On April 26 at 2:45 PM it happened. After fly fishing for about six hours for Sea-run cutthroat trout and Dolly Vardon in Puget Sound we (Paul Johnson Sage Mfg. and myself) had one twelve inch cutthroat to show for it. By now the tide, current and wind had stopped and nothing was happening. We looked offshore and saw a bunch of birds working and decided to run out and take a look. We ran about two miles offshore got there and saw nothing. We flailed away for a short while in the middle of nowhere and more nothing was happening so we decided to sit back and have a green and silver can. Paul asked me what that thing was and being the know it all guide I informed him it was a stick just as it sank below the surface.



A few minutes later it came back up. I then speculated it was a bird swimming very slowly with its head below the surface (wrong again Mr. Guide). We decided to take a closer look. I approached slowly, put the boat in neutral both ran to the bow to look and drifted toward it. As we approached what looked like the stubby back of an Alligator we proceeded to drift right on top of it sending it to the depths. We now realized what it was and what had just happened. We had just seen something that I had never seen in my twenty-eight years of having a boat and my whole life of fishing in Puget Sound. No one would believe us. No photos!
So, after kicking ourselves we just sat back down to our green and silver cans and looked and waited.
Then, about five minutes later Nessie came up again. This time we were ready. Paul had the fast glass and I had the fast graphite. We slowly approached the laid up reptile and Paul started shooting and I started casting.
He had the evidence and now we needed to get up close and personal. I made what would have been a very good cast for any laid up Tarpon. But not for this laid up dinosaur. The next cast was a little too close (behind him) and the third cast seemed to be an adequate cast but the glare was a little tough. Two strips and then the big bend. No way, it was not possible.
Is it possible to land this thing with a seven weight, a clouser and seven pound tippet?
The fight was more like a slow pull down and out. No screaming runs just slow and steady to the backing. Then Paul fired up the engine and he tried to stay within the flyline as I didn't want to trust one more knot. After a tug of war. The big dark mass started to appear and the how were we going to land it? Paul tried to grab it only to realize that his scutes were way to sharp. Then he grabbed the net and made several valiant attempts and finally got about two-thirds of the fish in the net. We both grabbed both sides of the net and lifted. Thank god for rubber nets that stretch. It was hooked in the other mouth. We measured, documented and released this unique capture to complete this fish story.

Thanks
Capt. Keith Robbins

Contact Keith here
A Spot Tail Salmon Guide

Now the Seattle Times have picked up on the story you saw here first. Read it here Seattle times article

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