62.5 LB Chinook Caught and Released

[Serengeti Charters]

Hey guys, so a pretty amazing thing happened the other day on the Ms Heather III. We were lucky enough to catch and release an absolute BRUTE of a Chinook. When I guided a guest to a 64 a few years back I thought that'd be my one and only 60 club opportunity, but when the rod went off Wednesday afternoon, I was proven wrong. Fighting a 15 lber on the other side, the starboard side rod then went off and holy was it game on. This fish never took any one huge run, but ran towards and away from the boat like I've never seen before (great way to get off so may of been hooked before). Luckily she stayed on and when we saw it 20ft from the boat I knew it was over 40, when I saw it beside the boat knew over 50, but didn't realize it was as big as it was until we took the measurements and then let her go (was a big doe). Will post a full report on fishing in general tomorrow in our thread we have going :)

I strongly encourage every guest to release any fish over 40lbs so future generations can have a chance at them, and the last 3 days the fishing hasn't been red hot so big shout out to Ken and Bill for choosing to release this beast, know a 51 was also caught in Hardy yesterday and unfortunately was bonked :angry3:


Here is the beast, what an experience, every guest this year that has released a big fish has thanked me for convincing them to after and said it feels 10x better than seeing it in the fish box. Hope you guys decide to do the same next big one you have beside the boat

https://i.imgur.com/2ZAyuZM.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/oC3eJrh.jpg

[swampy45]

Awesome fish! Stoked to see she was released.

[Positrac]

Wow. What a slab! Beauty Spring and great it was released! Congrats to you and your guests.

[Scott N]

^^slab is a good description!^^ Wow, that is a beauty

[does it ALL outdoors]

Wow, what an AMAZING catch!

And high five to the two guys for returning it to the water, BRAVO! :sHa_shakeshout:

It breaks my heart when I see or hear of people keeping the big breeders and wise old fish, those people will probably be the first to complain when the fishing dries up :angry3:

[Smoky buck]

I don’t know why but everytime I see a spring that is 50+lbs that don’t look real. Maybe it’s just how few I have seen compared to the common 15-25lbs size

Bet you had a happy guest

[jungleboy]

Wow, what an AMAZING catch!

And high five to the two guys for returning it to the water, BRAVO! :sHa_shakeshout:

It breaks my heart when I see or hear of people keeping the big breeders and wise old fish, those people will probably be the first to complain when the fishing dries up :angry3:

The chances of that fish living long enough to breed are extremely low. If it lives long enough to get to the river ,it has a gauntlet of nets to evade before it has a chance to breed.

[wolf308]

Oh my lord. Your lucky that thing didn't proceed to eat your boat like every fishes idol - Jaws

Happy for ya

[Serengeti Charters]

The chances of that fish living long enough to breed are extremely low. If it lives long enough to get to the river ,it has a gauntlet of nets to evade before it has a chance to breed.


It wouldn’t be a Fraser River fish so there wouldn’t be any nets it has to deal with. It will be there in the river making babies for sure.

[Frank_NK28]

Wow, what an AMAZING catch!

And high five to the two guys for returning it to the water, BRAVO! :sHa_shakeshout:

It breaks my heart when I see or hear of people keeping the big breeders and wise old fish, those people will probably be the first to complain when the fishing dries up :angry3:

It wouldn't be a wise old fish when they average 3-5 years before returning to spawn and then die. Unlike Atlantic salmon they don't live to spawn again.

[58thecat]

Oh my...released...means I can have a chance too!!!!!:sHa_shakeshout:

[barbless]

7 yrs old and eating big time. BEEEEEUTIFULL that's a giant for sure. Biggest we ever got was 52LB and sent back. Hopefully got to spawn at least once more.

[Red Bullets]

Nice fish. What kind of rig/lure was used to catch the beast?

Back in the 80's the very first salmon I ever caught was 61 lbs.. I caught it on the Skeena. All by myself it took me 4.5 hours to land from shore. An old guy next to me also caught a 60+ salmon the same day. Took him almost 4 hours too. It will remain my best memory of fishing in my lifetime.

Back then I didn't know better and I kept it.

[Sierra05]

Nice catch! Thanks for sharing the pictures and your story.