I got back to San Francisco from Alaska and started to fish the Bay Area waters again. I started to focus on salmon for a change. I went out almost everyday to hone my techniques for trolling and or mooching for salmon. The fishing was slow but when you found a salmon it tended to be a hog.
My daughter was going to get married and she told me that she wanted to have a big salmon for the centerpiece and she wanted me to take my future son-in-law out to catch it. I agreed to try. I did double check to see if the local fish market had some big fresh salmon hogs for sale just in case, which they did have.
The morning before the wedding I got the boat ready and waited for the boys to show up. It was going to be the best man, the groom and his father coming out to find the big salmon with me. I asked a good friend of mine to come along as a deck hand because he was good at gaffing and netting. My friend and I waited at the boat at the time we were trying to leave but the boys were late. Turns out they had a stag party of sorts the night before and they were hurting a bit in the morning so were running late. They showed up and we took off for the green can at Dux where I planned on starting to fish for the day.
I gave a quick instructional demonstration to my fairly inexperienced anglers. The largest fish any of them had ever caught to date was a 12 inch trout. My work was going to be tough and my daughter was counting on us to perform. No pressure. I set up the main trolling rods on the downriggers. I was trolling dodgers with watermelon apex on one side and fresh anchovies on the other side. Down the middle I threw out my small lightweight spinning reel with an anchovie behind a simple white hootchie and no weight at all.
We trolled for hours with nothing happening. That might be because of the copious amounts of chum the best man was letting rip over the rail all day long. I think all three of them chummed at some point or other. It was a fairly rough day on the water with about 8-9 foot swells rolling through all day. That is tough to take without a night of heavy drinking. We weren't even getting a scratched bait but I wasn't seeing anybody else catching any fish around us either. Maybe the fish were getting drunk from the best man's chumming. I decided to move outside of the usual trolling area around dux. I moved south and out a bit then trolled in toward rocky point.
All of a sudden the little spinning rod started to peel off line. I went into fire drill mode and started to bark orders around at people. I gave specific orders to each person in lickety split fashion. My tone of voice made everybody jump at my requests. I had dad and the best man start reeling in the other lines. I had my deck hand bring up the downriggers. I handed the rod to the groom and never took my eyes off it. I yelled very detailed "how to" instructions at him and he responded exactly like I ordered. He kept the tip up and reeled when the line was not going out but held the rod when the fish was taking line. I made sure there was never any slack line by yelling reel faster or reel slower or sometimes just to hold on and let it run. When the other gear was up and stowed I had them clear the deck of all debris and posted them on the sides of the boat to make sure I did not hit anything with the boat while I was distracted by landing this fish. I was steering the boat without looking forward but only responding to the needs of landing this fish. I wanted to land it. It was likely our only shot at a fish for the day and it had to hit on the lightweight spinning outfit. I eventually had everybody doing their jobs perfectly and smoothly.
The groom was nervous as hell but still following directions well. The fish was big. I could tell by the bend in the rod and the sound of the line peeling out when it wanted to run. I slowed the boat speed down and turned into the direction of the fish or whatever was required. A few times I had to speed up the boat to help take up the slack when it ran directly at us. There was not much line on the little spinning reel and this fish could easily have spooled us if we weren't keeping the boat in position. It took about twenty five minutes of tense work but the fish finally flashed some color at us. I got my deck hand ready with the net and I put dad at the helm with strict instructions to do exactly as I told him. Do not try to lift the fish out of the water. Lead the fish with the rod tip but do not point the rod directly at the fish. Use the bend in the rod as an indicator and keep it slightly bent. Stay at the rail as far forward as you can. Be ready to go around the boat if it runs at the last second. Listen carefully. He did very well considering all the stuff I was yelling at him. I might have just thrown the rod in the brink if somebody tried to tell me that much crap all at once. I grabbed the gaff and we got ready to land this hog. The fish started to stay at the surface so I knew it was tiring. It had to be tired so that we didn't lose it at the boat. I would hate to see the fish take a last second run and get cut off by the prop or something like that. I actually climbed out on the swim platform with the gaff. The big fish came closer and closer to the boat with everybody ooohhing and aaawwwing at it until I yelled at them to keep doing as they were told and let us land the frigging fish first. It finally came close enough and after a quick look to confirm that it was a king we got the net around it and heaved it into the boat. I was only going to give my deckhand one shot with the net before I gaffed it if he missed but he came through like a champ. The fish was about forty pounds, bright and shiny. I high-fived the deckhand and then the groom and everybody else for doing an excellent job and we started the celebration. We got the fish my daughter wanted. I felt some of the pressure ease out of my body as I grabbed the wheel back and we headed into port again. I relaxed and as I did the other guys all finally started to talk again. They told me that I scared the shit out of them the way I took charge when the fish first hit. I am glad I did because it worked I told them back. To land a forty pound salmon on light tackle when the biggest fish you have ever landed was a dinky little trout was quite an accomplishment I pointed out to the groom.
They kept up the happy chatter all the way into the dock and I quietly cleaned the fish on the way in. I was very careful at how I treated the fish because I wanted it to look as good as I knew it was going to taste after my daughter cedar planked it. I was exhausted. I did notice that none of the boys were seasick after we caught the fish. I guess I scared them into being sober again.
The wedding went smoothly by the way and the fish was delicious to say the least.
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