Fantastic Four Fish Stories - Chapter 3

     The third fishing story is truly one that people would question if there had not been so many witnesses. My best friend Tony Darling, his dad, Jim, and my Dad and I went to a place called Halibut Lagoon across the bay from Homer. We took Jim's boat. It was larger and had an open bow. The main reason was because it had a real working motor.
 
 Halibut Lagoon was absolutely beautiful. It was a little inlet of water that you could only get into during the hi-tide and you would have a limited time before you had to head back or be stuck there until the next hi-tide. It was surrounded by gorgeous mountains all the way around except the small opening where the water came in. It was somewhat shallow and you could see the bottom very well.

     We could see flounder, lots of different crab and other fish all over the ocean floor. We were there to fish for Chinook or "King" Salmon however. At the opposite end of the lagoon from where the Ocean's opening
was, there was a small river that emptied into the lagoon. This attracted many of the salmon who would spawn in the fresh water. This was a great time to fish for salmon because they were still in the saltwater and had not yet taken on the harsh deteriorating characteristics that were caused by life in the fresh water.

     On this particular day the sun was shining and the temperature was mild. For Alaska it was the perfect Summer day. We were fishing with a little different technique on this day. We were "snag" fishing. Snag fishing is where you do not use bait but rather you cast out a heavy treble hook into an area where you believe some fish to be and you reel it in hoping to "snag" onto one of the fish. It is not easy to do and is not my favorite way to fish at all.

     Tony and I didn't really snag fish too much but rather we were content to use the normal "spin & glo" lure. After a short time my Dad was able to spot some large salmon thanks to the help of his fancy polarizing sunglasses. He readied his pole and with a small cock of his reel he catapulted the large treble hook to land just beyond where he had seen the fish. He then began to reel it in and after just a short couple of reel rotations the pole arched and a glistening salmon flipped out of the water. It was amazing. Even from a distance you could see the reds, blues and silver scales on the fish. It fought valiantly. It jumped out of the water many times, drawing ooh's and awe's from all of us. Dad was very patient and slowly wore the fish down. Finally he reeled it in towards the boat and Jim scooped it up with a large net.

     The fish was the most beautiful fish I'd ever seen. We figured it to be about 25lbs. Dad was so excited and said that this was the fish that he would have mounted and hung in the house. We admired the fish for a short time and it was good seeing Dad so happy. He gave it a kiss and then ran the cord through it's gills and set it down over the side of the boat. This would keep the fish alive and fresh until we were ready to leave.

     We continued to fish for a while keeping an eye on the time so that we wouldn't get caught inside the lagoon during low-tide. We caught a couple more fish on the lures but none of them were as nice as Dad's fish.

     When we finally decided to call it a day and head back we noticed the fish was frantically flopping along the side of the boat. We figured it had begun to die and was giving it's last fight to get away. We were quite surprised however when we turned to see a seal swimming away from the boat. Dad violently jumped towards the fish line and pulled it up. At first the fish looked OK until Dad turned it

around so we could see what had happened to his prized catch. There in the belly of his perfect fish was a perfect semi-circle bite right out of the mid section. Dad's face went white and I thought he would cry. But in no time at all, his face heated to an intense red coloring. I could see his jaw muscles were flexing as he bit down in anger.  He grabbed his pole and quickly flung the big treble hook towards the seal that was quickly swimming away. It missed by a couple of feet and Dad tried to reel it in as fast as he could so he could get off another try. Jim grabbed onto his arm and said "He's gone, Mike, just let him go."

 
 Dad was breathing heavily and slowly hung his head with his shoulders slumping.

     On the way home Dad said he really wanted to laugh because the whole incident was funny, but he just couldn't get the thought of that beautiful fish out of his mind. He relented however when Jim let out a roar of a laugh and Tony and I joined in. Jim said "I swear that seal turned around and smiled at you."

     Dad said, "That's why I wanted to snag him, he was mocking me!". Now all four of us were laughing!