Saddest moment of my 2003 season was a king I caught in Grays Harbor on a #5 Mepps spinner (yeah, we ran out of bait) that came in just pumping clouds of blood. Upon landing the 28-30# buck, I could clearly see where the siwash hook had raked across the base of two gill-rakers (just where they insert behind the tongue) before finally burying inside the corner of the jaw. Tried to revive it for about 10 minutes, but with each passing minute, the fish just got progressively more lifeless. We just left him there and motored away... didn't want to witness the thrashing it would get from the next seal to pass by.

So much for the argument that fish only swallow bait and not arificials!