Two Montana couples went out for a leisurely day of salmon trolling on Fort Peck Lake on Aug. 9. Fishing aboard James and Nancy Fauth\u2019s 25-year-old pontoon boat, Tony and Emily Simonsen were enjoying a bright and calm morning on the large reservoir. The only hitch was that none of them had caught a fish yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut just after lunch my spinning rod came to life off a downrigger, and line peeled off the reel,\u201d a 68-year-old James tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cI knew it was a salmon, because I\u2019d been marking them deep on my sonar, and the hooked fish was so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n James says that as the fish made one dogged run after another, he was just hoping the $29 Walmart rod-and-reel setup his Uncle Vern gifted him 15 years ago was up to the task. The original 20-pound line was still on the reel, and he\u2019d only used it a few times before then.<\/p>\n As he battled the fish, Nancy cranked up the downrigger ball from 80 feet deep while Tony manned the landing net. Emily, meanwhile, recorded the action with her cell phone.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy James Fauth<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The video of the fight lasts less than four minutes, and it starts as James is already at work. He says he fought the salmon for about five minutes total, his rod bent into a tight bow the whole time.<\/p>\n James keeps saying in the video that he can tell it\u2019s a big salmon, and probably the heaviest one he\u2019s ever hooked. By the time he draws the fish close to where Tony can net it, the whole crew is stunned.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, my goodness!\u201d Emily exclaims as the chinook (also known as a king salmon) flops into the pontoon. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t even look real it\u2019s so massive!\u201d<\/p>\n After unhooking the salmon, which hit a green-and-white soft plastic squid lure trolled behind a blue-and-white dodger, James weighed the fish using a small hand scale.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy James Fauth<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cIt read 33 pounds 9 ounces, so I figured it was a state record,\u201d says James, a retired power company lineman who lives in Malta. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t fit in my livewell, so we put it in a cooler with ice, then went back to fishing. I was hoping we\u2019d catch another salmon. So, we went back to trolling in 130 feet of water about a mile or so from the dam, looking for another chinook.\u201d<\/p>\n By 5 p.m. they still hadn\u2019t caught another salmon, so they headed back to Fort Peck Marina to try and weigh the fish. The marina didn\u2019t have a certified scale, and neither did a nearby convenience store. Luckily, the clerk was willing to help and he contacted Steve Dalbey, a regional fisheries program manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Dalbey spoke with James and they made a plan to meet at the Reynolds Market in Glasgow at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n Once there, the chinook kept maxing out the market\u2019s small scales. Finally, a staff member found a big enough scale for the fish, which weighed 32.62 pounds. It measured 38 inches long with an astonishing 28-inch girth.<\/p>\n![\"Weighing](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/montana_record_chinook_pontoon_boat_3.jpg?w=1155\")