose and down it would go to the bottom of the boat again.

This happened two or three times when the guy finally got a hold of the reel and tried to reattach it to the reel seat. He buried his thumb in it and was holding on for all he was worth when KAPOW!! It sounded like a rifle had gone off.

Needless to say, the air was a little blue around the Milk Hole for awhile.