Stashing our diver and bait rods, I grabbed a back-bouncing rod. Dad pumped the oars of the drift boat. I stood in the front of the boat, and when we hit a deep, slow-moving part of the hole, I dropped a 3-ounce sinker and fresh bait to the bottom.
A crank of the reel as I raised my rod tip tightened the line and lifted the bait off the bottom. Slowly dropping my rod tip, I felt the sinker touch bottom. Then I lifted and dropped it again. On the third drop I felt a slight tap, resembling a trout peck more than a chinook hit. Setting the hook left no question what was on the other end, and after a good battle we were soon admiring a 17-pound salmon. I tagged the fish while Dad worked the boat into slow water and back upstream, then we traded
