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SALMON REPORT: "Best Chinook" title - who's the pound-for-pound champ?
UPDATED Nov. 3, 2010 / 9:24 a.m.
BROOKINGS, Ore. - As Apollo Creed says at the end of Rocky II: "Ding ... Ding".
As in, ring the bell, we have a fight on our hands.
In the red corner: The Chetco River in southern Oregon. In the blue corner: The Smith River in northern California.
The case for the Chetco
A mere 15 minutes into the Oct. 30 fall Chinook opener on the Chetco River in southern Oregon, Wild Country blogger Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing already had the first 35-plus-pounder of the season on the hook.
The rest of the day played out equally impressively: eight hookups on the lower Chetco, three fish to the bank, none smaller than 35.
That's Rich and Johnny Ariza (above) holding a fish that slammed a bait-wrapped Mag Lip on opening morning. The Arizas display their haul below (all were in the box by 8 a.m.)
Martin's co-guide for the day, David Castellanos of Cast Guide Service, did equally well, putting two more big kings in his boat by 10 a.m. The Day 1 total: five fish and roughly 150 pounds of bragging rights.
The Chetco's water levels spiked throughout the weekend thanks to a South Coast rain squal, but not before Martin sniffed out yet another Hawgasaurus.
And today (Nov. 3), yet another: this 44-pounder that bit a big glob of back-bounced eggs cured in Pautzke BorXoFire.
And today (Nov. 3), yet another: this 44-pounder (above) that bit a big glob of back-bounced eggs cured in Pautzke BorXoFire.
8READ ALL ABOUT THE CHETCO RIVER on guide Andy Martin's home page and check back to the WildCast Center later this week for an exclusive report on southern Oregon's trophy fishery.
The case for the Smith
Just 15 miles to the south of the Chetco, northern California's Smith River has been kicking out 50-plus-pounders for almost two weeks now. The fish below is a 52-pounder, landed by Scott Gianoli on a drift with Castellanos on Oct. 27.
Two days before that, Ken Carter and Gil Sessions went 11-for-12, including a monster that went 61 pounds (below), drifting the Smith with veteran guide John Klar.
So then which is it? Southern Oregon vs. Northern California? It's a 15-round fight, so we'll have more of the blow-by-blow as the season progresses.
8CHECK OUT THE SMITH RIVER REPORT and tune in on Saturday, Nov. 6 for a live update from NorCal's granddaddy fall-Chinook river.
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