"Fish On" or "A Day In The Life Of A Retired Old Fart" BY: Alan Pettibone

This short saga could be entitled "Fish On" or "A Day In The Life Of A Retired Old Fart"

The story begins a little after 3am on Nov 1st of 2004. I'm up but not moving very smoothly yet. I'm sleepy, I never sleep very well the night before one of these fishing excursions. You know, maybe the alarm won't go off or maybe I'll sleep thru it. The coffee is on, that smells pretty good! I turn on the back outside light, it's raining lightly. Maybe this trip ISN'T such a great idea. Oh well it's better than staying home and being bombarded by all the election rhetoric. The plan is to fish the lower Quinault River for salmon with "Benny" an indian guide who is very knowledgeable and great fun. The "Big Boys", (the Chinooks, the Kings) should be in the river! It's raining but the Fisheries web site says the river stage is 4.54 ft and running 2650 cfs and holding steady. This should be very very fishable. These trips have to be planned and booked two years in advance, Benny is a popular guide. All the tackle, rain gear, lunch, etc. is stowed in the pickup so here we go.

I pick up my fishing partner, Jon, in the parking lot at his office and we're on the road by 4:15am. An hours drive to Hoquiam to meet Benny at his place and transfer the gear to his boat (an 18ft Jet Sled with a 90hp Yamaha and a kicker motor). Another 55 miles (90min) to the river in his pickup, the last 5 miles is an unmaintained, pothole filled gravel track through reservation land to the launch site. It's raining, maybe this WASN'T such a great idea! But we're off. The river is that nice dark green color and looks very fishy. What a beautiful place, no houses, no roads, no people, no bank fishermen, miles of wild river and only one other boat! Who cares if it's raining.

It's now 7am and lines are in the water. in about five min. I feel that electric jolt of a "take" by a fish, this sure feels good. "Fish On! I soon see that it's JUST a Chum Salmon, the Rodney Dangerfield of anadromous fish (the don't get no respect). They are tough, strong, ugly and very poor table fare. The indians call them Dog Salmon, I guess because they're only good for dog food. He's about 15 lbs and fun to fight. We realease him and go back to fishing. Jon hooks, lands and releases a smaller Chum. I think, "Oh Boy", is this going to be one of those "Chum Only" days? It's raining harder now and the wind is up, horizontal instead of vertical rain. Maybe this WASN'T such a great idea! Over the next half hour I have three hits, two of them brief hookups, but no fish in the boat. Do I feel some frustration setting in? You bet! One doesn't expect to get very many chances at a King on any given day. I'm getting some good natured ribbing about my angling skills. this may turn out to be a test of my manhood! And it's still raining. Maybe this WASN'T such a great idea!

Now the fun starts. Back to the top of the run. There's that electric jolt again, "Fish On". What happens next is 20-25 mins. of wonderful, total chaos. This is a BIG fish. Up the river, down the river, acrossthe river, under the boat, with Benny in hot pursuit trying to keep me and the fish in the same general area of the river. I think everything is going quite well and then she decides to head WAY down river. Ahead is the roughest section of white water in this stretch of the river, protected at the top end by a huge boulder that comes to within a few inches of the surface. "Benny, she's headed for that big rock"!!!!! She IS behind that behind that big rock. A few seconds of great boat handling, superb angling (if I must say so myself) and a lot of luck she's out and we're headed down river again. Another 200 yards downstream and we have her whipped, she's in the net then in the boat. What a beauty, high fives and back slaps all around. A wonderful female (hen) Chinook Salmon just a shade under 40 lbs. WOW!, a 40 pounder, the biggest I have ever landed by 10 lbs. My manhood is intact. It's raining , but who cares.

You may think this saga has ended. Well it has not. Jon hooks, fights and lands a nice 15lb King. As Benny is putting this fish in the fish box, I admire that beautiful 40-pounder again and tell Benny that I never expect to land another this big. He says, "oh they come bigger than that one". We're back at the top of the run again. There it is! "Fish On". This is a BIG fish. Another 30 mins. of chaos and anxiety. This fish is really heavy. He goes wherever he chooses. Fortunately, he chooses not to go down to the big boulder. Across the river, down the river, up the river, with Benny in pursuit. Oh Oh, he's headed back to the boat and going under it! Quick stick the rod straight down in the water completely up to the reel, I have to keep the line from rubbing the bottom of the boat. Benny is spinning the boat to try to get around th fish but this doesn't work. I have to work the rod around the front of the boat while it is stuck down in the water. Jon's holding on to the back of my waders so I don't go in the drink. This maneuver happens twice, but the fish is still on. All this activity around the boat happens in a few seconds but now it's replayed in my mind in slow motion, what a great fight! I don't know about the fish, but I'm getting tired! He makes one more long run across the river then rolls to the top of the water. Oh My God, he looks bigger than the other one!! enny gets the boat back on top of him and in a few mins. he is in the net. With some help, Benny has him in the boat. I look at my watch, it's 10:45am. I'm out of breath, my heart is pounding, and my knees shaking, I can not believe it. WOW, what a morning. this fish is absolutely the FISH OF A LIFETIME! More high fives and WAHOOing! A broad shouldered male (buck) King salmon. Truly a KING. He is 46 in. long, has a girth of 27 in., the tail is 14 in. wide and he weighs just a shade over 50 lbs! A 50-pounder, unbelievable. this is the biggest fish put in Benny's boat this year. Time for a few pictures. A shot of this big boy, along with me of course, will soon reside on Benny's wall of fame in his boatshed/shop. It's still raining, what an absolutely beautiful day. This certainly WAS a great idea.

We try the run again but the King bite seems over. We switch to casting spoons into shoreline pocket water looking for Silvers and Jon lands two nice ones, 9-10 lbs each. I missed a couple of hits. My concentration level for this activity seems to be quite low, I can't get my mind off of those TWO FISH, 90 POUNDS, WOW what a day!!! It's 12:30pm and the river is on the rise, the small feeder streams are starting to show brown, we'll quit early it's time to head home. First, pull out on a gravel bar and fillet the fish. If everything goes according to scedule I should be home and in the Jacuzzi by 4:30pm.

As we are motoring back to the boat launch, it hits me. Not once today have I thought about tomorrow's election, wondered what Bush will do to social security if he gets re-elected (God help us), worried about the mess in Iraq, wondered what the stock market would do the rest of the year, wondered just how high the cost of medical insurance can go (up anoteher $100 a month starting the first of the year), etc.etc. I look back at teh beautiful environment, what a wonderful place and what a great day indeed!!!

As we are loading the boat on the trailer I remember the name on Benny's business card "Memory Maker" guide service. he lived up to his title today, did he ever. It's still raining. But I could not imagine a more beautiful day. This certainly WAS a great idea. FISH ON!!!!

Thanks for letting this old-fart share a day with you. I hope all of you are doing well and catching big fish like me

ALAN 11/11/2004

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