Meyer

My favorite fishing experience is when on my last day fishing at the lodge on Aug. 20th 2011 (my birthday) I caught a 120lb 61 1/2 inch halibut at the Point of Dolphis. It was raining and I and my friend Craig were just sitting down getting ready to eat a sandwich and I turned around and out of the corner of my eye, I saw my pole behind in half! I threw the sandwich (heaven only knows where) and grabbed my pole out of the holder. I couldn’t budge it and so I thought maybe I was snagged on the bottom. So I thought I would reel down just a little and then lean into the pole to see if anything was there. When I did this all of a sudden my pole jerked from left to right as I felt the beast shake its head and the fight was on! My body filled with adrenaline and joy as I realized that I had my birthday present from God on the other end of my pole. Now I just had to reel it in to see how big his gift to me was. I could barely move that pig off of the bottom. I would gain a few feet and then hold on for dear life as she would go right back to the bottom. We did this little tug of war tango for about 20 minutes. With my biceps burning and the biggest smile you have ever seen on my face I continued to battle her. I radioed to my friends in another boat that were salmon fishing at the green buoy to come and help out because I was afraid we might lose her when she got to the surface with only one person to shark hook her. I began to have flashbacks to 2 years earlier when I fought a large halibut for 25 minutes and then lost her about 15 feet down because someone didn’t reel in their line and then pulled their lined that was crossed with mine and watched in horror as the lure popped out of my fish’s mouth and it swam away. This could not happen again! So I walked my friend through the process of tying off the shark hook and getting the halibut in the boat. After 30 minutes I finally was gaining line on her and she and I were both tired out.

My friends in the other boat hadn’t made it and so I knew it was up to the two of us to tame this wild beast. When we first caught a glimpse of her I shouted for joy and I was shocked at how big she was. I was looking at the biggest fish I had ever seen and I couldn’t let her get off this time. The last minute of the fight was like slow motion. I have never been so excited and petrified in all my life. When her mouth broke the surface and my buddy shark hooked her she began to thrash wildly. He said he couldn’t hold it and so I grabbed it out of his hands. I felt like I was trying to hold onto a wild bull. She was hard to hold but I wasn’t going to let go. This was my trophy that I wasn’t going to let get away. After we subdued her (knocked her in the head about 20 times with the bat) my friends showed up in the other boat. Their shouts of excitement and the smiles on their faces were priceless. One of them jumped on board and helped us pull her in the boat. I let out a string of victorious shouts as I eyed my trophy and sat down and marveled at her beauty and size. It was possibly one of the greatest 35 minutes of my life. It is defiantly the greatest birthday present and most memorable birthday of my life. Thanks Doc Warners for making my birthday wish a reality. BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!