Fish of the week during my brief stay... caught by Barb Adams... a 50 pounder to celebrate her 50th Anniversary to hubby Winston. (Yeah, they let me hold it up for a pic before the guide bled the colors out of it). Can you say G-I-R-T-H?



Fork length 44.5 by an astounding 31.75 around. Boggles the mind even when you see the real deal up close and personal. Any fish that fat on the Kenai would typically be about 52 inches long, give or take an inch.

holy sh!t Doc! They don't come any nicer than that. I love that purplish hue on the back of a nice king.

B E A U T I FISH!

Nice purple back.Gotta love it.Good luck,
SZ

Even a "non-Chinook fisher", thinks that is a awesome fish......amount of sea lice is something...

Have a good time....

THAT THING IS A BEAST!

I want one!!!!


Nice fish.

Fishy

Now that's a Tyee!

The lodge fished 14 rods each day I was there. Each day there was at least one fish over 40# taken.

But we sure logged a ton of rod hours for those kings. No boat ever came home with more than 3 kings... 1 or 2 was typical... with an occasional skunking.

Other species made up for the lack of king action... and all were taken on trolled gear, mainly whole herring and Apex's. The piscatorial potpourri included true cod, chicken halibut, black rocks, a mystery salmon (that I will post up later for the resident fish ID experts on the board), a sea-run dolly, and a world record pollock sporting a cataract in one eye.

After record winter snow, spring was barely limping along in Old Harbor.... just the faintest touches of green splattered the hillsides. First two days were cold and dreary, with barely a blue hole peeking thru the clouds. After a couple days of sun, the landscape was noticeably greener, but still very anemic compared to Anchorage

The big red king pictured above came to Barb mid-morning on day 1. After 4 more potential chances for the boat, I finally tagged my first salmon late on day 2, a white-jawed non-AK red king of 16#. Winston took a nearly identical cookie cutter white king an hour later. The clouds parted on day 3 and Barb was rewarded with the prettiest electric purple/blue/turquoise-hued king I've ever laid eyes on. The 20 pounder was sporting a white jaw and spotless platinum pearlescence in the tail remiscent of the URB's and summers we've taken in the Columbia. Day 4 the intense AK sunshine came out in full force, not only warming the air and water, but also illuminating our gear down to depths of 33 ft to the naked eye. Time for the SPF 70 sunblock .... and as usual, half nekkid by high noon! I tagged the mystery fish of the trip, my first salt-caught blueback salmon! Winston tagged a 6# "prince" salmon a few hours later. We ended the day with 3 jumbo black sebastes that dwarfed Win's mini-king.

Day 5, I switched to a different boat/guide for a half day trip with VISION Hooks/Tackle CEO Randy Prengel. Hooked into my first good fish of the entire trip... I called it perhaps mid-30's in the water. It peeled line out to 100 yds while we tried to mooch up a double. Slowly worked it back to the boat where the tug of war ended with the platinum pig coming unbuttoned under tension right beneath the boat. No hook-spittin' involved.... it just pulled free before w could put a net around it. And while that fish would have been a nice addition to my fish box, the lodge fishmonger had already accumulated a 50# box of groceries for me... mostly unwanted collars from other guests' salmon.

So despite the lackluster action, I came home with more than enough fish to eat, got to see and touch some pretty special kings in the absolute prime of their life, learned a whole lot about new and novel ways to rig a whole herring, and absorbed it all in a most stunning setting. More pics to come after taking care of loose ends at the office and working off some steam at the local Y.

Nice, was just thinking we were overdue to see some Kodiak hawgs, hope to see some off Prince of Wales in a month or so.

Timing is EVERYTHING. Head guide today boated 4 kings.... 62, 59, and a couple in the 40's.

Hopefully, I time it a little better in a couple years.

Awesome Piggy!

Fish Doc - Hopefully everyone on this BB fully appreciates the magnificant animal that you're holding. A very large adult Chinook salmon in it's prime and fresh from the salt is a sight that will not be forgotten. Truly a fish of a lifetime. I've never seen one "in-person" that is anything close to that fish. Well done.

Regardless of whoever caught it, thanks for sharing!

What a hawg, nice fish.

A magnum collar off that beast is about to hit the broiler in 15 minutes. Sitting on the counter seasoned with salt, MSG, fresh cracked pepper... topped with fresh minced ginger and a light brush of olive oil to give it a nice crust.

Time to enjoy a Fat Tire and a big bowl of razor clam chowder while the fish is cooking.

You know how to live!

Funny how captain Geoff Bechtol and I watched that fish come up to the downrigger ball to check out that bait. Geoff went on to explain how the big kings come up, check out the gear, sound a few feet, then come back up for a second look. Not 10 seconds later.... "FISH FISH FISH!" as peeling line made the click alarm scream in protest. Win hollered, "Barb you're up, babe!"

"What happened to all my line?" she asked....



"I can't do it, Geoff... I can't do it"
"Oh, yes you can," replied the captain.



Win to the rescue....



Almost there....



OMFG.... I see color!



Yeah, baby.... in the bag! Oh my.... what a pig!



Check out the lice....



.... and the signature fNp headshot, pre-wood-shampoo.



Chrome to the bone!

Wow, that is one hell of a specimen. Thanks again for sharing Doc.

cool image sequence!

thanks,