Catching a Big Fish

I am going to start by saying that we decided that a “big fish” would have to be at least as big as Autumn.  Now that has been said, I have started to go fishing with my neighbor as it seems that no one in his family enjoys fishing nearly as much as he does. His name is Joe, so Joe and I were out this particular morning and we had a good feeling about this trip (as you do about all fishing trips). But, this one turned out a bit different from the norm. There we were on the Nottawasaga River, we put in about 5 minutes from our house and proceeded down river to our known “honey Hole”.  Once there we found 3 others already fishing the spot but that did not phase us we decided to stay and fish it anyway. Nothing happened until the other 3 left; still for some time more it seemed as if we were just there to drown worms. We were just about to leave when I said, “I think it just came and then turned back when it got close to shore.” With that I was encouraged to cast again … Nothing, so I was again encouraged to cast one last time before we left… FISH ON, FISH ON. The fight ensued like none that I have ever experienced. I would bring the fish close the to  the shore  and it would take off back to where it came, time would go by, and I would again get it close to the shore and again it would run . All the while I was getting coached about keeping tension and keeping the “J” in my rod. After about 5 minutes of fighting with this fish a beautiful silver coloured fish leaped clear of the water trying to spit the hook, of course to no avail. That turned out to be the fishes last hope as it just tried to get back to deep water but was unable to muster the strength, we were able to get it in the net and then on land. Both Joe and I erupted in celebration as we had landed our first Salmon of the season (my first ever) the fish weighed in at approx. 10 pounds. We continued to fish the same hole for the next little bit with no further success, at which point we started heading up river back to both the dock and the other honey hole. This one is known to produce however it is riddled with snags and has a log jam on either side (about 50’ apart). We park the canoe in between the jams and I start fishing from there as Joe heads up on the bank. 3 casts in both of us as starting to think maybe we should feel lucky and head in (after all it is 2 days before we left for our trip). But, the next cast Joe is the one saying FISH ON, FISH ON. His battle is a bit more interesting, remember the snags and log jams. He was able to keep the fish away from all of that until the fish began to get something tired the last ditch effort was for it to head into the closest log jam and try to break the line. Good plan but the line did not break and we had a canoe so I jumped in and maneuvered it into the log jam where I could see the line enter the water. I was able to break the first 2 branches and was trying to break the third but it was stuck something good. By this time Joe kept saying, “the fish must be gone we can just cut the line.” To which I replied, “Joe, do you have tension on the line the fish is still there and I can see it.” Joe getting all excited again almost yelling now says, “Just reach in and grab it by the gills don’t be afraid.”(if you have ever been fishing with me you will know that I am a bit squeamish when it comes to touching fish at the beginning of the season). So picture this, a dude in a canoe reaching over the side trying not to exit the vessel of choice and net in one hand and a fish by the gills in the other hand. Out comes the fish the net and about a foot of a good sized branch that is attached to the lure. At this point we could say that I had the fish but it is still on the wet side of the boat time to get it to the dry side, this is where I realize the net is bending under the weight of this fish. I got the fish in the boat and again up roars of success and achievement. This fish weighed approx. 15 pounds and is as long as Hunter. I know that I did not hook the fish but it was told to me that without me the fish lure and pride all would have been lost that day so I can claim both the fish, and the fish that I caught was as big as Autumn. However the one I hand bombed out was as big as Hunter, all in all a good morning if you ask me.