6 lb line

Stanley Idaho, ever heard of it? Me either, but it was the site of this years Johnson reunion, as it was in days of yester-year. Shannon says it has been near 8 years since the family last got together in Stanley so it was an exiting prospect for us.

I really only have one story to share so I'll get to the point.
It was the last night of the reunion and I had resigned to catch fish on this trip. Let me backtrack with some history. I do not fish. It has always seemed boring to me and Southern Nevada fishing consists of bashing carp with your hand while standing on the dock at Lake Mead. When I asked Shannon what the family does in Stanley her reply was, "Fish." You can smell the exictment oozing from my pores, right?

Ok, so I attempted to try my hand at catching some of the fish that had recently been released from the hatchery several miles up stream. I mean, how crappy do you have to be to not catch farmed fish? Well, turns out I'm pretty crappy. I only caught one little scrawny 4 incher. Above the hatchery I fared better catching a few 9 inchers.

Danny, Matty and I stumbled upon a secret fishing hole several miles south of where we were camping and milked that hole all weekend. I had very little luck there, not getting a single fish, until the last night. Dan Dan noodle said he had seen a "large tail" twice while trying to fish this hole, but I wasn't buying it because of my previous bad luck. I convinced my two fishing brothers-in-law that we should return at dusk when the bugs come out, for better luck. Boy was I right. I found a nice flat rock on the bank of the river and cast away. Out of 20 or so casts, I caught five fish. One looked like a sand shark. All were over 8 inches one was near 14 inches. Being and animal activist and all, I was using a non-barbed hook, so that the fish could easily be returned to the river. This isn't even the best part. Continue reading for further action please.

So I'm having great luck and I look to my left and Dan Dan and Matty both had snags at the same moment. Except, Matty yells, "Wow, my snag is moving!" After several sweaty minutes that seemed like hours Matty had worked this baby up to the shallows. It was a giant. He was so huge, I couldn't believe the enormity of the beast.

We didn't have a net so Dan Dan noodle jumped in to grab it once he got close. Flop Flop, splash, back into the river. Needless to say we were running out of options. Again and again the bull on the line pulled and writhed and spat fire at one point, I'm pretty sure. Matty shortened the line little by little bringing him to the shoreline. Then Danny had a better idea to just flop the behemoth onto the shore. That he did. When all was said and done the fish weighed in at 35-40 lbs in my estimation, and stretched to a little over 36 inches.

The thing had teeth 1/2 inch long, a nasty hooked nose, black spots and a gentle rose head. It was a beauty, so much that Matty named it Hannah. We lowered Hannah back into the river, gave her some breathing exercises, and let her go. After some research it turned out that Hannah was a Chinook Salmon that was endangered. If we were to have kept her and been caught, $50,000 fine. Yep. 50k.

Two more tid-bits, the fishing-line Matty caught Hannah on was 6 lb test. That line is meant for little, little fishys. Oh, and Hannah was a boy...