Broke out the king gear and hit the river. Was to only be the wife and I, but my Father in Law was a late bonus addition. I was blessed to marry into a great family and it was a real hoot to see my father in law do battle with his first king. The hit was not a classic crushing hit, noticed the rod bouncing on the downrigger, and the line released as I pulled the rod from the rod holder to hand off. After a second or two, the king peeled off 1/2 the line on the trusty old Penn 210 reel I have been fishing with since I was a little kid. A good battle took place, and after one last burst towards the bottom right under the boat, the king came to the surface. I was ecstatic to not see a rudder, and the fish went into the net with out a boat side tantrum. FIL caught his first king, and it was a keeper. After a bonk on the head, the tape read 36" and the scale said a tad over 16lbs. That would be the last fish for the trusty old Penn 210, as it developed some issues with the line guide and something internal. I've fished that rod & reel for over 30 years, Lake Erie, lake Ontario, and the Columbia. Replaced it with the Diawa Accudepth 27LC. Fishing was overall average to slow, this was the only king bite we had that morning.
