Humptuilps King

[ML_Hunter]

Wile I'm currently on vacation , one of the things I really wanted to make sure I did was to check out the Olympic Peninsula and fish for some fall Coho which I tend to miss every year, and seeing my vacation come to a close very quickly I decided to head out today.  Last night I made sure to have all of my gear ready to go, pull the eggs out of the freezer to defrost, and tied up a few more leaders.  Alarm set for 3am, and I was ready to go.  Well, 3am came early and after making a quick stop for gas I was on the road by 4:30 this morning.  I did make a stop at Monte Square for last minuet supplies (realized that I forgot to pick up more 3/4 oz. cannon balls ) then I was non stop till I arrived at Stevens Creek Hatchery. 

My timing was perfect!    Legal fishing time was not till 6:47am this morning and high tide was at 7:09am, although I'm not sure how affected by tide this spot was, figured it was good info to know, and I was in the parking lot by 6:22.  I've only fished this location once in the past, so not knowing what type of water I was going to be fishing, I simply grabbed my gear, and walked down to the river.  I found a well used trail and figured I must be going in the correct direction, there was only one car there ahead of me and I was getting excited for it looked like perfect salmon weather, I was heading to a whole known to hold lots of fish, and I was going to be the second person at this location.

Finally I arrive on the river!  It was merely a short 400 yard walk to the river and the sun was just starting to crest the trees in front of me through the overcast sky.  Reading the water, and seeing other people fish on the opposite side of the bank, I decided to drift fish egg clusters vs. a float and eggs, by the time I was finally all rigged up it was about 6:50, just legal fishing time.  I started with a sliding sinker set up and decided to start with a 1/2 oz cannon ball, one drift later and I bumped up to a 3/4 oz cannon ball (good thing I made that stop at Monte Square!).  My first cast with the 3/4 oz cannon ball I was hesitant, was debating on bumping up to a full ounce for I drifted through the start of the drift fast, and then started to bounce bottom about a third of the way into it, but decided to give it another toss.  Third cast of the day and FISH ON!   There were two others on my side of the bank prior to me arriving and one of the gentlemen had the required knot-less net and he offered to net this salmon for me, I brought him up one, then a second time, a third time and then he was gone.  RATS!  But it was a good feeling knowing that I took just three cast and had more action on the river than the other two on the bank with me.  I re-baited and then took another cast...BOOM!  FISH ON!!   This fish took me for a ride, but after a good 10 minuet fight, I landed a BIG native Chinook male.  It was dark, a buck, and a native...three keys for me to let him go.

I then decided to change out my leader, after all, I just fought two big kings using the same leader (size 1/0 Owners hook with 15 Lbs. Maxima). 

Fresh leader, fresh bait, I was back in the game!  I kept hitting fish and feeding these salmon fresh eggs and they would hit, I would then set the hook, and then reel in a bait-less hook.  After about 15 minuets of this going on, BAM!  FISH ON!!  I knew from the moment I set the hook, and this Salmon starting taking drag that it was a BIG Nook!  He stayed deep and never surfaced to let me get a good look at him, but after about 10 minuets I had him near the bank and was able to see how big he was, it was a dandy of Nook but dark as can be.  I fought this king for another 15 minuets before finally getting him into the knot-less net with they gentlemen beside me was kind enough to help me with.  Again, it was dark, a buck, and native.  BUT, my hook was deep inside his mouth and wrapped in his gills, and native fish are legal to keep, not wanting to release a good wild Chinook just to allow it to die from injuries I inflicted on the fish, I decided to keep it.  I bonked it, started the bleeding process, and then put this whopper on the scale...came in at 20.5 Pounds!!!   Not huge by any means,  but a big-ole King to be excited about!

Fish recorded on my punch card, new leader tied and fresh bait.  Good to go.  Took one cast and WHHBAM!  Another FISH ON.  By now everyone fishing around me was seriously wondering what I was doing .  I instantly knew this was another King for how it was fighting, heavy and taking drag.  I looked over at the guy with the net as he again approached me inquiring if I wanted him to net this one as well, and I simply asked if he wanted to land the fish, and I net it.  He was excited and agreed.  After about a 15 minuet battle he landed this fish and then informed me that this was his first ever landed king.  I was happy for him and he was just ecstatic! 

Well, I went on to hook up with two more fish that I landed and several more that I lost ending the day with a 4-8 record.  But it was a blast, and I never did hook into a silver so it's just the one King for today.  I'll be back out soon, and targeting them Coho's!

Until next time, Tight Lines! 

[Coastal_native]

Cool story, I grew up fishing and hunting that stretch of river.  It's nice to see other people come out and enjoy it. 

[Wingin it]

Great story! Please tell me you aren't going to eat that thing.

[Madison]

oh come on. That;ll smoke up just fine

[PolarBear]

Don't get any milt on ya!  That river should only be getting better.  Now if the water would drop some.....

[fishcrazy]

I wouldn't have a problem smoking that fish. Then give it away to co-workers.

Kris

[ML_Hunter]

I currently have it sitting in the smoker .  The meat was still bright pink and i have one fillet sitting in the fridge now, going to see how it turns out on the bbq.

[Dhoey07]

Did you snag it while it was floating down river lol.  I'm just jealous cause i live in spokane now and can't fish salmon or steel 

[fishcrazy]

Did you snag it while it was floating down river lol.  I'm just jealous cause i live in spokane now and can't fish salmon or steel 

Oh come on now. He didn't snag it. It washed up against his boot.

Even a boot salmon is better than a skunk.

Kris

[ML_Hunter]

Did you snag it while it was floating down river lol.  I'm just jealous cause i live in spokane now and can't fish salmon or steel 

Oh come on now. He didn't snag it. It washed up against his boot.

Even a boot salmon is better than a skunk.

Kris

 
No, I was floating eggs, perfectly fair hooked.  And it still gave up a quite the fight.

[Button Nubbs]

i think you were looking for something like these:

[smg id=10769]

or these:

[smg id=10768]

[carpsniperg2]

Looks like fun! But that is one nasty looking fish

[ML_Hunter]

Nubbs, that was what i was looking for...never conected. lol. 
The smoked salmon came out great even tho it was so dark.  Love Salmon!

[Mossy]

crap.....someone else has the same hat I do.

[trippledigitss]

Nubbs, that was what i was looking for...never conected. lol. 
The smoked salmon came out great even tho it was so dark.  Love Salmon!

No way - did I miss something here? Are you talking about that "fish" in the picture?? You ate that thing??    Are you serious or are you guys just messing around? Now I am pretty gullable so you guys may be laughing your @$$e$ off at me right now but I need to know the truth! 

[FC]

lmao I am envisioning some kind of "*censored*" prank where SteveO eats the gnarly rotten salmon...lol

[Dmanmastertracker]

 I guess if guys fill their tag with fish already spawned out, it probably helps overall spawning rates. Better than some *censored* I saw on the Cowlitz bashing dark fish on the head with a rock, then tossing them back in so he wouldn't continue to hook them,  . If I hadn't been 14 at the time he'd have gone swimming. If it eats OK for you, good deal, congrats. I think the darkest fish I ever kept were a couple jack's out of Tenmile Lake in Oregon over 20 years ago, recall they weren't all that appetizing but I was a youngster...

[WSU]

I don't get why folks feel the need to bash someone for keeping a dark fish.  If he is happy with it and likes eating them so be it.  More power to him.  Just because you don't want to eat dark fish doesn't mean others won't enjoy it as much as you enjoy bright fish.

Also, this is coming from a self-proclaimed fish snob.  I personally don't think chrome winter steelhead are worth eating.  I don't particularly want to fill my freezer with chrome fall kings.  That said, if someone is happy with their fish there is no reason to piss in his wheaties. 

[trippledigitss]

I'm not "bashing" anyone. I just want to know if he is serious. I would have never guessed or even considered a fish that dark would be good or even OK to eat! Blows my mind that the meat would even be somewhat decent and not get you sick! I could care less if someone wants to eat something I wouldnt.

[Dmanmastertracker]

 There's a real nifty tool called "quote" in the upper right...

[WSU]

I wasn't trying to single anyone out.  It just seems that the thread went from someone proud of their catch to folks saying that the guy's fish is nasty.  Perhaps just let the guy be proud of his catch?

[Dmanmastertracker]

I wasn't trying to single anyone out.  It just seems that the thread went from someone proud of their catch to folks saying that the guy's fish is nasty.  Perhaps just let the guy be proud of his catch?

 I did, thus I have no idea why you posted this after me. "Congrats" in English means "nice job".

[WSU]

Fair enough, and I do have at least a 5th grade understanding of English. 

[Dmanmastertracker]

Fair enough, and I do have at least a 5th grade understanding of English.

[ML_Hunter]

Just because a fish is dark, dosent necessarily mean the meat is bad.  I landed several fish that day and happened to keep it for it swallowed the hook and was already bleeding from the gills when it was in the net, so I kept it, tagged it and weighted it.  This fish had been setting up on the bank for about an hour before the photo was taken so it darkened up a bit more and then had the discoloration in the skin.

The meat was still nice and pink when I cleaned it out so I decided to give it a spin in the smoker.  Came out just fine and I was happy as a clam. 

Yes, we would all prefer bright fish, but this day I brought home a darkie.  The post was a story of a fun day of fishing on the Hump were the action was fast and non stop!  I fished for about 3 hours and hook well over 8 fish, all giving up a very good fight.  If I would have brought home a fish or not, the story would have been posted, just without fish pic.

Tight Lines! 

[grade-creek-rd]

The Humptulips is only getting better with fish...Coho in serious numbers are showing up...check out this latest report at NWS Mag. One thing to remember about this river is that it's hatchery is on the "hot list" to get shut down by WDFW. I think it's a political ploy of theirs to pick a river that is so popular and shut down that hatchery to get the commericial, tribes, and sportsman in an uproar and do the fight for them with the budget issues...smart move on their part, but it sucks to be on the fighting end of this one...sorry to jack the thread...
 
http://nwsportsmanmag.com/2011/10/20/deer-schmeer-hit-the-hump/
 
G-C-R

[trippledigitss]

Thanks for the report post. I going down there on Tuesday for the Kings - I hope it is still good then! I will post pics of anything we get.

[Button Nubbs]

dont listen to magazines, theyre usually 1 to 2 weeks late...

[oldcamper]

Actually the dark fish make a great salmon cake. 

[Elkpiss]

I currently have it sitting in the smoker .  The meat was still bright pink and i have one fillet sitting in the fridge now, going to see how it turns out on the bbq.

Are you serious? that thing is a tire and looks like its on its last leg.. Just kiddin man, Nice King Dude!.. Make sure you have a beer close to wash it down