Wednesday
Jul182012
July SOTM Entry: Isle of Mull Atlantic
Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 12:02AM 
Sometimes it's best to let the inbox do the talking...
Chum:
42" Atlantic salmon from the Ba River on the Isle of Mull. Biggest Atlantic on the Island since 1920. Redneck New Mexican represents in the land of tweed and tie-toting anglers...
Garrett VeneKlasen
Reader Comments (16)
can we get some verification this was taken on the fly? or released?
does it matter? it's an awesome fish
Can we get verification that "S" hasn't been neutered?
Why even pick a fish that large up out of the water? Why? The pressure you placed on it's organs, and longer air exposure probably killed it. I hope you didn't release it because it likely died anyway.
Salmon are not like trout. You have to be twice as careful with them.
And that fish is a post-spawner or something. It is not in great condition.
Like my Granny said- Septics- Over-nourished, over loud, over here and now over blessed. That is Some Fish. Over and out.
The fish was taken on a Sage RPLxi 8-weight, a floating line, 3x tippet and a #10 cone head bunny....
"Salmon are not like trout. You have to be twice as careful with them."
BS. I have zero experience with Atlantic salmon but Pacific salmon are tough as nails.
It took me about 40 minutes to land the fish. It was a fairly warm, sunny week and the water coming out of the loch was not exactly freezing. I was alone, and by the time I was able to tail the fish, he was completely wasted. I tried to revive him for nearly half an hour, but the warm water/lengthy battle was simply too much for him. So yes, he was dead as a hammer in the photo and that is why I'm holding him horizontally...
Speyed Cat
Not sure what the fuck your granny was talkin bout...
But here is what I know about SEPTICS, they're full of shit.
Just curious. Is this sort of invidious interaction standard protocol for Moldy Chum? I’m new to this site. Never saw it before I posted my picture of the Atlantic. A good buddy of mine told me to check out MC. He said that it was a cool site frequented by genuine fisherfolk. I opened up the site, saw the slab of the week tab and thought I’d share something personally exceptional and special with what I was led to believe an authentic bunch of comrades. I’ve been a hard core fly fisherman for almost forty years now and until I posted this picture, I could count on about two fingers the number of assholes I’ve run across in a lifetime of superlative angling adventures (save for a couple rare run-ins with newly-moneyed, insecure, novice pricks with really expensive gear and no fucking skills who strutted about pontificating about what great anglers they were when you could tell in about two seconds they couldn’t catch a fish in a barrel if their life depended on it). Where I come from bona fide sportsmen are a really friendly, down to earth, unpretentious bunch that sincerely congratulate each other when their buddies catch a fish of a lifetime. Legitimate camaraderie is the rule, not the exception. We wouldn’t dream of interrogating each other to try and find some sort of hole in the story that would discredit the validity of an extraordinary experience, dishonor an exceptional fish or belittle the skills of our brothers in arms. When we do want details, it’s because we genuinely want to vicariously re-live the thrill of the catch. Nothing more and nothing less. We don’t lecture each other about how to handle a fish, because we’ve all handled countless big fish for decades and it’s all so natural and routine we don’t even give it second thought. We’ve been around long enough to know that big fish die sometimes no matter how careful you are with them and that’s just one of the downers of the sport. When a fish does die, we take it home and proudly eat it to honor and celebrate its life and all is once again whole and well in the world. I feel like I just stepped onto a playground with a bunch of punk-ass third graders. It’s hard to tell where the petty, soul-stealing, mean-spiritedness begins and the put-a-salty taste in my mouth pseudo elitism and affectation ends. I suspect that there are quite a few Moldy Chummers that I could hang out with and sip a few frosties with, but the smack-talking dickheads that represented your readership after my post don’t speak very well for MC. If left unchecked, these losers will poison your site’s vibe and pollute our beloved sport in the blink of an eye. Honestly, who in their right mind would want to follow the senseless drivel that unfolded through this string of posts? I could give a flying fuck about winning slab of week or slab or the year or slab of the millennia. Fishing never was and never will be a competition to me. It is an exercise in mindfulness and a commemoration of life, death and every other relevant and meaningful gift that nature has to offer. A big ass fish was always just a tasty trailer at the end of an epic movie. In the past decade or so, fly fishing has become this twisted, contrived, who-has-the-biggest dick competition. Boys and girls, those of you that think that the essence of the sport is nothing more than fancy gear and bragging rights, you’re all a hell of a lot more pitiful and fucked up than you’ve already led on to be. I’m going to go away for good now and leave you all to your bullshit. I hope to hell that the person that does win the slab-of-whatever contest is a guy just like me who could give half a shit about winning because he caught the biggest, baddest fish. And I hope all you petty, jealous little spey-casting, smack-talking, wanna-be, armchair angling, beetle-dicked fuckheads the best of luck in your miserble lives. Hasta la chingada pendejos!
Haters gonna hate. Sweet fish. Shit happens. Fish die. I figured the fish was bonked, as is standard protocol on many atlantic fisheries, a sign of success
Is this the Drake forum? Sure sounds like it.
@Garrett, Well put in your last post. That shit is right on. To answer your question, this is pretty much the way Chum is,100% standard. I have been a regular reader for years and somewhere along the line got used to filtering out the bullshit. There are other aspects of the blog that I love and respect. On another topic, I just moved to Albuquerque and would be down to fish with you sometime. You seem real. Hit me up if you're interested. asmiller at salud dot unm dot ee dee you
Garrett awesome fish, even better post. I think those same thoughts every time someone posts a picture of a great fish and immediately the comments are flooded with: blah blah redds, snaggers, long-arm, nymphs, etc. etc. Apparently some of these guys are so good they catch fish without even hooking them and of course have never killed a fish. If it's NEVER happened to you then you don't fish much. The site's great but most (not all) the comments are negative. Keep on doing what your doing and thanks for firing back. Sometimes the high road is for pussies and you have to let them know.
Well said Garrett, in my forty odd years of fly fishing I've learnt there's no greater haven for wankers on this planet. Keep doing what your doing mate, and keep blowin the foam off those frosties.... You'll catch more slabs and these dicks will still be trying to learn the nail knot....
Come join the flyfishing reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/flyfishing/ Somebody posted this there and I can agree that fishing forum trolls are just jack-off talkers. Nice fish bud, hope it was every bit as tasty as it looks. Haters hate, fisherman fish! F*** it dude, let's go fishing.