Not a kayak story but something to get your salmon fever going

Last Thursday my father-in-law wanted to mooch the Coos Bay Bar for salmon from is boat (I now, I now but in my defense the wind has been so freaking bad so far this year I'm desperate) so "NOT" to miss out on fishing adventure I was there with fly rod in hand. Father-in-law was using herring (much too big for the early season) me a clouser 4" candlefish pattern. The weather was taking a turn for the worst so if we got maybe four passes, we would be really lucky. First couple of passes nothing and we decided "actually mother-nature made the decision for us" so we were finishing up the third drift and my pole doubled over like no tomorrow, the bulldog fight was on, the fish would gain some line then I would gain some line, this went on for what seemed forever in my world but in the real world maybe a couple of minutes. Next thing I knew a 15lb. fresh hot Chinook salmon from ocean was in the net. The next day we hit it again weather not so nice, wind was starting to blow-right of the bat it was not looking good but was doable. By the 3rd. pass we was calling it quits so my father-in-law decided to drift all the back in just in case. Well, the just in case was all it took , my rod started to jump round, line peeling off at a high rate of speed- the fish was having nothing to do with this and was headed back out the ocean. I handed off the rod to my father-in-law(his fly-fishing experience is limited to trout and panfish this was totally new to him) the fish decided to come back at a high rate of speed. Father-in-law still trying to pick up the slack by reeling Told him to start stripping by hand to pick up the slack and get a tight line and start controlling the fish instead of the fish controlling us. So by now fly line is all over the boat,hanging over the side wrapped around the seats and such. The 'big miracle' is the fish was still on! Now it wants to go and cross the bay to the North Jetty, slackline not a problem- just a couple of line burns on the father-in-law fingers from the line peeling out again. When I thought it couldn't get any more epic my father-in-law starts cussing, he had tried to grab the handle on the fly reel and all that got him was some whack knuckles while the reel was spinning at wrap speed. All in all a nice 12lb. Chinook finally came to the net. I wish that I had a my camera to capture the moment on video. Next time!

People throw "epic" around causally enough that it's kind of lost its impact.  I think you story qualifies, if for no other reason than two salty Springers on the fly in consecutive days.  But your story is much more than that.  I'm sure you and your FIL will remember the great Coos goat rodeo for the rest of your lives.

Wish you had video going.  Thanks for sharing.

LOVE IT!! 

excellent...

Totally awesome. I would say two chinook on a fly rod in one year would nearly qualify for epic, but two in a week definitely qualifies - especially when they are fresh chrome bright from the salt fish. Nice work - Thanks for sharing.

Awesome adventure!  Thanks for sharing it!

-Mark-

Yeah, yeah, big deal.  You went fishing a week ago and caught some salmon.  What have you done since then?

😂