My first big Oregon Fish !

So, after making the first big move of my life outside of New Mexico I settled in the Pacific Northwest. What beautiful country there is here to discover and explore, it's pretty amazing. I must admit that the drastic climate change was a bit tough to adjust to but adjust I did. I went from 6000 feet in elevation and 8 inches of annual rain to sea level (Elevation about 13 feet) and nearly 80 inches of annual rainfall. I was reminded that it is a rain forest that I moved to when it rained for 5 days straight, day and night.....about 6 inches of rain over those 5 days and it was normal. Yep, normal, my neighbors were out walking their dogs and mowing their lawns, yes, all in the rain. Adjust? yes I did although I was cold my first 6 months here, I just couldn't get warm. Now, if it gets over 75-80 degrees I'm dying, just simply too hot. A recent visit back to NM was painful, it was nearly 100 degrees and I couldn't stand being away from air conditioning for very long...funny. I decided to learn to fish for what I call big fish here on the coast. If you ask the locals they are not big, just average fish. I'm talking ocean run salmon returning to their home waters where they were spawned and lived for the first 1 to 2 years of their life. Apparently, at the age of about 2 years they leave the relative safety of their home stream, river by traveling down river to the sea where they live, feed and travel for the next 3 to 5 years. Somewhere about the ripe old age of 5 to 7 years mother nature kicks in and they begin the long journey to their home waters, the exact stream or river they hatched in and spent the first 1 to 2 years of their life. Seems pretty amazing to me that they can do this but I guess it's the water chemistry and temperature that drives them to return to their home to spawn and start that cycle of life again. This is where my fishing adventure begins. Fishermen along with seals, sea lions and even pods of killer whales gather at the mouth of the river and even several miles upstream to try their luck at hooking or catching one of these fish. On my first trip to the Rogue River I struggled. This heavy rod fishing was new to me, I'm so used to my 3,4 or 5 weight fly rod and a 16 to 18 inch fish being a trophy....But, after a few hours I began to get the hang of it and finally success! I hooked what felt like a tire, and after about 10 minutes (it seemed like hours) I saw my first big PNW fish break the surface of the water, wow ! A beautiful, bright silver Chinook Salmon, she weighed out at 25lbs and was nearly 30 inches long...a beauty. Over the next few days, I fed my neighbors and friends. I shared this bounty with Shannon's friends and co-workers and we had fresh salmon like I've never tasted before for days....Since then, I've gone out regularly to improve my skills and luck but that's another story for another day. I leave this post with a picture of that beautiful first big Oregon fish, Enjoy !