Haps and mishaps fishing for humpie salmon

[Okanagan]

My comment that a five mile drive and a few casts will get me this year's limit of two pink (humpie) salmon was premature.  Evening before last it took me over an hour to catch one very small one.  I spent four hours yesterday afternoon to acquire two that I wanted to take home.  I hooked 7, landed four and kept two large males that were in good shape, not dark nor yet morphed into a garish hump backed toothy monster. 

After a two hour drought I hooked a large male that was almost sea bright and wanted him.  I fought him onto a wide level gravel bar with about two inches of water running over it, and he spit the hook as he slid 8 feet onto the shallow water bar.  He was flopping and swimming with most of his body out of the water and I went cave man after him.  I got between him and the deep channel and boot kicked/lofted him 8 feet farther from deep water.  I have a fish billy club in my waders so grabbed that and gave chase.  He paused a split second at the wrong time and in the wrong position to escape a right handed fish clubber, and I whacked him solidly between the eyes.  My fish!   Pic of him below. 



Salmon started coming up a slot channel shortcut to bypass a swift current bend.  The slot widened across a shallow bar only four inches deep for the last 20 feet before the fish could regain the main channel.  Fun to watch them in singles and sometimes 20 at a time splashing and zooming up through that shallow stretch.  I stayed back so as not to spook them in the shallow clear water and cast to them, hooking one now and then as they emerged into the main channel.  Three young men saw the fish, waded out and stood right in the center of the small shallow channel to fish.  For the first two minutes fish swam around on both sides of them and then all fish stopped coming up that channel. I think they spooked the salmon both by their scent in the water (bare legs) and visually. After 20 minutes they left skunked, and within another five minutes fish started streaming up that channel again.   Maybe no fish came upriver while they stood in the channel. 

I caught another larger bright male but forgot to take any more pics.  I was hungry and headed home and thought of pics too late.

During a slow time in mid-afternoon I took a pic of a dead male humpie/pink salmon, below.  Mishap for this one who never survived to the spawning beds.  He is in better shape than many live ones that spawn, and is about 3/4 of the way morphed into spawning monster shape and color. 



Pleasant afternoon, on again off again fishing, mostly off, but hot when big schools of fish would pass by.  One that I lost was an extra large big humped male that was foul hooked and fought hard in a  wide section of river with medium fast current.  I kept pressuring him more and more to keep him away from a log jam and finally surprised myself by breaking the 12 lb. leader at the hook knot.

Smoked salmon in process...

[HuntnCarve]

I'd say you earned those salmon.  A fitting end to what appears to be a fine day afield!

Dave

[FinsnFur]

I second that

[pitw]

Man is it good to see a decent story again.   Them units sure do morph, eh.  Kinda/sorta like male humans.

[nastygunz]

Great story

[HaMeR]

Great story Ok!! Nice size fish too!! You'll get a bunch of fish samiches outta those!