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#319890 - 11/14/05 12:22 PM What was your most exciting fish ever?
Dave Vedder Offline
Reverend Tarpones

Registered: 10/09/02
Posts: 8587
Loc: West Duvall
I have been fortunate enough to fish in many places for many species, but here are some of my favorite moments:

My first trout on a dry fly

My first steelhead.

Landing a sailfish on a fly.

My first and only steelhead on a dry fly

A wide open yellowtial bite on live bait
_________________________
No huevos no pollo.

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#319891 - 11/14/05 12:36 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Theking Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4908
Loc: The right side of the line
The first fish my kids caught. Nothing else compares
_________________________
Liberalism is a mental illness!

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#319892 - 11/14/05 12:39 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Sol Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 12/19/03
Posts: 7710
Loc: Poulsbo
Don't have one. I get exited every damn time. \:\)

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#319894 - 11/14/05 01:33 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Anonymous
Unregistered


My first steelhead. Caught it on a orange/chrome Little Cleo in the tailout below my house. It was a 5 lb. kelt, but I didn't care... it was a righteous steelhead!

But the tops was watching my dad catch his first steelhead last year.

Mike

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#319895 - 11/14/05 02:03 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Fish Stalker Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 12/14/00
Posts: 1236
Loc: S.W. Washington
My first steelhead, and it was 19.8lbs of hatchery winter chrome!!!!

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#319896 - 11/14/05 02:06 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Weedhopper Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 09/30/05
Posts: 336
Loc: Puyallup, WA
Beautiful January day a few years ago on the Wynoochee... snow on the banks, 29 degrees... clear skies... (can't get any better than that). I was with my Steelhead Sensei (Ron Bob), and had never floated the 'Nooch before.... We launched at the White Bridge about 10am (all of the other boats had already gone downriver) and we were on that stretch of river all by ourselves.... We put the Dr. Death and the McRib out in that first long stretch of the river below the launch on the left.... I was sitting there in the front of the boat, drinking coffee, looking at the scenery, not paying attention, etc.... As I looked to the left I noticed that the left rod was down... not moving... I said to Ron Bob, "dude, you hung that one up already!?"... he said, "NO, FISH!"... I slowly got up and said something like "no f'n way"... when I grabbed the rod, it was all I could do it get it out, I was like "holy S**T!" and the fight was on... the fish kind of set its tail in the center of the river, then headed for a root wad on the right side... I clamped down the thumb to keep it out of there and luckily it didnt come unbuttoned... then the fish came right at me... at first, I thought I had lost it, and Ron Bob screamed at me "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"...as I caught up to the fish, all you could hear was the line screaming upriver... I think that was the coolest sound I had ever heard..... to make a long story short, after a few more runs, I FINALLY got her to the boat... chrome bright 15 1/2 lb hen... Even though I have caught bigger since, that was without a doubt the most fun and exciting fish I have ever caught... in fact, those two days were the best days of fishing I have ever experienced... too bad the Mailbox takeout is closed now, that was a great place to camp.

_________________________
MSN Messenger: steelieheaven@hotmail.com

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#319897 - 11/14/05 02:16 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
AkKings Offline
Three Time Spawner

Registered: 03/13/00
Posts: 1865
Loc: Kelso Wa.
I handed off a big fish to a buddy (he was in the head and left his rod in the rod holder) his rod was getting bit so I graabed it and set the hook, I immeadiately thought it was a big halibut and told him to get and fight it, I didn't want any part of a halibut on light gear. He starts fighting it and I'm trying to get him to cut it off so we can get back to the "hot" silver bite, after about a half hour of hanging on the bottom it makes a beeline to the surface and jumps, it ended up being a 57lbs. king caught on a steelhead rod with a bantam reel spooled with 150yds of 8 lbs. Maxima, took 5:45 minutes to land the fish.

I had a 42lbs. king follow my cutplug herring to the boat last summer, but didn't bite, I dropped back down about 30' and reeled back up again, still chasing, dropped again and just as the bait dropped out of sight, the fish nailed it, that was pretty cool.

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#319898 - 11/14/05 02:47 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
STRIKE ZONE Offline
GOOD LUCK

Registered: 08/09/00
Posts: 12107
Loc: Hobart,Wa U.S.A
To many to narrow it down to just one or two.Although my 23.5 pound native buck out of the green river on 2/13/04 was one to remember.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

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#319899 - 11/14/05 02:55 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
troller Offline
Spawner

Registered: 07/11/02
Posts: 619
Loc: Renton , WA
32 lb king on drano lake. hour and a half to bring to the boat.

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#319900 - 11/14/05 03:13 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
MOSSYBACK Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 02/01/05
Posts: 279
Loc: Bonney Lake
A buddy and I were fishing the Hoh on a perfect day a couple years back. He carefully backed the kwikies into a nice deep slot and WHAM the left rod buries. I grab it out and start playing the fish. It is a nice 30+ king. My buddy starts to row the boat towards the shore so I can get out and play the fish and WHAM the other rod buries with the twin to the king I am already fighting. I grab the second rod and lean back. Now I have a rod each hand, both of which are conencted to very angry, and large chinook. I was standing in the front of the boat trying to keep those the lines tight while my buddy frantically rows for shore so he can relieve me of one of the rods. Long story short we beached both fish, shared high fives, and drank a celebratory beer before continuing our float. Awesome day.

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#319901 - 11/14/05 04:12 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
milkBottleMikey Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 04/17/02
Posts: 478
Loc: Spawn Ranch
The ones that get away always excite me the most.
_________________________
Illegitimi non carborundum

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#319902 - 11/14/05 04:32 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
KlausRMinnow Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 10/19/05
Posts: 330
Loc: Everwet WA
First: A 10" Rainbow. I was 8 years old and it was the first fish I ever caught on a fly that wasn't tipped with a piece of worm.

Second: An 8Lb steelhead I was 12 years old and it was the first Steely on a fly in 4 years of (non-stop) fishing for them.

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#319903 - 11/14/05 04:37 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
The Moderator Offline
The Chosen One

Registered: 02/09/00
Posts: 14486
Loc: Tuleville
Quote:
Originally posted by milkBottleMikey:
The ones that get away always excite me the most.
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.
_________________________
Tule King Paker

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#319904 - 11/14/05 04:45 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Sol Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 12/19/03
Posts: 7710
Loc: Poulsbo

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#319905 - 11/14/05 04:45 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Cscott Offline
Eyed Egg

Registered: 03/23/05
Posts: 9
Loc: Port Orchard
I was 12 years old fishing on the Snoqualmie. My first fly caught trout, I have caught a ton of fish since and still get those adrenaline rushes, but 22 years later still vividly remember that one like it was yesterday. I got the same feeling this fall when my 8 year old caught his first hog of a silver at Sekiu.

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#319906 - 11/14/05 04:53 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Republicsteelheader Offline
Parr

Registered: 05/02/05
Posts: 65
Loc: Republic WA.
TOMORROW MORNING 11-15 MY FAVORITE STEELHEAD RIVER OPENS AND I AM SO EXCITED I CANT HARDLY STAND IT! I WILL BE THERE BEFORE DAYLIGHT WADERED UP AND READY TO GO. YOU WOULD THINK AT AGE 45 THIS NIGHT BEFORE X-MAS FEELING I HAVE WOULD LESSEN(NOT SO FAR).WHAT I MEAN TO SAY IS I HAVE CAUGHT ALOT OF EXCITING FISH OVER THE YEARS BUT MY NEXT ONE IS ALWAYS THE MOST EXCITING.

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#319907 - 11/14/05 05:52 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Smalma Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/25/01
Posts: 2844
Loc: Marysville
My fishing has been full of exciting momments.

Got to love that adrenal rush as I re-bait after a winter steelhead strips my eggs - while I haven't fished eggs in more than a decade the shakes between the bite and the next cast are still fresh with me.

Some memorial fish/situations

Any steelhead on dries - though I can still easily recall an August evening when a steelhead jumped completely clear of the water and took my dry on the way down - I'll never know how I resisted not setting the hook too soon.

Clear water hawg largemouth bass chasing down a buzz bait or slurping a jig-n-pig from the bottom.

Smallmouth bass on poppers

Gator bull trout tracking my streamers in clear water or their shark-like tracking of skated surface flies.

The heart-stopping momment between the abrupt stop/take (is it bottom or fish?) and the first shoulder jarring head shakes of monster chinook on a fly.

The slow motion head to tail rise of large trout taking a small dry fly in clear water where you can watch the whole process of the fish slowly swimming from the depths, opening its mouth, the fly disappearing, and the mouth closing as the fish turns towards the bottom.

Just a handful of examples of why I'm an addicted fisher. It also illustrates why I'm such an eclectic angler (willig to fish for anything that swims)rather than a species specialist.

tight lines
Curt

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#319908 - 11/14/05 06:32 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
kjackson Offline
Spawner

Registered: 06/12/01
Posts: 558
Loc: Port Townend, WA
I'm with the guys who feel that lost fish are the most exciting, not that I'll downplay landed fish. I hooked a big something off Catalina that hit like a bluegill but spooled several hundred yards of 20-lb. test like it wasn't even there.

Then there was a pair of really large steehead on the Klick one September day, one of which I saw, that likely topped 20.

And there was the big halibut that grabbed on to a 25-lb. ling and held on to it for nearly two hours off Dungeness before letting go.

The most exciting fish, though, since the thread is about superltives, was the upper teens steelhead I hooked in a small OP river on a cast Hotshot. Had her up on the beach for a bit and then broke her off when she flipped back in and ran for a stump. I can still see the little puff of moisture when the line broke and curled back toward me. While that fish was the first big steelhead I hooked, the real excitement was the next day when I went back to same pool. Fished it hard with no luck when I decided to climb out on an alder to look down into the pool. Saw that fish with the Hotshot in the corner of its mouth and swimming next to it was a steelhead that dwarfed the one I hooked. That sight inspired a lot of fishing...until the pool filled on the next flood.

Keith

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#319909 - 11/14/05 06:53 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Slab Quest Offline
Three Time Spawner

Registered: 08/17/01
Posts: 1640
Loc: Mukilteo or Westport
The crank handle almost fell off the reel when I was playing the fish in my avatar. That was pretty exciting. We had to scrounge around in the tackle box, get a wrench, and tighten the nut on the crank while the fish was on.
_________________________
www.psasnoking.com

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#319912 - 11/14/05 07:37 PM Re: What was your most exciting fish ever?
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13521
The most exciting and memorable fish remains a Thompson River steelhead that took my fly near the head of a pool on a cold morning that must have been in the low to mid 20s. I'd forgotten my wading staff, and this was before I had stream cleats. The fish was off like a rocket bound for the next pool, a long ways downriver. I jumped, ran, slipped, and darn near cartwheeled my way after that fish over Thompson River rocks that are slicker than deer guts on a doorknob. I nearly regained 180 yards of backing and flyline before I lost that fish over a quarter mile downriver. My lungs were aching from the cold, cold air. Never felt that bad running the 440 in track. That sprint, that steelhead, left me dripping in sweat. No steelhead before or since, no matter how large, has worked me over like that fish. That was exciting.

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