AR Salmon 7/17

Back to the river today to try for Mr. King again. On the water by 0430 to get my spot before the crowds showed up. Word got out that the AR is slow though cause there was only half of the people out there today as there were yesterday. No complaints here. Tossed spinners for the first half of the morning for nothing then I switched over to roe after the sun came up around 0700 with my new found confidence with it since I hooked into one last night on it. Morning went on though, not very many fish rolling today.

Garrett was there with me

tossing roe as well. Around 0800 Garrett ran up to the wall to check it out since there was only maybe 20 people up there instead of 80. He came back about half an hour later with nothing to show for it though. Right as he returned I was making the switch over to a kwikfish since no one has hooked anything yet this morning and that's about the only thing we haven't tried. Then while I've got my head down I hear everyone yelling Garrett's on! I look up and sure enough his first cast back into the hole on roe he is hooked up.

Fish puts up a good fight and lucky for Garrett he managed not to join the "Lose your first fish of the season club" and he got that thing to the bank and in the net.

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Good looking hen that went 15lbs on the scale. A little late in the morning, but finally someone got one. I stuck it out till just before 1100, then ran back home for a nap to go back out for the evening.

Met my Step dad Scott around 1600. He was helping me out with tuning up my truck. Stopped at pep boys on the way and picked up a new air filter for my truck on the way to the hole (this is relevant to the story I swear). Showed up on the water just before 6 to find 5 guys trying to floss in the lower end of the hole. Don't understand what makes people want to floss here, its the deepest and the snaggiest spot in the entire basin.

I started off with roe hoping for a repeat of last night with a better out come and Scott tossed spinners. Maybe 20 mins. into the evening I see Scott swing for the fences and say "Mark I got one." Sure enough I look and not even 5ft from the bank I see the salmon clear as day in that water shaking like crazy with the spinner in his mouth. Unfortunately since the fish hit so close to the bank Scott wasn't ready for it, tried to get a better grip on the reel/rod gave the fish a bit of slack and good ol' barbless hooks for ya, pop! fish off. Another member to their first salmon of the season lost. Also Scott's first ever salmon he's hooked into.

Early in the evening though there is still hope for us yet. Eventually I ran out of roe (never realized how quickly you can go through it, especially when you don't cure it right) and switched back to my spinner. Nothing else for anyone for sometime, lots of fish rollling this evening though. Stayed later tonight, sun was going down and it was getting dark and my spinner gets hammered. I drilled that hook and fish on baby! Garrett saw a flash of silver though that just looked a little too silver, my fish was fighting hard, but it didn't have much weight behind it. Sure enough its a FU**ING SHAD!!!

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F U SHAD!!! WHERE WERE YOU IN JUNE WHEN I WANTED TO CATCH YOU!!!

Incredibly depressed about the by catch. I have to say I honestly would rather get skunked then catch shad on my salmon gear. At least then I'm not getting teased with anything.

Kept at it and I had another hit that felt solid, but didn't feel salmon solid. Swung missed, then Garrett had the same thing. Were going to assume that they were shad getting active in the area.

Stuck it out until 2100 tonight for nothing else. I'm beginning to remember how frustrating salmon fishing can be. Can't give up though. Will be back tomorrow for another shot.

When we got back to the truck we came to find someone had popped the lock on Scott's truck.

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Sure enough they stole my new air filter we just bought, the old one, some fuel injector fluid, a leatherman, and a box of mints. Never heard of or had any problems here so this is a first for me. Will have to find somewhere new to park now. Some people man. Hopefully our future will be filled with many fish to make up for the loss.

Till next time
Mark