Too late in the season for the bigger Halibut, earlier, May/June there are some there to 200+ lbs! They are an awesome challenge to bring up out of 200 feet of water but of course the good eating ones are under 40 lbs.
This was a last minute trip and is specialised fishing, so Grant called me because his son in law was visiting from Alberta and had never caught any Salmon or other Ocean fish. With a 25 ft boat and possibly rough water it really requires two experienced people to make it work. Plus he knew i would love it regardless of the conditions, cause i am nuts like him!
We go back over 40 years and work together like a well matched team of horses
This morning i am stiff and sore from hanging on, climbing around, and being onboard for nearly 30 hours with a bonus 2-3 hours of sleep on an airmattress that was too narrow. I am not complaining because i would do it again in a heartbeat, hopefully without the following little setbacks
All started well wednesday afternoon as we trailored the boat 30 miles to Port Alberni and the launch site in the Somass River. Then began the first leg of the trip which was another 30 miles by boat out the "Alberni inlet" to the open Pacific. This inlet varies from 1/2 mile to a full mile wide and is a break in the mountains, they tower over you and the scenery is spectacular! The water was quite calm for this leg of the trip with the first 20 miles being a great experience for a "prairie boy".
Just about 10 miles short of where we would overnight it, anchored in a sheltered cove, we were travelling in nice water conditions with a light chop, maybe 1 foot, hardly noticable, when there was a loud "thud clank!" and nothing more. We dismissed it as probably a bit of debris bouncing off the hull. The boat is very heavy welded aluminum, compartmentalised and foamed, so virtually unsinkable as well as immune to impacts that will shatter a wood or fiberglass boat. We continued on to arrive at the outer edge of the island group that comprises "Barclay Sound".
It was nearly 6 pm, so we had a few hours of daylight. The water on the open ocean was somewhat "lumpy", a 6-7 foot manageable swell and a bit of a breeze. We had been monitoring the marine weather channel and there was a "gale-storm" warning for the next day, after noon. Never trusting their predictions, we decided to go to the "first bank" 12 miles offshore for the evening "bite", just in case the storm came in early and we missed our chance on thursday morning. The trip out took an hour, as we could only do about 12 knots in the bumpy water with any degree of comfort.
The GPS beeped and our display screen/seamap said we were on the spot in 240 feet of water.
Our Halibut rods are heavy duty 6 footers and the deep sea reels hold 300 yards of 100 lb test "tuffline", very thin diameter braided line. It is 1/4 the diameter of monofilament line of the same lb test and does not stretch. When fishing so deep, the stretch in regular line prevents you from setting the hook properly in a tough mouthed fish. Also the thin diameter is not affected nearly as much by tidal currents and keeping the lure or bait on the bottom is much easier. You "Jig" for Halibut, bouncing the 30 oz lure off the bottom, and we use Octopus or squid and sometimes herring for bait.
After putting the kicker motor in reverse to help hold us in position, stern against the wind, we dropped our baits. As it happened, i had the first hit, my rod bending and the reel squalling when i set the hook. It felt like a Halibut, you kinda get to know after a while, the difference between other bottom dwellers such as mud sharks, Cod, Snappers, etc, and Halibut. I said to Grants son in law "Chris", hey, can you give me a hand here?
Not knowing what was going on, he said, sure! What do you need? I winked at Grant, who was smiling in the background, reached out and took Chris's rod in one hand, handing him mine with the other and said, hang on tight! He still looked puzzled, not figuring it out, then the fish took off! I had set the drag fairly light, as a greenhorn may have it pulled out of his hands if unprepared. Chris, startled, hung on tight, giving me a started look, then comprehending as Grant started to laugh, he began a new experience in fishing and 15 minutes later i gaffed a 40 lb Halibut for him. He was shocked at the stubborness of the fish and his aching wrists but very happy!
As we put our lines back down ther was a giant "WHOOSH"! Startling all of us as a Grey Whale spouted only a 100 feet from the boat! Another first for the young guy
the look on his face was priceless. One cloudy hard to get picture for now and i will continue this tale later. Rough water, dark cloudy weather, sorry but this is as good as the Whale pics got.
Wayne
). Going up 12 foot rollers and falling off the other side for many hours is getting real tough on this old fool!
I took a bunch of high school boys from our Church out off Cape Ann. Water was pretty lumpy there too. Every time we bottomed out in the trough, we took on water through the scuppers. Most of these so called jocks spent their day over the rail chummin! Hope ya got some good ones!
plus i needed both hands most times just to stand up!