First Salmon Catch off the ‘Fish Fry’

Finally! The monkey is officially off my back. I have been hitting the salmon fishing hard off the mouth of the Genesee for much of late summer and early fall. Every time I’ve gone out, I’ve gotten closer and closer to getting a salmon. There were a couple of other occasions where I’ve been skunked, or blown off the lake. The other day we had a screamer shake a lure free right off the end of the pier after a 25 minute fight.

So, this morning was awesome when my Dad and I got into a hard fighting Coho right around 6:50am. The sun wasn’t even above the horizon yet. We got her on a black spoon with a green glow in the dark ladder-back. She fought for about 10 minutes. I had the net (which I bought for our Canada trip last year) poised. Now I know how big salmon can be, but I really thought the new net was big enough and deep enough. I swiped at the fish once, and she got out of the net. She took a quick dive, and then Dad horsed it back to the boat. I took a second swipe and missed again. I really do know how to handle a net, but it quickly became clear that this net is NOT big enough for Salmon fishing. Finally, on the third try, after I was sure my dad would push me over the side if I didn’t land the fish, I got her in.

We were psyched! It has been since probably 1990 since we’ve gotten a salmon. This one was only 11 lb 3oz, not very big by salmon standards – but exactly what we were hoping for. We put the lines in the water for another 3 hours, and there wasn’t even another hit. We were very thankful for the one fish that hit and we landed.

It was fun to come home with something other than an empty cooler, and show his grandkids why we spend time sitting on the water drinkineg coffee and eating donuts.

This is the first salmon that I’ve caught from the ol’ boat since I acquired it. I hope it is a sign of more to come.