Had a good one off Secret Cove this year. My first time fishing @ Epson Point. I arrive at sundown and figure I have an hour, two at best of light to fish. It is just me, and two other boats fishing, the two boats about 150 yards off my stern, both within about 15 yards of eachother.
I hear shouting from one boat, "Its under your boat its under your boat!" Assessing the situation I figure it can't be under me, I am too far away and the 2nd boat is nearly ontop of the first. I continue working gear and trolling. After setting a few rods, I look up to see the two boats have parted, and one of them is in reverse, in hot pursuit of me! He has water piling over the stern, he's givin er!
I quickly put my hand on the downrigger line and can feel his mono dragging along my braided line. ****. It WAS under my boat, and given the distance, its likely a great catch. ****. What have I done!
I slam the boat to a stop, with the wind and current swinging my bow 180 degrees, thus wrapping my DR cables and lines in the water over my main engine, above and below the cavitation plate. One hell of a tangled mess. I cut the mainline of all three rods. Knowing I have braid on the DR, I hope it is soft enough and has not cut off the fish. After 5 minutes of madness the boat with the hooked fish is now beside me, both our engines turned off, and the 4 of us get to work dealing with all the crossed lines and downrigger cable. His rod is slack, the angler (his first nice salmon) is heartbroken. I felt the same.
Progressively we worked on untangling each line, cutting where we could. Nearing the end of the job, I look down to see a loose strand of line sitting on the stern laying in the water. I grab the line. It's trailing well behind the drifting boats. It wasn't snagged on my boat, or the other. It was simply laying on the transom waiting for me to pick it up. I start slowly yarding it in as we all laugh, "don't worry guys, I got the fish right here". But something wasn't right, there was no resistance, no head shakes, no change in direction. I kept pulling, there was slight tension, I figured a flasher in the water at best.
I pull, I pull....one last pull, and out from the murk rises the dark back of a large Chinook. Not quite 30, but pushing 25. I shout "get the net get the net!!" Everyone looks at me in disbelief, and looks to the water in shock. The fish is still there, happily swimming along with out boats. The net gets dipped. The fish swims in. Beers were on me.
I didn't get a bite that night but it was surely one hell of a catch. The captain of the other ship remained calm, and handled my buffoonery like a real gentleman. It was an odd, but great start to a more than enjoyable trip to Secret Cove.
Cheers
