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The Theme Continues: BIG FISH
Posted 06 July 2016, 11:22 pm NDT
38" long, 21" girth. Congrats to Jim and guide, Hedley, on this awesome fish!
(larger version)
Lots of great stories in the lodge again today, and several guests came to me with pictures (we will be adding some of them to our 2016 pictures gallery) but we have to post this story and picture here. It was Jim, again, with the fish of the day, quite likely to be the fish of the season, and one of the biggest fish we have had caught at our camp in our 8 seasons operating it. Hedley has been guiding on Eagle for 14 years and he was very excited. It was the biggest fish he has had a guest land. Measuring in at 38", and a whopping 21" girth!
It took a lot of skill from both Jim and Hedley to land this beauty. It was a one hour and five minute fight, hooked in one of our scheduled pools, Lem's Lane. Jim hooked it with 10 minutes left in their time slot, and described the fish as wild, making it's first jump into a large rock face. After 20 minutes passed he felt bad because another guest was up for a turn in the pool. They made the decision to go ashore and land the fish from there. An adventure ensued. When they tried to get out of the boat the fish went under it, he managed to get it out, and then it went under another boat tied to the shoreline!!! This time he thought the prop had his line...until the salmon shot out from behind the boat back into the lane. Jim gives Hedley a lot of credit for the success landing this one. "He had a plan", Jim said, "and it all worked out well" They decided to dip the fish in one of our knotless cotton nets and after a couple of measurements and photos made a quick release to a lively fish. We will have a couple more photos posted in our gallery of this catch. Thanks to Jim's fishing buddy, Robert for the great snaps! Robert had a great day as well, catching large fish in both his morning session on the sandbar, and then on Lem's Lane. Pictures in the 2016 Picture Gallery.
The River is now falling, and has dropped about 10cm in the last 24 hours. The air and water have been very cold, but the fishing has been pretty hot! There are still very few grilse being caught with a ratio of about 90% large salmon.
Unless Jim catches a whale in Eagle River, tomorrow we are not featuring him in the Eagle River Report! :) What a trip he is having. Everyone has been having some good fishing, and are catching some great large salmon. Jim has had a couple of exceptional fish that just had to be posted!
It took a lot of skill from both Jim and Hedley to land this beauty. It was a one hour and five minute fight, hooked in one of our scheduled pools, Lem's Lane. Jim hooked it with 10 minutes left in their time slot, and described the fish as wild, making it's first jump into a large rock face. After 20 minutes passed he felt bad because another guest was up for a turn in the pool. They made the decision to go ashore and land the fish from there. An adventure ensued. When they tried to get out of the boat the fish went under it, he managed to get it out, and then it went under another boat tied to the shoreline!!! This time he thought the prop had his line...until the salmon shot out from behind the boat back into the lane. Jim gives Hedley a lot of credit for the success landing this one. "He had a plan", Jim said, "and it all worked out well" They decided to dip the fish in one of our knotless cotton nets and after a couple of measurements and photos made a quick release to a lively fish. We will have a couple more photos posted in our gallery of this catch. Thanks to Jim's fishing buddy, Robert for the great snaps! Robert had a great day as well, catching large fish in both his morning session on the sandbar, and then on Lem's Lane. Pictures in the 2016 Picture Gallery.
The River is now falling, and has dropped about 10cm in the last 24 hours. The air and water have been very cold, but the fishing has been pretty hot! There are still very few grilse being caught with a ratio of about 90% large salmon.
Unless Jim catches a whale in Eagle River, tomorrow we are not featuring him in the Eagle River Report! :) What a trip he is having. Everyone has been having some good fishing, and are catching some great large salmon. Jim has had a couple of exceptional fish that just had to be posted!
