Marine Area 4 Halibut Videos

The 1st opener found me exploring new water in the Straight.  No fish for me but lots of notes taken.  One of these days I'll manage a butt on the North side.

After 1500 miles of driving between the 1st opener and the Brownlee contest I figured I'd skip the 2nd opener all together.  Then I saw the updated forecast for Sunday...  Saturday I made a mad dash north and hooked up with a hardcore group of HOW members who'd already put in some long hours on the water.  Sunday morning broke calm and warm.






Don't wait for someone to show you how and where.  Figuring out the puzzle is half the fun.  As it says in my profile:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. --Mark Twain"

Nice fish! Hope to try this fishery one day.

Looks like the weather sucked!

Nice fish and great video. I really appreciate you guys sharing this.
Hope you left one for me.

For those of you who want a second chance, WDFW extended the halibut season in MA's 3 thru 10. Check the wdfw website for more details.

Excellent videos guys!!  Thanks for sharing that!! Those are huge kayak class halibut!  Spot, you make the harpoon/buoy thing look so easy.

Thanks Guys and Gal!

Barb, I've paid some harpooning dues over the years, as some of my other videos show. The two biggest factors I've found are patience and a scary sharp harpoon tip.  I finally ground some cutting faces into my stock, round, Danielson tip.  Previously I could only fully penetrate on a belly shot.  Now I can go thru a foot of shoulder (at a diagonal) with momentum to spare.

-Mark-

Thanks for the videos and congratulations!

Nice, Spot. Congrats! Thanks for sharing.

Spot, I had issues with my Danielsons tip not coming off the end the 3 times I stabbed my halibut. 
After that failure, as soon as I got home and it was fresh in my mind, I removed the O-ring from the shaft as it seemed to hold a vacuum with the tip.  I also put an angle on the back end of the tip and added a flare right there to help it catch the skin as I pull the shaft back out and to give the tip a direction to go once it's loose.

I had originally ground super sharp facets into the tip, but didn't put a polish on them and they rusted between years.  Looked like crap!  I ground them back out before this season, but plan to put them back in as well as add some WD-40 to my tip storage tube/cap to combat the rust. 

I skipped the store bought harpoon with the O-Ring and modified an old salmon rod with a steel shaft.  The tension is kept by way of some .125" bungee, thru which I pull a loop of the leash line.  There seems to be enough drag on the line as I retract the harpoon to pull the loop thru.

The cutting tip makes way more difference than I thought it would.  Between that and the forward weight of the harpoon shaft, the plunge is like butter.

I'll take your advice on the rust avoidance.  I can always count on your wisdom when it comes to metal Craig.

-Mark-

This year post salt trip, I washed the tip in soapy water of course. Then I slipped a length of softish plastic tubing over the tip. Then add a healthy squirt of WD-40 inside the tube. I'll monitor it over the course of the year after I put the facets back into the tip.

Thanks for posting up those killer videos Mark! Really inspiring and stoked for you guys.

I'm glad I wasn't the only person who didn't want to buy one of the cheaply made and over priced harpoons this season. This was my 1st year going after butts ever, let alone from a kayak but I ended up using the end of an old Convergence rod for my harpoon too. Held a standard 5.5" danielson tip on with a single piece of electrical tape and I was able to get James 96 lb'er on the first stick! Not bad for having only seen halibut on my plate before 
It was really great meeting many of you on the first 2 openers and getting to fish with some of you who I already knew again. I headed up for that last chance we got at them but not so much as a bite this time. You guys all make it look too easy! Until next season, but I know I'll see most of you sooner than that. Leo, I'm coming for that trophy!

Mark, you never mentioned this kind of spot being available. Shit I may have to look at changing my plans for next year.Art

What time did you get there? I wonder if I briefly got to meet you? I headed back home on that Sunday because it was the wife's b-day and I thought it would put a smile on her face. I am sad I missed out on the good weather. We got pushed around from the wind waves and current on the Friday.