Thanks for sharing JD ! 🎣⚾️

Wow!! Thanks for sharing that was fun to watch.

Excellent video , put together well with good info!

We fished the Grays River (lower Columbia) every fall in the 70's and 80's. The first two fish in the hatchery one year were both over 70 lbs. The next year my dad lost one after an hour and a half fight. The next day an elderly local caught one that weighed 72 lbs., in the same spot with my dads maxima leader, hook and green yarn in its mouth. That same year I caught my personal best, 46 lbs. The eggs filled 3 large peanut butter cans. Those were the days.

When I was 13 years old in 1976 I caught a king salmon in a gill net on the HOHRIVER in Washington state on the Olympic Penninsula and a seal got to him and ate the body off and the only thing left was the salmons head , and that thing was so big it wouldn't even fit in a 5 gallon bucket , because I gave it to a ww1 war veteran named herbie fisher and he told me that it was the biggest king salmon fish head he'd ever seen and he fought in world War 1 , unbelievable!!!!

I have lived on and guided from my drift boat on the Kenai River since 1985. I stopped guiding in 1998 but continued to fish it to 2006. The decline of the Kenai King Salmon in size and numbers breaks my heart. The burning of coal has killed off the zooplankton in the ocean. The base line NOAA Zooplankton level taken in 1980 has decreased by 83 % as of 2014. Currently, NOAA has told me that level is now down by 92%. That means there is 92% less food stock in the Pacific Ocean now than was there in 1980. The early king run back in 1986 to 1990 averaged 27,000 escapement compared to 2050 this year 2022. Last year we has a late run of less than 12000 fish when the late run averaged 90,000 back in the 1980's. The size of the kings in the late run now average 25-30 lbs. Back in the 1980's the average late run king averaged 58-72 lbs.. Back in 1993, I had an 86 year old man fight a king that several guides estimated to be 130 plus pounds. LENGHT WAS ESTIMATED TO BE 60 INCHES. FISH EVENTUALLY WAS FREED AFTER RUNNING UNDER A TREE ON THE RIVER BOTTOM IN BEAVER CREEK HOLE. FISH HOOKED AT 5:30PM AND LOST AT 2:30 AM SOME EIGHT HOURS LATER. IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON TO HAVE 4 CLIENTS ALL CATCH A KING AND ALL WERE OVER 70 LBS... THE GENETIC STOCK IS STIIL PURE BUT WE SHOULD SHUT THE RIVER DOWN UNTIL OCEAN CONDITIONS FOR FOOD IMPROVE AND WE STOP BURNING FOSSIL FUELS. SO2, CO2 AND NO ALL ARE ACIDIC AND THEY KILL ZOOPLANKTON. That may be the only was to save this run for our grand kids...

Very nice to see them big boys! Thank you sir.👍

Some awesome video! Thanks so much for making it!

JD got your book. Thank you great information on that subject of steelhead. Thanks again my friend.

At one time there were millions of king salmon that were 5 6 ft long some even bigger but the commercial Gill nets for set to catch those big fish in a small King Salmon swim through the Nets and went up River and that became the norm and all the big ones got caught in the Nets and a small ones swam through and bread and lay their eggs and so that's why our King Salmon or now three feet long maybe two feet long because of the commercial Nest determine the size of the fish that travels through the net

My dad caught an 80 pounder in the kenia at Harry"s hole. We released it on june 30. Could have kept it the next day back on the 90s. Nowadays I csnt help but think I might catch a grandson. Makes me cry every drift in front of Ruebens place

I have been fishing for King Salmon on the Marin Coast since 1983. My early adventures were mostly made on local charter boats. In 1985 I caught the largest Salmon I had ever seen while fishing on the Salty Lady charter boat with the legendary charter captain Roger Thomas. At the time I thought that using light tackle was key to catching salmon. I was using a small Penn reel lined with 15 pound test and Ande 15 pound leader. I was using an anchovy harnessed by Roger's deckhand set at 25 feet on the starboard side of the Salty Lady 5 stations from the bow. After nearly 30 minutes I landed my "almost" Tyee with the help of Roger and his competent deckhand. I was so stoked and I still remember that August afternoon. In 1997 I purchased a 25 foot Skipjack Sportcruiser. From April until November of 1997 I logged 850 hours fishing for salmon. We caught many large fish and I tried many variations of harnessing anchovies, herring, and sardines to various sizes of cable hooks. In 2002 I had a crew of 3 including my girlfriend at the time and I was trolling the eat side of the pinnacles of Duxbury reef . The water was only 40 feet deep and when the drag on her reel started pulling out I suspected the rig had hooked the bottom. Soon after the fish began to make runs that were very impressive. 30 minutes later the fish was still fighting as I circled the fish. My girlfriend was exhausted at this point and could not lift the rod enough to bring the fish close enough to the boat for me to put the net under the fish and purse the net. I advised she go to the opposite side of the boat and reel and lift as much as she could while my buddy held her from falling down. I managed to but the beast into the net and securely purse the net. With the help of my friend David we brought the 51 inch bright chrome Buck over the rail in near darkness. This was the largest King Salmon ever landed on the FISHTALES. Our season is expected to be closed until July 1 this year. I am still hoping to catch one this large sometime before I cannot fish any more. FWIW I caught a 70 pound "White King" when I was a deckhand on aSitka commercial troll boat in 1993. The beast had limited market value so the captain decided we should have it smoked . It was incredibly delicious. The heat smoked "kipper smoked" was great. The cold smoked "Lox" was incredible.

Hooking a king ruins fishing for a bit, because it's such a good fight everything else seems mehhh.

Great video young man ! I have been fishing the Sac as we call it and the American ,feather and delta for over 35 yrs and the biggest salmon i ever caught was on the Feather below shanghai bend on a glow in the dark gitzit on a jighead it was 52lbs and change and a chromer on a 7ft shamano rod abu real with 20lb line ... great video thanks

I worked for F&W a couple seasons on the Okanogan River in Washington state. There were some nice Chinook salmon in our river, but nothing like what’s in this video. Thanks for posting.

Awesome!

I personally saw Less Andersons fish in the back of his truck in Soldotna at my mom's restaurant Sals Diner. I ask Less whether he'd had it weighed. He said not yet. Wow, I knew it was losing water weight. Beautiful fish. TK

love the Kenai, in 1977 anchored in the middle of the river, watched school of kings 50-70-lb's porpus up the river

Awesome. loved seeing that big girl from the Yuba.

I met the guy that holds the Worlds record King Salmon in Kenai, Alaska about 15 years ago. He lived in Kenai or Soldotna or near by. My Father and myself fished (late May, early June, the Bigger fish are in the River in July) with his best friend who guides and has a lodge on the Kenai River. The fish was like 98 pounds or such? But what people don't know is that after the guy caught the fish he threw it in the back of his pick-up truck and drove around town showing off his "BIG" fish for 3 hours before someone says, "Hay, you might want to weigh that King Salmon, it's pretty BIG. (This guy had been born and raised on the Kenai River and had caught hundreds of BIG Kings) So 3 hours after he killed the fish and it laid in the back of his truck for nearly 3 hours he finally took it to the Post Office to get weighed and it was the new World record King Salmon. 98 pounds or such? The Alaska DNR after they confirmed the weight as a new World record said that if he would have weighed it right after he killed it the King Salmon would've been closer to 110 pounds !!! No Shit...True story!!

these fish make the 22 lb 38" king i just caught look like a guppy, and she gave me a fight ill never forget. I can only imagine.

This is my first year salmon fishing in the Sacramento river. Super late in the season hooked up to a 30 pounder. What a fight it was.

My pb is 41 lb. in 1972 at at 13 yrs. old on the mouth of the Columbia. It took 45 minutes to bring it in. Every time you got it close to the boat it would dive. Finally netted it on the third try. Hard to find the big ones anymore. Nice video

Fantastic that so many release the giants to continue their genetics. Big fish make big fish.

Great video. There appears to be some disagreement about the largest Chinook ever caught. Some sources say it was the 126-pound fish caught in a fish trap in Alaska, other sources say it was a 126-pound fish caught by commercial fishing in Rivers Inlet, BC. Regardless, just a great video. 👍

One day when I move to Sacramento, we are going fishing together. 😁 This was amazing!

When I was a kid in the Mat-su valley on the Susitna drainage I remember one night fishing started at midnight for a weekend fishery, and we caught one king after another mostly on fly, and we pulled 2 50+ lbs, and the smallest around 35lbs. Sadly I have been back there with my own childeren and have never done as well as we did when I was young. Most of the Susitna drainage has been closed to Kings for several years, my childeren only have my stories which to them are hard to believe.

I used to love king fishing in Montana Creek near Talkeetna, AK as a kid. By my early 20’s the numbers had dropped significantly and it wasn’t worth going anymore. You used to see them swimming in schools and people were catching them left and right. I caught my first ever king in one cast after getting to the creek. Year after year I would see the hot fishing spot shrink smaller and smaller until there was only one person hooking most of the kings and hogging the spot all night. The number shrunk so much that they closed the creek to king fishing all together. I dont know if it ever opened back up since then.

Nice looking smilies !

Now days a big king weighs in the area of 25-30 pounds. My biggest was a white king from the Chilliwack River in BC weighing 65 pounds. I got a nice picture of it and gave it to an old couple who hadn’t landed any fish. I’m not big on white meat kings so it was easy for me to give away and the old couple were delighted. It took me about 45 minutes to land the fish and was the thrill of my life. I’m glad I didn’t loose it because at 76 years old and the dwindling stock of big fish the opportunity for me to ever catch another big fish are nil. But who knows. And that’s what fishing is all about. A bigger one might be swimming around out there right now.

It’s good to put the historic photos in here. People don’t realize how overfished and degraded fisheries are compared to pre industrial times.

It would be nice if hydro electric dams could be reduced or eliminated so that REAL runs could spawn in the upper reaches of the Columbia..I get the point that Grand Coulee can't be managed by "big-uns" but the more habitat for laying the eggs the bigger the runs can become..That would go a long way towards recovering the species

I used to live in Washington st in the 90s and my pb king was just shy of 40 lbs it was released i went back out the next day and got spooled by an absolute monster i couldn't do anything with that fish as soon as it hit it took of down river like it had a rocket strapped to its back. Gotta love bank fishing the river lol

1949 Petersburg, Alaska there was a 126# king caught in a fish trap

Glad you included the Patagonia Chinook. It's insane what's going on down there. That all started with 20,000 Cowlitz River(lower Columbia) hatchery smolts....so much for hatchery fish being useless. I have a photo(1928) in a frame on my boat of a >125 lb Chinook that was caught in a fish trap in Juan de Fuca Strait near Sooke BC which would have certainly made your list. That fish could have been an Elwah or Fraser. I also recently saw a photo of 101 lb Chinook caught(and released) by a sports fisherman in Rivers Inlet BC in August of this year. Somewhere there is an old picture of a 150 lb Chinook that was taken at one of the old Rivers Inlet canneries. In that pic, the fish is hanging from a piece of timber held up between the shoulders of two cannery workers. That's the biggest one I've ever seen in a photo but unfortunately, I don't have a copy of it. Awesome vid. Thanks.

Mindblowing

This video was awesome thanks for sharing. I moved to Washington state in mid 89s I was in the military and living here since boy has fishing declined I remember going to fish river down south by the Columbia River and Olympic peninsula where there used to be some nice big salmon my personal best is 591/2 in a tributary of the Columbia river it’s well now river a lot of people fish it and it’s pretty dismal now it’s like that thru the whole Washington state someone needs to step up and say enough is enough no netting the rivers no commercial fishing in the puget Sound if they don’t react fast there ain’t going to be any salmon left for any grandkids growing up now

Jeez man, What a amazing video JD. Ridiculous the size of those fish. Biggest salmon i have ever seen personally was with guide John Klar and a buddy of mine Dale Hoagland. I was a young , probably 12-14 years old teen and fishing was and still is, EVERYTHING. Dale my buddy was friends with John from some years back and i guess John had a open day of fishing so Dale (family friend) convinced the parents to let me play hooky. Anyway we were on the Smith and were fishing down in the tide water. It was one of the most epic days of my young fishing life, even though it was a zoo, pretty much boat sitting on top of boat. Everyone knew everyone, Man talk was happening and everyone was catching fish. I hooked plenty of fish that day, but none were monsters. And most of the fish were starting to color up but they were plentiful. All morning John was talking about the tide that happened that previous night thought it would bring in a new batch of fish well was he ever right, About midday Dale's bobber drained and it was on, instantly came out of the water after the hookset and i swear it was the brightest fish i had ever laid my eyes upon. Especially after seeing 50 fish that morning by us and others that had been in the river for a bit. Anyways he landed that fish and it was a 42lb Chrome Hen, Unfortunately she was so intrigued and couldn't resist the mans Roe Cure and the Sand Shrimp that she swallowed both hooks into her gullet, Looking back now especially wish we could of let her go. But sometimes that just isnt in the cards, When that fish hit the deck next to the other couple fish we had which were idk 12-20lbs it was ridiculous. The shoulders and Girth was amazing. One of my favorite stories and as you can tell once i start talking fishing, i can ramble. Anyways thanks for always sharing your experinces and your knowledge JD. Hope to be able to meet you someday,

Amazing

I live in prince Rupert I've heard lots of stories of 130 plus pound springs caught in Gillett throughout B.C

Wow! I ended the show. We actually caught that on a hoochie!

I caught a 55+# King from the bank on the Klutina River in Alaska in 1990 that I still have hanging on my office wall and lingering in my dreams. I have spent well over a quarter of a million dollars since that time trying to catch another one like that. Helped my wife catch a 50#er, helped my son land and release an estimated 68# and my friends son an estimated #75# king (both released), all on the Kenai but have not had the repeat pleasure of another “fish fight of a lifetime” myself. Got a few years left and will be chasing kings until the day I die. Nothing else compares.

Dude I saw those huge ones in cottonwood creek in like 2002? Or something I was like 13. We were jumping off the trussel in cottonwood creek in the summer, and I think we went there a couple times later, and they were swimming east in a huge like line. Like thousands. They were longer than me, like logs

omg that fist one is super big wowowow

Sactown baby!

I live in Vancouver. It’s sad to think that a couple hundred years ago we would have had one of if not the best salmon runs in the world with the rivers around here. Honestly if I hooked a big chinook I’d probably cut the line if it was a barbless hook rather than stress it out and maybe kill it.

The king salmon of New Zealand King Salmon have Salmon that go 130+. They are out of this world big !

Now i want to move to Chili... My pb in Michigan is 38.5 on a 9wt rod 8lb leader.. Released it , jammed right up river...

Always believe! There’s gotta be a few special 100+ lb monsters still lurking. :)

Raspberry Riffel! On the Sacramento. Caught some riverhoggs myself there. No where near record sized, but 50lb plus(always let the big ones go)

Number 10 had to be let go. I am glad they did

One hanging in back eddy pub in Terreace b.c. Its 98.5 lbs out of the skeena

I live to fish kings on Lake Michigan we don’t see fish that size but 20-30lbs are definitely a possibility every trip. Don’t need a big operation to do it I just run a 18’ Lund tyee

there is a 97lb king caught in Kodiak ,AK that is mounted at the airport terminal

When I was 15 I went to Alaska to to gill net salmon. We pulled in a 98 lb king out if the cook inlet near the Kasilof biggest dang fish I ever saw. The fish was tangled by skin on the bottom jaw and was laying in the net exhausted.

In 1983 I hooked a 83 pound king while working on a small commercial vessel off the mouth of the Columbia. It was incredible!

Yes the damns are removed on the Sacramento, now there's no salmon because the stripers can get all the way up to the spawning grounds

You ever hear about the 34lb coho they caught in fish trap on clackamas river ? Fish and game let it go upstream to spawn since it was a native.

I got a big one on the Rogue River a few years ago 63 plus pounds wish I could put a pic here

For a Rod and reel fisherman these giant Chinook Kings are truly the stuff dreams are made of. We have a nice population of land locked, Stocked Chinooks here in the mountains in a deep very cold lake and every year we go and try to catch one trolling. I've had 3 hooked that were bigger than my equipment could handle that got off and have landed a pair of nice healthy Chinooks that went into the 15 lb range that were in EXCELLENT HEALTH that we released. My Great Uncle From Northern California who used to fish all up the coast and British Columbia every year told me his secret and I've used it every year right after ice out, I can't count the people who want to know our secret or who sit on the bank with high powered spotting Scopes to observe what exactly we do that they don't but we're on to them and are super careful to not give our secret away. Funny thing is.....if they knew what we do that is the actual "Secret" most of them would either laugh themselves silly or die on the spot of a heart attack....it's so far outside of the box it's hilarious to us. But it works like magic every spring till the water columns warm and the big Chinooks go deep (mid to late June) I know for fact there are 60+ pound Chins in this lake cause I've seen them accidentally caught about once a year....and I know I've had at least 3 that big or bigger on that overpowered my equipment.....not anymore though I inherited all my Great Uncle's tackle and Rod & Reels so now here in a week or 2 the wife and I will be on the lake everyday it's safe to be out until June because there is a state record fish with my name on it that when caught will be measured, it's weight recorded and photos taken before it goes right back into the lake. It's the top fish on my bucket list

I'd like to find out what the biggest salmon record would be on the Skagit River in Washington state? It's my favorite river to fish for salmon. And the Springers are running in it right now. So far I've landed 2 around the 20 pound range but I've seen a few in there recently that gotta be closer to the 30 pound range?!

Remember when the feather river had big salmon 😭 and ALOTS OF SALMON?

Biggest King I caught was 42 lbs Lower Niagara river gorge. A male. Fished from the shore. 14lb line. over 20 minutes to land it.

JD, when is the best time to try Kenai?

this past year in Rivers Inlet there was a king salmon caught the weight 106 pounds, is there any bigger than that? Oh, there was one at 126, and half pounds too

Nice gish

I live in Alaska and fish for kings in May and June. These fish that are removed from the water -- gills out of water -- such as the first photo of the large (but not trophy) heavily blushed king caught in the Kenai River -- is a violation of ADFG regs which prohibit their removal out of water for ego pics such as this because it drastically increases mortality and these fish thus do not live to spawn. It is good you named the guide service which engages in these practices that help destroy our kings fishery

You can cross off the Kenai. About 20 years ago the monster strain of Kenai kings started plummeting in numbers. The AK Board of Fisheries was made up mostly of fishing guides who didn’t want to cut off their income so they did… nothing. Now those kings are gone and no one has seen one in many years. Currently, the AK Board of Fisheries is doing the same thing with the normal king population in the Kenai and those will probably be gone in a few years, too.

During covid just a few years ago a woman caught a 105 pounder at Rivers Inlet.

Some people might call this a big fish story but in the basement of my great grandparents house there is a picture taken too long ago to be photoshopped of my great grandfather standing next to a 6 foot salmon the story goes that he caught it on a lake in Alaska in rowboat and was pulled around the lake for 2 hours until the fish was to wornout to fight back

FYI i live near the elwah river in port angeles and there was huge kings in the river afters the dams had been built all the way up to when they were removed. I believe the biologists found large king schools in upper parts of river were aldwell used to be 2 years after they removed dams. They are still there!

Have you fished for any in Washington?

Wish I still had pics of my 50+ lb King I caught on Klamath River. Hard drive crashed and lost everything. I’m 5’5 and this thing was damn near the same length, holding it up and it was about from my chin to the ground. This was back in 2009. No more fish like that anymore.

Battle Creek off of Deschutes in Anderson? California? Hahaha right on, like cottonwood, umm like going to the river by the railroad tracks in cottonwood CA, by the post office, and down, and like going to Anderson

My great grandma caught a 55 pounder in rivers inlet

We caught a giant one last year no weight Was 41 inches long with a girth of 22

Here thinking my 24 pounder out of port Washington harbor on Lake Michigan was big.

Went on lake Michigan as me caught a nice 25 pounder

I want to caught a one and a 1/2 ounce guppy it was a monster

Some are really big on pics. But I get every year a few over 25 lbs... a casual thing...

Those are massive salmons

they may come back yet .you proved that point in your video when you showed the one found in the Sacramento river

The Kenai River king will be a distant memory if something doesn’t change...now. Catch and release is not even good enough. Complete ban on the species is the only way; for at least 5 years. Escapement numbers at 6 and 8 thousand is a pathetic joke compared to the 50-100 thousand in yesteryears. I’ve fished the Kenai silver and red runs for the last 40 years. I know what I’m talking about. I love catching kings as much as anyone. But, I have refused to apply for my king tag for the last 10 years in hopes that the run will bounce back. It isn’t. It’s dwindling rapidly. At this rate, it will be extinct in no time. This is not an attack on you. It is a desperate plea to save the run for future generations and the health and wellness of the Kenai. Thank you to anyone who made it through this post. Please comment whether you agree wi me or otherwise. A discussion is a healthy start to solving the King crisis of the Kenai River. Much love, and fish on!

9:10..sooo those guys are holding them up with 1 hand or🤷🏾‍♂️?

West Coast QCI big kings in those waters.

My biggest was 38lbs. at Nimbus dam. I have seen a guy with a 55lb at Nimbus

I live in Oregon it's so sad what happened the salmon and steelhead fishing. If they ever make a time machine I want to go back and fish the columbia let's say in the year 1776.

My biggest king was 46 pounds we didn’t get it mounted tho we ate to think that’s are river in taholah use have kings up to 90 to 60 pound salmon average like I wasn’t alive during that time but my grandpa told me story’s of all the salmon people caught in the river during 2020 I lost a monster king I thought it was a snag it broke of my 35 pound line plus my braided line broke with it I’m 13 I caught my king when I was 11 super fun fight I hope I could have a chance to catch another one

Your fish was more than my sister

"Even if I caught this guy he would have schooled me in a 100 different ways" you and me both 😀

It's a shame the state of Alaska mis-managed the Kenai river fishery. Same goes for greedy fisherman, anyone with common sense could see that keeping all those kings over 20 years wasn't sustainable. They need a lottery to limit out of state fisherman like hunting tags to limit angling pressure. Was great this year with no tourists due to covid on the Kenai.

Nice video! FYI almost all of those large Chinooks are females. Males don't usually get that big.

For anyone interested in the Columbia River about the dams the river had a natural dam where the bridge of the gods is now it blocked the river for over 200 years which formed a giant lake that reached clear to Idaho and one day that natural damn cut loose that is not a ride I would want to go on in a canoe or anything for that matter

The South American guides are letting dudes floss spawning kings off of redds.

I have never caught a really big salmon even if i have been fishing salmon for 49 years now. I started as a 7 year old and my largest so far is still only 54.6 lb and i live in norway so it wasnt even a king. Just a reg Atlantic but i am hoping maybe one day i will get one of the last really big Atlantics that are maybe 80 or even 80+ but i am getting older and those fish more and more rare so the chance is slim to none.

i caught a 65lb king with nothing but my hands.

He was bank fishing. Les Anderson's king

Could any of these be the legendary tyree?

The biggest I had ever cought was 21 pounds. Klamath River.

My first chinnok I caught was 56 pounds my dad thought it was snagged how it when where in water right up middle of white water ... not sides the damm middle....