Conference wahoo::fishing

     I saw this on the news friday night WBZ 11:30 Sports. This guy
    was at it for 37 hours straight! and they had three boats out there
    trying to get this monster netted!! Finally after the pole on the
    net bent this mother of a fish just swam away. It was unbelieveable
    they had it all on film!! All the guy kept on saying was "I don't
    believe this..I'm so disgusted!!  After all that I would of been
    MORE than disgusted, I've would of been P_SSED-OFF!!
    
    Bass-O-Matic
    

    
    
    HERES THE REAL STORY.
    
         Artical received from fellow S.U. member,
      Coppied without permission,
    
    
          The day was Wed. july 12 1989, while Bob Ploeger was with
    guide Dan Bishop (3rd time as a guide) floating the Kenai River
    at noon they had not had a  hit all morning and was just about to
    call it quits when all of a sudden a strike Ploeger said "I knew
    I had hooked into a whale of a salmon" after 2 hrs of rowing the
    drift boat after the fish the tired men flagged down a motor boat
    and climbed aboard.
         Then the boat ran out of gas and they boarded another boat.
    
      Thurs  morning the fish stayed on bottem seldom moving for 4 hours,
    by 8:30 pm Ploeger had mad the guiness book of records for the longest
    fight of a fish, Ploeger showed no signs of acknowledgement,
       Then shortly before midnight the salmon made its break and headed
    200 yds across the Kenai, then it stopped on a grassy bank there
    was about 2 dozen fisherman on the bank that at first they saw the
    diving planer then a leader then the orange spin-and-glo and then
    the monsterous salmon came into full veiw,
       Bishop reached for the net while another guide took another net
    Bishop took a swipe at the fish but the boat was too close to shore
    the driver of the boat backed out into the river some more,
      Bishop swiped at the fish again from the front and Brewster from
    the rear to try and get the fish into the big net Ploegers line
    went slack then the boat started to drift and the fish rolled and
    it was all over.
       S.O.B. bishop screamed he's off, then total silence fell over
    the river. Ploeger put his hands on Bishops shoulder and said
      "its ok we did the best we could".
    
                                             The end
    

    Hey Brett--
    
    Too bad he didn't have Melissa holding the net--she would have never
    let it get away.
    
    
    Pat
    

    re: .3
    
    I was thinking the same thing, Pat.
    
    The problem is that I don't think our net is big enough.  The one we
    have could probably trap something the size of a 12 foot jon boat
    but I think you need something that could securely hamper a 17 foot
    whaler.
    
    :-) :-) :-) :-)
    
    /brett

    same story...I just got back from lake Mich. yesterday. bad time
    of the year for kings but went anyway. First fish hooked was a king,
    estimated at 20 lbs by the guy who owned the boat we were in (not
    a charter boat either, so he wasn't just pumping me up) I fought
    that sucker for 15 minutes, every 5 min. he'd take off again with
    50-100 yards of line. It was all I could do to hold on the the rod.
    I'm from Colo, so this WAS A NEW EXPERIANCE FOR ME!!!
    Well, I got the sucker within 10 feet of the boat, he surfaced,
    rolled.....and spit the lure right in my face. OUCH! and swam away.
    TALK ABOUT BUMMED OUT!!!!!!! I did manage to catch a small 20 "
    coho and a same sized lake trout. But the one that got away....
    (dream sequence goes here)
    
    DEADHEAD
            

    Why not copy a idea from the salt water book for those monster salmon
    and make up a scaled down harpoon? Using a 8 ft alum pole or a closet
    pole like I use. and some 1/16" nylon braid line about 25-30 ft
    should do?
    Also why not use a gaff? They make lots of smaller size ones, I
    have a nice little one for small fish allong with my two big gaffs.
    
    Of course I carry a net also; just in case I should catch an undersize
    fish. ( Naw, That will never happen). 
    
                                   Walt
    

    I think the reason is because gaffs and harpoons are probably
    illegal in some places.  Salmon fishing is highly regulated
    depending on area (unless your name is Flying Chicken, Running
    Bear, Soaring Eagle or something like that).
    
    Would you believe that we aren't allowed to fish with barbed hooks
    in Washington???
    
    This is my guess.
    
    I was reading the B.C. laws for salmon fishing and they allow you
    to "stab" a fish when it is next to the boat on a "sport line".
    
    /brett
     

       Could it be that they weren't going to keep the fish, so they
    didn't want to 'stab' it?
                                               Denny

   " Running Bear" 
    
    Common Brett.
    
    did you do that intentially?
    
    >>I"M not SERIOUS<<<<
    
    GOOD STORY ( dam cap lock )
    
    I have fought some fish for over an hour and what I find
    is 1 how out of shape I am and 
       2 the line takes a lot of abuse.
    
    I will change line afterwards or at least strip off 50 ft.
    after a long fight with a big fish.
    
    Now I cant't even imagine the type of fight these people are 
    talking about..
    
    Bear

    re: .9
    
    Gee Denny, I'd find it hard to bring myself to release a record fish
    of any species, especially if the meat goes for $10.00/lbs.
    
    I'm not sure what the AK laws are, but I wouldn't be surprised if
    taking salmon by impalement was illegal, which brings up the Running
    Bear thing again.
    
    And there was a subtle pun there, Bear, but when I wrote it, you
    weren't the intentional target.  However, I can picture you running
    down an unsteady dog :-) :-) :-)
    
    My friend had an interesting point when we discussed this.  He said,
    "Good.  Now everybody knows those babies are out there and this one
    in particular is going to breed, thus passing on the genes."
    
    So we figure in 3 years.............
    
    /brett

	This mornings NPR (National Public Radio) news stated that the
commercial fishery at and about the inlet to the Kenai River had/has been
shut down this season due to tar balls, adrift in the bay, from the EXXON
Valdease(sp) . The commercial fleet (drift netters) has been unable to
go out yet this season. EXXON has promised compensation and has already
paid fisherman $10,000.00

	This most likely, if not definitely, explains the entrance into the
river by a 100# plus salmon. It is not uncommon for commercial netters
to winch up 100# plus kings.

	Although this is an undeniable setback for the commercial netters
I suspect, and hope, that it bodes well for a larger than average "class
of '89" from the Kenai.

				Joe Whittemore - From where the Westfield
						      Meets the Westfield
							 By the Westfield
							    In Huntington (MA)