Since I had landed that smaller Salmon a few days ago on a gold Vibrax, I tied that on and worked my way towards the faster water by casting to my left, slowly working my way to the right, covering as much water as I could. I saved the last few casts for the best water, right beside the rockpile where there is a confluence. I flung the spinner out, landed in about 6" of water and started my retrieve. Barely keeping the spinner off the bottom, I was reeling as slow as possible when I felt "snagged" up. Aw man! My only gold Vibrax I brought for the day! As always, I made sure to keep the line tight just in case I hooked into that "pig" who didn't know he/she got hooked at first.....sure enough about 2 seconds later I felt pulling. OH BOY!!
He didn't even know he was hooked for a good 5 seconds, and then he started rolling like a croc near the top of the water, way out towards the rapids..I had to palm my spool and point my rod tip in the water to turn his head to make him come upstream. After about 10 tense seconds, he was heading towards me, upstream away from the rapids...whew. I didn't really know how big it was until I got him close to the rock, oh MAN! He stayed to the bottom and pumped for a minute or two, so I just sat there and held on tight. I could see the spinner in the corner of his mouth, 2 of the 3 hooks were in the side of his mouth. I turned him wards me while I sat on the rock, rod in one hand and net in the other...
Keeping my rod tip high I kept trying to pull him towards me, but he wasn't having it at all. Everytime he'd get within 5 feet from me, he'd take off 10 yards of line, and I'd be back to square one
After 5 minutes of tug'o'war my forearm was buuuuuuurning! My net wasn't big enough, so he had to be positioned just right to go head first in the net. FINALLY he was in! I had to put my hand on him in the net so he wouldn't roll right out of it! After shouting and cheering, I took some pictures, popped the hook out, measured him....took a video and sent him on his way. Maybe I'll hook him again in a few years when he's pushing 10 LBS 
The pictures and video really don't do him justice, I wish there was someone there to take a picture of me holding the fish, he was HUGE!
