Message from discussion Willamette River (Or.) Chinook Report

Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekigm2!tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM!terryt
From: ter...@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM (Terry A Turner)
Newsgroups: alt.fishing
Subject: Willamette River (Or.) Chinook Report
Keywords: 1st Fish in the boat this year!
Message-ID: <8913@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM>
Date: 16 Apr 90 14:36:11 GMT
Sender: ter...@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM
Reply-To: ter...@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM (Terry A Turner)
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Vancouver,  WA.
Lines: 42
Posted: Mon Apr 16 15:36:11 1990


	I took 2 inexperienced fishing friends spring Chinook fishing this 
	Sat. with some great results.  In the 1st 20 minutes we hooked and 
	landed a 27 lb. springer.  Some details of the struggle follow.

	I had pre-rigged 2 rods the night before so they were in the water
	immediately when we started trolling.  I was working on getting the 
	3rd rod in the water when the fish hit.  Now the biggest fish Mike
	had ever caught was about a 16" trout so had no idea about what to do.
	We had just talked about setting the hook, getting the rod out of the
	holder, keeping a tight line etc.  When the fish hit, his mind went 
	blank.  I am urging him to "reef on it" to set the hook which he
	finally did and struggled the rod out of the holder.

	The fish have been running small so I thought it was around 10 lbs or
	so until it did something I have never seen a Chinook do.  This fish
	jumped straight out of the water and cleared the top of the water by
	2 or 3 feet (twice in succession) right next to the boat.  Needless
	to say I went from calmly getting ready to land the fish to "GET
	ME THE GOD DAMNED NET!"  Well, the fish towed us down the river a ways
	and some time later we landed the fish.  Mike let the line go slack 
	on the fish several times and the fish was laying on its side ready
	for the net but he had trouble getting it close enough for me to 
	reach it with the net, but finally, we did.

	WE caught the fish on a Lucky Louie plug.  (Luhr Jensen J Plug for 
	those of you not old enough to remember Louie.)  Most people were
	using prawns or herring (we were too on the other rod) but I seem to
	consistently catch fish with these plugs every year.  They were real
	popular here for salmon 20 years ago until most folks switched to 
	herring.  I started using them in Lake Pend Oreille (Idaho) for 
	Kamloops trout and used them for salmon when I moved to Oregon.


	Fishing in general seems to be very slow with sporadic success in 
	certain parts of the river on certain days.


	No fish for me yet but hopefully I' will get my chance.


	Terry Turner