Wayne in BC
New member
I have not used my boat this summer/fall, what with running around in a floating "camper"
.
I was just remembering a couple years back when i took a good friend Halibut fishing in my 17-1/2 ft boat. He was fairly new to ocean fishing having lived all his life in Alberta. A long time close and dear friend, he had helped me with my guiding business for years and is a knowledgable and "solid" guy. ( He and i also had some interesting encounters with bears Fred and i will dredge up a story for ya) Over the years i had taken him Salmon fishing a couple times but always in sheltered waters on the "inside" of the Island and close to shore. This time we would be going "offshore" and because it required driving 20 miles of pavement then some 50 miles to the "west" side of the Island via poor logging type road with the boat trailer, we would leave home at 2:30 am in order to get to the launch point at 5:30 am, then hope and pray for no wind stronger than maybe 10 mph max!
It was the usual trip out there, slow, bumpy, and long! We got to the launch point about 1/2 an hour later than we wanted but
dumped her in the gloriously calm water
and headed west, straight offshore 20 miles on a course with my GPS that would bring us to my favorite spot.
Once out of sight of land, about 5 miles that day because of a bit of fog, usually close to 15 mi in good visibilty, my buddy was, though not saying anything, visibly nervous. That is normal for most folks and after i joked a bit about how he was not a bit worried about riding a horse 30 miles through remote mountains totally without the two emergency radios, survival suits, flares etc, he allowed as how maybe it was ok
The GPS beeped and i slowed, watching the sonar/sounder/fishfinder for the nice little 100 ft diameter rockpile that jutted from the floor of the flat 250 ft "bank" we had come to after miles of traveling over water 8-900 ft deep! These "banks" are where we find the Halibut and other bottomfish and are often many miles long and wide, requiring a lot of searching to locate the little humps and rockpiles so favored by the fish. These spots are carefully guarded secrets among the fishermen and guides, sometimes when others follow us we will go to a "wrong" place for a while to throw them off the track, changing frequently and only when they have given up, go to our spot!
Setting up the short stiff rods which are loaded with 300 yards of 80 or 100 lb test thin diameter line, we attached the jigs, 24 to 30 oz in weight, they are necessarily heavy to get to and stay on bottom. Having very large treble hooks and baited with a chunk of squid or octopus, the total weight can make your arms sore after a couple hours of jigging!
As we drifted across the rockpile, keeping our jigs bouncing bottom (and hoping like heck not to snag up!) I felt a tug and set the hook into what turned out to be a Dogfish! #@$#@ nasty annoying small sharks, seldom exceeding 3 ft long but the bane of bottomfishermen, they steal bait, tangle your line and their teeth and tough hide destroys leaders! I quickly dispatched him, replaced the leader, and got back to fishing just as my buddy snagged bottom! He was holding on tight and muttering as the current moved the boat and took line off his rod, when suddenly the "bottom" swam the other way! Taking line with impunity, also showing the characteristic up down head nod of a big Halibut! Whoo hooo! I knew this was a biggie! One of those occasional 100+ pounders, lots of fun and work coming for a neophyte
continued with pic
Wayne
.I was just remembering a couple years back when i took a good friend Halibut fishing in my 17-1/2 ft boat. He was fairly new to ocean fishing having lived all his life in Alberta. A long time close and dear friend, he had helped me with my guiding business for years and is a knowledgable and "solid" guy. ( He and i also had some interesting encounters with bears Fred
and i will dredge up a story for ya) Over the years i had taken him Salmon fishing a couple times but always in sheltered waters on the "inside" of the Island and close to shore. This time we would be going "offshore" and because it required driving 20 miles of pavement then some 50 miles to the "west" side of the Island via poor logging type road with the boat trailer, we would leave home at 2:30 am in order to get to the launch point at 5:30 am, then hope and pray for no wind stronger than maybe 10 mph max!It was the usual trip out there, slow, bumpy, and long! We got to the launch point about 1/2 an hour later than we wanted but
dumped her in the gloriously calm water and headed west, straight offshore 20 miles on a course with my GPS that would bring us to my favorite spot. Once out of sight of land, about 5 miles that day because of a bit of fog, usually close to 15 mi in good visibilty, my buddy was, though not saying anything, visibly nervous. That is normal for most folks and after i joked a bit about how he was not a bit worried about riding a horse 30 miles through remote mountains totally without the two emergency radios, survival suits, flares etc, he allowed as how maybe it was ok
The GPS beeped and i slowed, watching the sonar/sounder/fishfinder for the nice little 100 ft diameter rockpile that jutted from the floor of the flat 250 ft "bank" we had come to after miles of traveling over water 8-900 ft deep! These "banks" are where we find the Halibut and other bottomfish and are often many miles long and wide, requiring a lot of searching to locate the little humps and rockpiles so favored by the fish. These spots are carefully guarded secrets among the fishermen and guides, sometimes when others follow us we will go to a "wrong" place for a while to throw them off the track, changing frequently and
only when they have given up, go to our spot!Setting up the short stiff rods which are loaded with 300 yards of 80 or 100 lb test thin diameter line, we attached the jigs, 24 to 30 oz in weight, they are necessarily heavy to get to and stay on bottom. Having very large treble hooks and baited with a chunk of squid or octopus, the total weight can make your arms sore after a couple hours of jigging!
As we drifted across the rockpile, keeping our jigs bouncing bottom (and hoping like heck not to snag up!) I felt a tug and set the hook into what turned out to be a Dogfish! #@$#@ nasty annoying small sharks, seldom exceeding 3 ft long but the bane of bottomfishermen, they steal bait, tangle your line and their teeth and tough hide destroys leaders! I quickly dispatched him, replaced the leader, and got back to fishing just as my buddy snagged bottom! He was holding on tight and muttering as the current moved the boat and took line off his rod, when suddenly the "bottom" swam the other way! Taking line with impunity, also showing the characteristic up down head nod of a big Halibut! Whoo hooo! I knew this was a biggie! One of those occasional 100+ pounders, lots of fun and work coming for a neophyte
continued with pic
Wayne
Hurry up with the next part! 