When the wind and marine conditions finally subsided enough to allow us to get on Cook Inlet on Sunday, we found some fantastic fishing and the surprise of my fifty eight years of sport fishing. Fishing off of the Anchor Point Lighthouse in about 110 feet of water, we found some fantastic halibut fishing. Having boated the halibut shown below, which weighed in at 173 pounds and knowing this was enough fish to last us through the winter, I decided to see if I could not "mooch" up a Silver Salmon or possibly a late run King Salmon inbound for the Kenai River.

Rigging up my trolling rod with a Magnum Blade Cook Inlet Special, with a Chartreuse and Flame 50/50 Blade, I commenced mooching. We were consistently seeing both Silver Salmon and Pink Salmon jumping in this area. Growing weary of "mooching", I put my rod in the holder and just let the big flashing blade stream behind the boat, occasional breaking the surface with the tide running out. While watching the others fish for halibut, I sat drinking my coffee and harassing them for taking so long to catch a fish.

Fish On! No one saw the fish strike, but we could all hear my reel screaming as line was rapidly being stripped from the reel. Perhaps, I had got lucky and finally hooked up with that big King Salmon I had wanted all of my life. With assistance due to the pressure on the rod, two of us got the rod out of the holder. I had to sit and hold the rod with both hands as the rod tip bent to the waters edge. The others got their gear reeled in, started the boat and commenced giving chase after my King Salmon, hoping that I could get some additional line back onto my reel.

Catching up with the big fish, it decided to go deep and we hovered over the top of it just enough that the line would not touch the side of the boat, did not want to take the chance of loosing this fish! After 32 minutes of fighting the fish deep, I felt it starting to work itself back up to the surface, I reeled as fast as I could to recover my line and not allow any slack where it could slip the hook.

Once again, the fish hesitated on coming to the surface at about the twenty foot mark, since we were hovering close to the fish, we could pick it up on the fish finder which pretty much assured us that I had hooked into a big King Salmon. Hoping that it was tiring, one person got the net out that we use for King Salmon while the other two manned the cameras to capture the landing of the big King.

Again the fish went down to about 40 feet according to the fish finding, but not for long, he turned in an instance and headed to the surface, fast enough that the fish finder could not track his movement. By now, my arms were tired from the strain of the rod and reeling, there was no way that I could keep up with him as he ran for the surface. He broke the surface about 20 feet behind the boat, I stopped reeling in disbelief of what I saw. It was the fish that dreams are made of, but it was not a King Salmon. It was only after we got home and looked at pictures that we were able to identify the specie.

Breaking the surface, he was airborne four times, finally on the fourth jump he cleared the water about six feet and rolled to the left as he entered the water, the only assumption we can make is that he rolled in the slack line on his assent to the surface and snapped the line. The snapping of the line sounded like a gun shot, I was heart broken, but I also realized that it was one of those times in your life that you have to appreciate it, despite the outcome. The big fish that got away has been identified as a "Blue Marlin", why it was this far north is any one's guess. Perhaps, following migrating salmon runs to feed, similar to the Salmon Sharks, perhaps it is the warming the oceans and their migration patterns of the Marlin is moving north.

All, I know it was a great fish story and a great day on the water.