I fished Westport for the last weekend of salmon fishing in area #2. We caught some big hatchery Coho to 17# and then I got the fish I have been looking for all summer, a Chinook of 48#. The big brute came on a Hot Spot flasher and squid at 130ft. I came down to the boat Sunday morning alone while the rest of the guys slept at 4am to tie up what turned out to be the successful combo. I was testing out some new Owner hooks in 6/0 size. I wasn't all that impressed but the hooks buried in the big fish and held well.

The fish off of our coast are gorging on huge sardines to about 12" long. The protein content of sardines is higher than herring and the fish seem to love them. We were doing real well earlier in the season with very large spoons to imitate the bait. This time the smaller hootchie did the job. The fish was much deeper than the Kings were cruising earlier in the season. Watching the sonar closely I could see a thermocline at 130ft. That is where I put the bait and it worked well.

Using the official salmon length/girth weight calculator I got 53.7#. It is all relative to me. The fish was so satisfying and especially in the last hour of fishing the coast for the year.