Hit the Humptulips River today with my brother Gerry. We got a little later start than intended and arrived at the river about 9:30 am. Been wanting to go out there for about three years. Glad we finally made it. The river is pretty blown out from all the rain this week. Still we found a good place to fish on the gravel bar below the Salmon Hatchery near where the creek dumps in. Fished for a couple hours without much action. My brother hooked up with one feisty Chum that was released. A guy next to us hooked up about six Chum that were all released. Then we all got envious when a guy directly across from us on the other side of the stream caught a huge chrome Coho. Don't know exact weight but it looked 15+ lbs from where I was standing. I was beginning to think my fishing drought was going to continue. I've been fishing 2-3 times a week for the past six weeks without a single keeper. Tragic I know... About this time I decided to switch up my yarn and corkie combination and changed to a #10 Calipso corkie with about 2 inches of Peach yarn. On my third cast fish on! My line started peeling up river as the fish took off and ran about 50 feet then hunkered down. Typical King behavior. Still I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe I had a Chum hooked in the butt. Right about then the fish came back to life and changed direction and started peeling off down river. At that point I was sure I had a good sized king on and that I had it hooked in the mouth because I could feel the fish turn as I struggled to get control of it. After about a 10 minute battle she turned out to be a nice chrome hen with sea lice. Not sure the exact weight, but I'm guessing around 25+ lbs. Thanks Bill for helping me net her. Was really glad to catch such a beautiful keeper! Hope to go back soon.

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