Dustin Coy’s July 4th weekend ended with a bang that had nothing to do with fireworks.

He and his father-in-law, Con Russell, were fishing near Orcas on July 6 when Coy felt a strong pull on his line.

“It was incredible,” he said. “It got to the surface, and I didn’t realizd how big it was until it dove and took off. We both said, ‘It’s a whale!’ I let the line go because I didn’t want it to pop the line. Con coached me through it. We let it get tired before bringing it up to the boat.”

The “whale” turned out to be a 40.68-pound Chinook salmon. Coy, who lives on Orcas with his wife Samantha and children Adrian and Natalie, has been fishing with Russell since around 2001, and says it’s the biggest fish he’s ever reeled in.

He added, “And it’s the biggest fish I will probably ever catch.”

Coy would like to mount it, but says he most likely will end up eating it.

“It was so hard to carry up the dock,” he said. “We tried to weigh it on Con’s scale on the boat, but it only went to 28 pounds. When we finally weighed it, we couldn’t believe how big it was. It was an amazing experience.”