Went out Friday with another fellow PSA member and had a trip to remeber. First we caught and landed a 6' blue shark. We wanted to bring it in but we were not sure what the reg's said and fishing was hot so we let it go. Man it has triangle teeth just like a great white just smaller. Not long after that my knuckle buster starts to sing, I mean really sing. I didnt see it jump, but by the reaction of my two fishing buddies I knew it was big. They said it was over 40 for sure. I thought right, not in Washington waters, it doesnt happen that much. Maybe a high 30's. By the time we got the down riggers up he had spooled the 400 yards of power-pro I had and was now down to the dacron backer. We chased it down and got most of the line back, he was on the bottom 225' straight down. It took 45 minutes before I finally got to see him and my eyes went wide. It was well over 40 I thought and now dont lose this thing.He wasnt ready to be neted and he made a couple more nice runs before submitting. When we got him into the boat it had turned into an hour an 15 minute battle that I will tresure for a long time. He measured 47" long and 28" around, weighed in at 48lbs

Thanks for sharing the story and pic!
I'm turning green at my desk

Almost forgot, Sharks are thick out there. We saw several swimming along the surface and had a slight accident with one. I was running to the top of the drift, I troll with the current, I felt and heard something hit the bottom of the boat and then the motor bogged downfor a second. We looked back and saw what looked to be a shark, or what was left of a shark. By the time we turned around and went back it was sinking below the surface. It was so strange to see sow many sharks there where and then to land one and hit one with the boat.

Way to go JR...another over 40 for PSA SnoKing!!! Those darn guys in Gig Harbor keep topping us though...Steve Ng is the Hawg King...SnoKing probably has more bigguns..Nice job once again. We're not done yet.

Yes, very nice fish JR! Talking of sharks, here is the story on the 60 pounder I landed. Well the downrigger popped and by the way the reel was singing I knew I had a large fish, so I yelled at my partner Michael to turn the boat around. He was busy getting his gear up, and I looked at my ambassador 7000, which holds lots of 25 pound mono and I noticed that I was going to be spooled soon. I told him to just leave his gear in the water and turn the boat around. He got the boat turned around and his gear up and I started reeling like a madman to catch up and get some line back in. Thats when the fish started hunkering down and did the "get some line in and let some line out, routine" Well, I looked towards the stern of the boat and what do I see.....a 6 foot blue shark just waiting for a snack. Michael starts pounding the water with the net, which I think just attracted him more, because he actually almost hit him with the net. Well with about 50 yards of line to go, the shark dives, and we see him no more, but know like a seal, he's just waiting. I get the fish almost all the way up then I see the shark, my heart sunk , I thought I just had a shark all this time. I then looked under the boat and saw the HUGE King, I pretty much hogged that baby in and told my partner to net it, which he did, it barely fit in my large net.
And we could not help acting like Yahoos, giveing each other high fives (Don't normally do that kinda stuff) but what the heck. With these huge fish this year, look for mine to be topped in 2003.

Steve Ng

If you DON'T act like a yayhoo after landing a fish like THAT, Steve, then you really must BE a yayhoo.

Wow, that is tool cool that you out dueled the shark for your monster, and mean MONSTER, salmon. I would agree that you 60 could be beat, with the lack of rain and the flat ocean conditions it could just get better & better. We should have great opportunities up untill the Sept 14th closer. You have to have alot of skill as a fisherman and some luck on yourside to land a fish that big. Congrads.

wow, some great stories...any recomended charters to use out there? I am without a boat, but this sounds like a good time...any help is appreciated

I dont think there is a bad charter done there. they share their secrets between them and seam to spread out until they find the fish and then you can see them all in the same spot. Deeper the water seams to be bigger the fish.
Look @ westport we site and they list most all of the charters

I was the netter on JRs boat. When his fish hit it didn't do much. He told me to leave my gear in the water, until it started doing the violent body/head shaking. We thought it was a small fish at first. Then we pulled the gear up. It came around my side of the boat and jumped. The first thing I thought of is-HOLY S***, JR you need a bigger net. I knew it was going to be netting it. His net is a salmon net, but not a big salmon net. I started to net him the first time he got him up to the boat, he was headshaking with his mouth wide open. He was well hooked. I said he is not ready yet and pulled the net back. With his mouth open he could have easily caught his teeth in the net and spit the hooks. If I lost this fish I knew I was going in to the sharks, which I would have deserved. When he finally tired out and I got him in the net he filled it up. It was only about 4" down to the top of him from the hoop of the net. It was a quick yank in with those conditions. It is high fives all around the boat. What a blast. Fishing in Washington state 2003, what could be better. My 13 year old son, Jon, got a 42#er out there several weeks ago. He will be in the Reel News next month with the picture. It was so big he couldn't pick it up. I had to set it in his arms for the picture.