This summer, my son and I traveled from our home in Alpine, Utah to fish some of the wildest rivers and lakes in Alaska. We spent our time hiking remote mountain trails in search of monster fish. During our treks, we found some absolutely beautiful places to fish, but none of them yielded any big ones. We caught some pretty little rainbows and dolly vardens, but we still hadn’t found any trophies.
On the last day of our trip, we decided to spend the morning on the Kenai River. Although it had been raining throughout our trip, the sun was shining brightly as we made our way to the dock. It was an absolutely beautiful morning and we had a great feeling about things as we headed out. We rigged up with Kwikfish, which are excellent when backtrolled on big rivers like the Kenai. We had only been fishing for about five minutes when this monster king salmon hit! He nearly ripped the rod from my hands with his fierce strike. I set the hook and the battle was on. After about ten minutes, I got him close to the boat. He made two or three short runs before we finally got him in the boat. At 51 pounds, he’s the biggest salmon of my life!
- Orrin Olsen
Orrin, thank you very much for you entry into our 2010 Contributor Contest and boy what a big salmon! You have taken SECOND PLACE in our contest and will receive a signed copy of Dave Mercer’s new book, as well as a copy of Fins & Skins magazine!
Re: Name That Fish!