API . Newsflash. Salmon Journal, September 1st, 2003
Yesterday will be known as one of the most heated confrontations between fisherman. On the last day of the fishing pool competition all fisherman were up early and headed for the beaches or to troll the Klamath. But it was a lone fisherman and his tiny boat that were to get the big one. On the beach, the sea was fierce, huge crashing waves met with the heavy current flow of the Klamath River. Seals and birds froliced everywhere. There, on but 50 yards of beach, 150 fisherman stood. With a mere 2 feet of clearance between them they cast non-stop. On the line there was little talk, just the noise of whipping fishing poles casting. On occasion this silence would be interrupted by the “FISH ON” scream. Then, like the echo in a canyon, the "fish on" call was repeated down the line of fisherman who in turn scrambled to bring in their lines. The fisherman made his way down into the ocean surf with his fish in tow, only to confront his next challenge, the seals. As if fighting to bring in the fish isn't enough, he would now have to face off with the hungry seals. It was about 8:30 in the morning when "Andre" hooked a fish. His strong fishing pole warped as if it were a twig. The line was as tense as a string on guitar. He yelled frantically “FISH ON” and started to make his way down. It was havoc. More than ten fishing lines were already tangled on his line. These fisherman scrambled to cut their lines to give way to the lucky one. One fisherman refused to cut his line. He finally made it into the clear, of the beach. There he stood facing into the ocean, his line extended 300 feet into the surf, he had all but a few feet left on his reel. And there he wrestled the fish. Reeling in with the slack this only to be followed by the sizing of his reel as the fish pulled away with the strength of a bulldozer. bzzzzz !!!! went his reel, 20 minutes must have gone by before this fish decided to surrender and Andre was able to drag him in. He was huge...... People wowed as he walked by, "nice fish"... " Big Fish" they commented......
Want to read more...... want to know the whole truth....... what really happened.... scroll to the bottom of the page.
Links to more info on the area:
- Del Norte
- Redwood National Forest
- Area History
- Trees of Mystery
- Chinook RV Resort
- Northern California
Please email us your news.....
The smile however I could not get rid of all day.....
I did win..... Not bad for my first Salmon...
11 lbs
This is Gillians' fish
Japanese dinner..
we had so much...
Well the polite ones cut their lines if they are tangled with you when you have a "fish on", all they lose is a hook....... One man did not cut his line while I had my fish. ....and claim to have something on his line although from the beginning it was clear that this fish was on my line. The fishing pole was completely warped and a tight line leading into the water doesn't lie. This man had cast above my line while I was on my way down and now clearly was tangled with me in the water. This is bad because the line may be cut and the fish lost. However he did not volunteer to cut his line like the others and despite the comments from other fisherman suggesting he should immediately cut lose. He claimed to have something.....or something else.
So he followed behind me down to the heavy surf and to the beach and despite my recommending he not to tighten the line he continued to reel in and keep a tight line also. After a couple of minutes I managed to get the fish in from the outer surf to the inner surf away from the seals now closing in on my fish. The fish was about 15 feet in the water when "Bang" the line busted..,..
You can just imagine my rage...%^$^&*%* However.. the other mans line was still alive ... he brought the fish in...... We stood and watched....... and when the now tired fish was in the waves but 3 yards in the water I ran in to get him... He was huge, I could barely lift him... I stuck my hand deep into his gills breaking them like the Indians did... killing the fish.......Blood splattered all over including from my fingers which got cut, "the gills are sharp" and I dragged the fish onto the beach.... and there it was........His hook was on the dorsal fin and tangled around his head... My hook... There it was.... right in the mouth, tight...... and the piece of my green line extended about 5 feet, it had been cut by his leader. I looked at him and laid claim to the fish.... "This is my fish.. there is my hook right in the mouth... you should have cut your line" I said... "You have a foul hook here... you cast over me an caught my line.... If you want we can discuss this situation with the game warden ...".. I picked up the fish a struggled to carry it about 300 yards back to the boat and head straight back to the docks and get him weighted.... .Snagging and foul hooking fish is illegal and a fish caught in this manner is to be returned to the water. In one of the pictures above you can see my cut leader and hook which I left in the fish to show everyone and tell them the story back at camp.... Turns out this kind of thing has happenned before.......
Want to watch a 2 min web movie taken on the beach, click here (5 mb file)
Fishing Fun!!!!!! by:Gillian A. Smith
It was a cold morning fog that hung over the water, rising like steam. I was curled up at the bottom of a flat wooden boat with a camouflage-like paint job. We were trolling for fish it turned out and we would catch two that very morning, though we didn’t know it yet. After 15 minutes of waiting for a bite from some unsuspecting fish, Chuck ( the experienced old fisherman that has been coming here to fish since he was 8) had hooked a fish. It was sudden. The yank from the newly captive fish
practically bent his fishing pole in half, plus the returned yank on it by Chuck to make sure that the fish
was there and staying. For five minutes Chuck fought for his fish, until he finally brought it in close enough for
my dad to net it. After bringing in the fish that had recently been bonked in the head (I was told that that
was to make sure that the fish wouldn’t flip out of the boat) we ended up hooking 2 more fish. We lost one of those fish in an unexpected way. Chuck once again had hooked the fish, but gave the fishing pole to my dad so he could bring the fish in. As he was trying to get the fish out from under the boat so that Chuck could net it, the
pole was almost pulled out of his hands by a huge tug and then the fishing pole snapped back up. When he reeled in
the line, my dad found that he had not just lost the fish, but the lure too. As we heard the sound of the seals
calling in the distance, we put together what happened. Once again we headed up the river to troll. It took a while but we finally hooked another one and brought it in. Then after a little more trolling (about time, my legs were starting to get cramped) we decided to head back and show everybody what we caught.
Klamath, Ca. by Lynn Smith
Klamath, Ca. is a little known jewel of the northern coast of California. Although July, August, and September get pretty well populated, the town never quite seems busy. The nearest supermarket or Walmart is 20 minutes away which gives you the feeling of being out in the country. The Klamath River which borders the area is beautiful and exciting. It is ever changing from low to high tide, to strong or weak currents, to fog or sunshine. Every day and sometimes every hour the view is different. Somedays it is so foggy you can barely see 10 feet. Other days it is a high light fog dancing in the tops of the redwoods and other days it’s bright and sunny with glowing sunsets. The water from the river provides a source of entertainment from boating, to fishing, to nature watching. My favorite is watching the seals and the birds interact together as they fight for bites of tasty salmon. The seals are always around when someone is cleaning fish and the seagulls come for their share. Nothing gets wasted. Salmon fishing is the main attraction in the area. It’s fun to watch and more fun to participate (not to mention delicious too). Some people that come here have been coming every summer for all their lives. They come just to fish and stock their freezers full , canned , smoked, vacuum packed they leave stuffed full of salmon to take home for the coming year.
There are other things to do like hiking in the Redwoods. There are numerous trails and they all have something to offer. It’s so mysterious to be enveloped in a grove of redwoods. You have to hold your head all the way back to see the tops of the trees. The light plays tricks with the shadows and the fog as it swirls between the trees like beams coming from heaven. It always feels cool and moist inside the redwood forest. The temperature can change drastically depending on where you are just within a few miles. Between forests, the meadows provide a feeding ground for the local elk. Herds of 30 or 40 will gather and graze right off the road in plain veiwing. They are large animals with combed brown markings the look like a fine wool rug. Usually a male with his big antlers will be with a group of smaller females.
Some local attractions include;
Trees of Mystery- a gondola ride into the canopy of the redwoods and an excellent Indian artifact museum which is one of the most extensive private collections I have ever seen.
Humbolt State University Marine Lab- in Trinidad it has an aquarium and hands on touch tank, also see Trinidad Bay right across the street.
Arcata- a quaint college town with a central park and small shops and lots of cultural events.
Crescent City- Lighthouse only can be accessed at low tide
Eureka- old town with Victorian houses
Klamath by:Talia S.
Klamath is a beautiful place with lots of things to do and see, like fishing, boating, river boat tours, trails, and redwood trees all around you when you hike. Fishing is something almost everyone in Klamath does. They can fish at the mouth or up river. At the mouth, you fish on land, but up river you fish in a boat. You can catch lots of different kinds of fish, like salmon (one of the best in Klamath), trout, perch, and lincod. Seals sometimes steal the fish from nets that are out. They also like to play with the fish and the seagulls. Boating is another thing people in Klamath like to do. They use boats for fishing in the river and they also use boats for touring the Klamath River. There called Jet Boat Tours because they use jet boats. Trails here in Klamath are surrounded with tall redwood trees. The trails are mostly in the park, but some are on the outside, like the Yurok Loop, The Coastal trail, The Ladybird Johnson Grove, Stout Grove, and lots more. I think that Klamath is a very wonderful place with very wonderful people and the fishing is great!!!