Within a few minutes the water exploded and my rod bent. The silver salmon put on an acrobatic show as I tried desperately with my light action rod to make headway. Just when I thought I had won the battle, the silver streak took off upstream for the opposite shore. I made headway again, but just as I thought the silver had weakened it took off again. My line held as I finally brought the sixteen-pound silver salmon to shore.
Silvers are the most sought-after salmon in Alaska.
Also known as Coho, they are the second largest of the five species of Alaska salmon and the most acrobatic - providing lightning speed runs once hooked. Once I managed to reel the beauty to shore, my Mom took a picture, and we quickly released the salmon back into the river. We caught fish after fish ranging in size from 15 to 20 pounds. We saved a few fish for dinner and released most, holding the silvers by their tales in the current until they regained their strength. Steve came back another day, this time with a floatplane, and flew us to Lake Martin high in the mountains, surrounded yet by higher snow peaked mountains.