I was fishing with those type flies with two guests in the boat over on the Togiak River, we got big fish there, 12 -15 pounds all the time.
They were fighters, jumpers, lots of fun.
Had a guy hook up and this Silver just stripped him out in moments, got to the end of the backing and it just blew up and he was gone.
About an hour later we were reeling in another rig and dragged in that fly line we'd lost.
Fish was still on it...the guy just started hand lining him in, the backing was piling up in the boat so I grabbed it and put it back through the eyes on the rod that was stripped, reeled it back up and caught up with the guy hand lining.
He got to fight the fish the rest the way in on the rod he started the fight with....
Popped off a king last summer on 10 pound test braid IIRC. Figured now way we would have gotten to land and photo and release anyway. The fish was a bit stunned when the line popped, I went as fast as I could in waders managed to grab the line and wrap it around my net hand and got it with the net handle.
I'm impressed a bit with the fly rod. that was a GREAT save for sure!
