Nothing like big fish for great grins

By Chester Allen | The Oympian • Published November 14, 2008

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Somewhere in every angler's home - the refrigerator, the garage or even over the living room mantel - there's a photo of a happy person posing with a big fish.

Stuffed fish used to be the preferred method of not-so-subtle bragging.

But those wooden displays are pretty much limited these days to the stiff sailfish leaping in car dealer showrooms.

Yes, the "Grip and Grin" photo is where it's at these days, and why not?

But all those photos — OK, most of them — also are bookmarks to great stories.

You can see two photos with this column, and here are the stories behind the big smiles and big fish:

Chum hunt

Matt Smith, an Olympia angler, took his dad and 10-year-old daughter, Emma, out for a day with the chum salmon on Nov. 2.

Smith steered his boat into Totten Inlet and found a big school of rolling chum salmon.

"The fish were everywhere," Smith said.

Smith rigged up with bobbers, weighted leaders and anchovies, and it didn't take long for those bobbers to vanish under the surface.

Emma, who got started fishing at age 5 during the annual Lacey Fish-in at Woodland Creek Park, had never hooked a salmon before. That changed when her bobber dipped under the surface.

"Her reel was just screaming," Smith said. "It took her about 10 minutes to land."

Smith's father took the photo, so three generations were out there fishing their brains out.

But the fish didn't let anyone rest.

"The two of them, Emma and my dad, both had two fish on twice," Smith said. "I was just pretty much baiting hooks and netting fish for about an hour.

"It was a blast."

Smith said fishing with his family is about as good as it gets.

"The memory that I'll keep forever is watching Emma net one of my dad's fish," Smith said.

Fish of a lifetime

South Sound native Mary Ann Silversten has fished for 44 of her 50 years.

"Every day is different, whether you catch something or not," she said. "You get to go out and see something different every day — something that most people don't get to see."

What Silversten really likes to see is a big halibut on the end of her line.

Silversten fished for halibut for more than 20 years off Neah Bay and more than five years in Glacier Bay, Alaska.

But a really big halibut — 100 pounds or bigger — never showed up.

"I'd caught halibut that were 40 or 50 pounds at the most," Silversten said.

Silversten weighs 125 pounds.

That all changed on July 14, when Silversten lowered a big hook baited with herring into the waters off Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.

"I got a bite, and the fish just peeled line," Silversten said. "I called my husband over."

Silversten got the fish almost to the boat, and it took off again.

That's when she suspected her 100-pound halibut was on the line.

Silversten was wrong about that.

Her fish was much bigger.

Silversten found that out when a barn door of a halibut surfaced next to the boat.

"Holy cow!" Silversten said.

The big halibut weighed 255 pounds on the dock scales.

Silversten said she loves everything about fishing — even catching herring for bait.

"I don't need to catch a larger halibut, but I'll keep fishing," Silversten said. "We're partners in a house, boat and old pickup truck in Alaska, and I love it up there.

"We see puffins and whales and lots of other things...."

What stories are hiding inside of your fishing photos?

I bet they still live — in color — inside your head.

Chester Allen can be reached at 360-754-4226 or callen@theolympian.com.