I love to fish too in case you didn't guess by my screen name. I'm primarily a STS (Salmon, Trout, Steelhead) guy that fell in love with the PNW (Pacific Northwest) and Alaska. My biggest salmon was 57 pounds (From a small Susitna River tributary in Alaska) and my overall largest fish caught was a Halibut just over 70 pounds in Valdez, Alaska. I've fished the PNW, some parts of Canada and a lot of Alaska.
The most unusual thing I've caught was probably an octopus in Puget Sound near Tacoma, Washington. It wasn't very big, it's tentacles were around 2-3 feet long, but that thing was a handful...spewing ink or whatever it is they do and all those arms were wrapping themselves on anything and everything. We had a little boy on the boat and he was screaming "Throw it back, get it back in the water! It's mommy will sink us!"
Sorry about not having pics, but they're with the ex.
My biggest fish story also occurred in Puget Sound. I hooked into something that was not really fighting back the way a normal fish would, but it was HUGE! It was actually pulling our 17 foot boat backwards slowly and steadily while the motor was in neutral. I had to eventually break the line, but still wonder about what it was to this day.
Still on my bucket list of species are tuna and marlin. Someday! :whistle:
Here's an old Alaskan joke I doubt too many here have heard:
The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, an Anchorage man answered his door to find two grim-faced Alaska State Troopers.
"We're sorry Mr. Wilkins, but we have some information about your wife," said one trooper.
"Tell me! Did you find her?" Wilkins shouted.
The troopers looked at each other. One said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Fearing the worst, an ashen Mr. Wilkins said, "Give me the bad news first."
The trooper said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in Kachemak Bay."
"Oh my God!" exclaimed Wilkins. Swallowing hard, he asked, What's the good news?"
The trooper continued. "When we pulled her up she had 12 twenty-five pound king crabs and 6 good-size Dungeness crabs on her."
Stunned, Mr. Wilkins demanded, "If that's the good news, what's the great news?"
The trooper said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow".