I am from b-ham and fished that river as a kid growing up and back in the day there were nice steel about that same size threw out the river almost year around.

I would say that he was wrong to fish it because it appears that native was leaking eggs. He probably squeezed them all out while getting that pic. Doubt he even let her go. The person who took the pic probably left with the fish, since no one ever mentions a third person in the story. Dude looks kinda Russian don't you think? Probably fishing on the north fork rite on the spawning grounds.