King-nook? (O. tshawytscha)

Posted on April 28, 2009, 7:59 am, by JB, under Artistic, Fish, Fishing Life.

jborger_5anad_king

Big kings (Chinook) are a bit like big Taimen in that they tend to look wrong when parked front-and-center in a stream. By wrong, I mean that they look like they are a goldfish in a teacup—too much fish, not enough cup.

A 40 or 50-pound slab ‘o salmon is a serious hunk of meat, and even more serious when it makes a move toward your fly. Yes, I know that a 150-pound tarpon is way bigger, but it’s the relative environment that seems to throw things out of whack.

For me, kings have been perhaps more of a Great Lakes fish than a Pacific Ocean fish. I think that stems more from my usual time to fish places like Alaska than anything else. I have typically ended up in the 49th state toward the latter-half of the season, looking more for rainbows and silvers. The kings I have caught in Alaska have been big fish (the biggest of my salmon), but never in large numbers. With the Great Lakes king run in Wisconsin (my home state), it was a matter of an hour and 45 minutes to the coastal rivers, and the kings were often thick.

In any case, the king is a spectacular fish, especially when it’s attached to your line in a teacup that’s just a little bit too small…

«
»