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The highlight of this video is the epic battle I had with a good size chrome king salmon. This fish made some incredible leaps, hard runs towards me and away from me, and after all that, it took off downstream into heavy current and you won't believe what happened next and how it all ended!
My favorite part of the battle might still be the initial take down. So violent! Or maybe how it ended...
Additionally, in this video I show the other 2 salmon I hooked and landed and my favorite tips regarding float fishing with eggs for king salmon, and especially successful fish fighting techniques on the river.
I've dropped some links to other videos that can help you on your journey here:
All about float fishing leaders - https://youtu.be/avkdzIuvZQw
King salmon float fishing secrets - https://youtu.be/akKNk-vVBJ0
Egg curing - https://youtu.be/VOMKxA8_u-4
Also, here are Amazon links to gear I talk about in the video:
Float rod: https://amzn.to/3TTy7Kh
Float rod reel: https://amzn.to/3ezVU1z
Mainline: https://amzn.to/3qrl8Sn
Please subscribe if you like this kind of content. Help me get to 3k this month! Thank you!
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0:00
Welcome to another PNW Best Life video. This one's about an epic battle I had just earlier
0:15
this morning with the Chinook on the river here and it was just amazing
0:20
It was the third fish I hooked today and it took me 100 yards downstream
0:32
Big fish on it coming down. Oh shoot. Oh, it's coming! Just an incredible morning on the river and I want to share all that footage with you
0:43
and more but also just what I'm doing on the river here. I know I've covered this in some of my other videos
0:48
but float fishing is just an incredibly effective way to get king salmon on the river
0:56
as they're making their journey up to spawn, or back to hatchery
1:00
So here's some tips, here's some rigging and some gear. First, let's just talk about rods for a second
1:07
So you'll see in this video, I'm trying to fish this back eddy
1:10
behind some fast flowing water. It's really not the kind of water
1:16
can fish without the right kind of rod and 10.6 is probably a minimum. I've been using this thing for
1:23
like a decade now. The St. Croix Avid series. I don't think it's in production anymore. If you
1:30
can find this on Craigslist though, you'd be in business. But you know, I'll give you the rating
1:36
here. So we got the 10.6 medium power, fast action, eight to 12 pound and a quarter to three
1:45
quarter, three quarter ounce lure rating. So find a rod sort of in that range, you're good to go
1:53
But 10.6 is important because you need to be able to get your line off the water to keep it in the strike zone
1:58
Every fish I hooked today basically was a factor of being able to keep it in this back eddy for long enough to get bit
2:06
So there we go. All right, a couple of things with float pushing for king
2:14
So, you know, I've got my Shimano Corrado big casting reel here, low profile reel
2:20
I really like this for all my casting rods. I run this reel
2:25
There's other cheaper options out there too, but this has been really, really good for me
2:30
And one of the things that you do, you're going to want to do
2:34
let me switch to the other side, and you can see the drag. And you're Flow Fishing for Kings
2:38
You set that drag as tight as you can set it. like just set it all the way down
2:45
You need that hook, the point of that hook, that time, to be able to penetrate into the just bony, very hard mouth
2:53
You do not want to be losing fish because you didn't get a good hook set. And, you know, I reel down when my foot goes down until I feel that fish and I swing
3:02
And I want to make sure that hook is buried. As the fight starts, I might just back it off just a tick
3:10
I want the fish to run. I want some give. I want it more. I want to be able to control my thumb right on the spool, feather the spool as I'm fighting it
3:19
I don't, you know, I don't want to just all be down to my drag. Plus, you wear the drag out faster and you'll be fighting a fish and you'll be getting that drag replaced pretty quick
3:30
So that's kind of my one of my fish fighting things that I do
3:34
Another thing is you side, you side pressure. You know, a lot of times you see people, you know, pulling up, pulling back on it
3:42
You know, keep your rod in a side pressure position and try to keep it in the position you initially hooked that fish
3:47
You don't know how that fish is hooked, right? It gets, and you want to stay above it, you know, with that same side pressure
3:53
If it gets, if it gets above you, you let it go above you. You don't know how that hook is going to change direction in its mouth when the fish is all of a sudden in a new direction
4:01
So it goes up, you go up. It goes down, you go down. keep tension on it and you know you won't lose you won't lose too many fish although you'll always lose
4:19
that's a feisty fish I don't bring a net down with me bank fishing
5:24
You know, normally I just try to beach them and tail them and beach them
5:29
And I was able to do it with this smaller fish. And, you know, you kind of get them a little bit tired out
5:35
You kind of drag them a little bit out of the water. And you've got to check the fin, you know, especially where you're fishing
5:40
If you can only keep fin-clipped fish, you've got to check that fin before you. You don't want to drag a, you know, a wild fish or un-clipped fish on the beach
5:48
and then, you know, have to release it. And who knows if it makes it to the spawning ground or not
5:53
So, you know, check that fin and then give yourself a little bit of slack like I do here and then pull on it, the part that's hooked, and then grab that tail and check it on the beach
6:06
Super helpful if you have someone around who can help you as well
6:12
How's it going? Did you get a video? Season? Yeah, I got that one there
6:19
You just got one this morning, huh? Yeah. uh it's probably an adult but it's close it's fat and give up a good fight
6:31
they bite really good in here on eggs so i got i got two fish on uh tuesday when i was here
6:47
one was in the fast water and one was on the other side and then this morning was on the other side
6:52
so i i try to fish at all but i uh i haven't hooked any on the slow i would think they would
6:57
bite right in the slow side here well i know they like to travel there too so but uh
7:07
hasn't happened yet all right so let's talk some terminal tackle here here's what i'm doing in terms
7:13
in terms of terminal tackle. I've got 5 8 ounce BOMAC float
7:18
I've got my Bobberstop bead above that. Below that I have like an 8 millimeter bead
7:23
just to protect the knot. It connects to 5 8 ounce inline swivel
7:28
And then that swivel's gonna connect to my leader, which I'm gonna tie on here and show you real quick
7:33
I like to use the inline weights and it's important to use the same weight
7:37
that matches what the rating on the float is. There he is
7:46
There she is. So, it's a 5 8-ounce float. Use a 5 8-ounce weight or half-ounce, something close
7:52
That way your float will stand straight up and down. And as you're fishing, you can see, you know, are you..
7:58
If it's tilting forward, you're on bottom. And you can come up above bottom, which is where you typically get bit
8:06
I've got a... I've got a I got 20 pound floral leader here about three feet of it
8:16
Two and a half, three feet of it. Three out Gamakatsu hook and this is one of my favorite things to do with the
8:23
terminal end of the tackle is this is a little a little bait weight size 12 or
8:29
the smallest one is and I like to use these bait weights because they keep you
8:34
You know, eggs that you cure, you know, salmon eggs tend to be neutral buoyancy
8:40
And so when you're trying to dial in an exact depth, you don't know exactly where you're at
8:46
And this allows you to be able to do that and adjust your bobber stop knot so you come up exactly to where you're going to get those hookups with those kings
8:56
So I also use split shot at times or run you know naked with nothing just a leader It just depends on the clarity of the water and the situation but this is my go I like to run this by default Uh it looks pretty old though
9:13
Let's see if I can, yeah. I've got a white belly. I'll just leave him, leave him in the water, leave him in the water, leave him in the water
9:25
Yeah. Yeah
10:14
That fish came right up to the surface when I hooked him that was pretty oh that's a brighter fish. Oh, yeah, whoa
13:23
OohExperienced oh shoot gotta get him out of these
13:44
oh no no no no no no yeah I know it's gonna be impossible to turn around
13:51
if he gets over there he's already over there Oh shoot
15:54
They're trying to hold him right here, I don't know if he can get behind him
16:14
Oh! Did you get him? Oh man. Dude
16:44
Nice fish, dude. Thank you. Holy crap. Big shout out to everyone, again, who helped me land that fish
16:54
I mean, that was seriously a challenge. And everyone's so super helpful, super nice and good to fish with down there on the bar
17:07
so. Oh thanks again man. I know right? It was a wild. Oh no. Yeah. I know we got it in the net though so
17:28
Yeah oh it would have cut just great because when they're fat like that even if they look a little
17:32
It's a little dark, they cut like... You know what, landing it after that long of a chase, man... Holy..
17:38
It broke off just as he got it in the net. If you enjoyed this epic King Salmon battle, subscribe, like the video, subscribe to the channel
17:51
I'm sure there's many more of those coming, but you just got to stay tuned and get notifications
17:59
So the next time I hook a big king and get it all on video, you'll be dialed in
18:03
You'll be right there
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