King Salmon, my favorite fish to catch and eat. This is the result of our second day of fishing with the best guide on the Kasilof River, Alaska, Jeremy Anderson of Driftaway Fishing. This is our second year fishing the Kasilof with Jeremy and we didn’t waste any time booking next year. Our guests are my cousin, Arlene Shuster and her husband Bob from Escondido, California. Having two Bob’s on board made it tricky for Jeremy to give instructions, the nicknames of BIB, for Bob in back, and BIF, for Bob in front have stuck now and we use them all the time.
I had to release a much larger King earlier in the day because it was turning too pink. Here’s the story; we were fishing a hole next to another boat, a second boat was anchored below us a good distance down river. Suddenly my pole bent and I set the hook, the fish stripped line tearing down river tangling the lines of the fishermen below. Courtesy on the river has fishermen reeling in lines the instant “fish on” is shouted. The guide immediately cut the tangled lines, and my mighty King changed direction charging upriver and snagged the line of another fisherman in the boat next to us. The idiot guide refused to cut the line. I was reeling with all my might and very worried I’d loose this huge fish. With a few choice commands from Jeremy the ornery guide finally cut line and we were able to net the monster. My line looked like a string of Christmas tree ornaments with three other sets of colorful tackle entwined. After this epic battle it pained me to release that big guy, but it was the right thing to do. Jeremy estimated it weighed over 40lbs. I’m still a little perturbed at the lack of courtesy show by the other guide.
A good fish story. Do you have one to share?
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska wilderness fishing artist
