I hear ya on that one!

Rooster and I drifted the Hoh one fine spring day and I managed to hook a fish that I'll never ever forget.

I pitched a Pink Conehead in to a very small pocket up along some lumber and no sooner had I managed to wind down on the reel to close the release, it hooked something. Thinking I hooked some of the lumber, I gave a good hard yank back.

Needless to say, I was shocked when the lumber yanked back hard and started to make a mad dash out of the pocket.

The rest of the story happened in slow motion. I'm almost positive time really did slow down, as I can vividly replay this in my head over and over again...all in this painfull slow motion.

Recall that all of 5 seconds have elapsed (maybe), but as the fish raced out of the pocket, she went airborne.

Not just airborne, but we're talking fully out of the water, and completely horizontal kidna airborne.

What I saw that came out of the water took my breath away! For what jumped out of the water was the chromest and BIGGEST hen steelhead I've ever hooked, landed, and probably personally seen with my own two eyes.

I know it was a hen because you could just see a BIG belly full of eggs when it was horizontal.

I know it was big because I landed two (not one mind you) 22lb. summer run *hen* steelheads on the NFL (many years ago) on the same day. I know what a 20+ pound hen looks like. This fish was bigger. Much, much, much bigger.

All in slow motion, mind you, but as the fish was horizontal in the air, with it's belly/side facing me, I saw it shake it's head and toss that barbless hooked Pink ConeHead out of it's mouth! Poink! KA-SPLOOOOSH!

That was it. Rooster rowed over to the side of the river, dropped anchor, sat down, and said

"Parker, had I not seen that fish with my own two eyes, I'd say you were full of shiat when you tell that story."

Never will we know how big it is, and it really doesn't matter. Might not even have been over 20. But, on that day, on that time, two very experienced anglers saw what they perceived to be the "fish of lifetime". I will happily keep it at that.

I get all jittery now just thinking about it.