My halibut FAIL

Not anywhere close to a fail by my standards.  Great hook-up, and great fight. It's hard to land a fish you weren't targeting,  especially one that size. 

Great video,  no tales that you didn't book up or to the IRS size. 

Thanks for sharing.  I really enjoyed watching it. 

Awesome vid, and serious style points for the music. Brutal finish (worse as your first halibut, and a nice one). But everyone here knows that feeling when the line suddenly goes slack!

Really don't know what I would have done. Had the other close kayak dump my fish off my stringer on his boat, attempt to get the game clip on it with my dock line attached? if I got to that point, tied the dock line off the back of the kayak or something then maybe would have tried getting in a few good smacks with the fish whacker when it broke surface, or use my bait knife to stab it center right behind the eyes and hope that it went? Very hard to tell what I woulda done in the moment like that with lighter tackle. I have seen some people get a loop around the tail, hogtie em so they can't flop around once on board.

Good clip either way definitely not a fail!

Really don't know what I would have done. Had the other close kayak dump my fish off my stringer on his boat, attempt to get the game clip on it with my dock line attached? if I got to that point, tied the dock line off the back of the kayak or something then maybe would have tried getting in a few good smacks with the fish whacker when it broke surface, or use my bait knife to stab it center right behind the eyes and hope that it went? Very hard to tell what I woulda done in the moment like that with lighter tackle. I have seen some people get a loop around the tail, hogtie em so they can't flop around once on board.

Good clip either way definitely not a fail!

Knife between the eyes haha sounds like what i would do lol

Well Captain, ya got your feet wet with one of the greatest thrills of kayak (cold water) ocean fishing, probably only second to perhaps a shark half the size of your kayak flashing a lot of teeth. LOL

Up here we have a Golden Rule for medium (50#) to large halibut you will hear on every power boat: Don't lift its head out of the water.  Its a tip worth remembering especially for kayakers. As long as the fish is completely submerged, often they will just hang motionless after a fight allowing you to prepare the harpoon to secure it and if its big enough for a harpoon its big enough to shoot. I don't know of anyone else up here that carries a gun in their kayak - their choice.  But pull those lips up into fresh air and all bets are off. They really don't like that as you experienced.

I carry a 22 six shooter with dumdums and have no issues with using it for dispatching halibut at close quarters. To each their own, but trying to stab and cut the gills in a large halibut can present very dangerous scenarios as that knife can cut the angler just as easy as the fish and ruin your day when it violently thrashes about, as it will.

Another reason not to pull the head out of the water and make the fish go ballistic is your weight. You were using a small, 'non-lethal' sinker. On power boats we may use weights up to 5 pounds to stay on bottom. Even in a kayak a one pounder is sometimes necessary. Weights are above the bait/hook. When you make that halibut go ballistic that weight is now a dangerous weapon flying in every direction as the fish thrashes. It is a serious hazard to be aware of and it can and does rip the hook loose sometimes.

Trying to tail a big halibut from a kayak single-handed will most often fail. The fish is too long and requires your pole to pull the fish past you to get to the tail.  I've used a coyote/wolf snare on my powerboat as its very stiff which is needed when trying to lasso a broad tail under water. Even if you succeed in tailing the fish you have a bull by the tail.  You will get wet. And trying to thread that tail rope through a green fish's gills to hog tie it will not be a task easy to do. Just touching their gills will lock them and their mouth closed. I'm speaking from a number of attempts a long time ago.

I don't advise the use of a gaff on big halibut in a kayak. Again, a thrashing powerful fish with a oversized pointed 'hook' its trying to rip from your hands could pose a rollover or pull you off the boat.

Bottom Line: Take a harpoon and buoy. You instantly secure the fish in the event your hook comes loose at some point. Its still your fish. And you will then be able to control the fish much easier to cut the gills and bleed it out to kill it. Or stick it in the brain to dispatch it, or club it to death.  I personally like to harpoon them through the gills where its soft tissue, easy to penetrate, causes bleeding damage to the gills, and MOST  IMPORTANTLY, the harpoon tip is now pulled tight against the underside gill plate preventing proper water flow and Oxygen to the fish which allows it to tire quicker...suffocation.

Looking forward to your next episode: My Halibut SUCCESS.

My heart was racing ... and I was watching it from my recliner!  Thanks for the rush! Sorry it got away but, reading the other comments here, without the right equipment might be the best ending.

Great video! Took me back to my trip in Alaska when I caught a 157 pounder from a boat out of Deep Creek. I switched my gear from a shark hook and a buoy to a harpoon connected to a thick graphite ski pole. I was able to put it through some cardboard pretty easily and the pole seems thick enough to not shatter.

* - starts breathing exercises...

Okay, man. I'm pumped!

Fred "True" Trujillo

Well Captain, ya got your feet wet with one of the greatest thrills of kayak (cold water) ocean fishing, probably only second to perhaps a shark half the size of your kayak flashing a lot of teeth. LOL

Up here we have a Golden Rule for medium (50#) to large halibut you will hear on every power boat: Don't lift its head out of the water.  Its a tip worth remembering especially for kayakers. As long as the fish is completely submerged, often they will just hang motionless after a fight allowing you to prepare the harpoon to secure it and if its big enough for a harpoon its big enough to shoot. I don't know of anyone else up here that carries a gun in their kayak - their choice.  But pull those lips up into fresh air and all bets are off. They really don't like that as you experienced.

I carry a 22 six shooter with dumdums and have no issues with using it for dispatching halibut at close quarters. To each their own, but trying to stab and cut the gills in a large halibut can present very dangerous scenarios as that knife can cut the angler just as easy as the fish and ruin your day when it violently thrashes about, as it will.

Another reason not to pull the head out of the water and make the fish go ballistic is your weight. You were using a small, 'non-lethal' sinker. On power boats we may use weights up to 5 pounds to stay on bottom. Even in a kayak a one pounder is sometimes necessary. Weights are above the bait/hook. When you make that halibut go ballistic that weight is now a dangerous weapon flying in every direction as the fish thrashes. It is a serious hazard to be aware of and it can and does rip the hook loose sometimes.

Trying to tail a big halibut from a kayak single-handed will most often fail. The fish is too long and requires your pole to pull the fish past you to get to the tail.  I've used a coyote/wolf snare on my powerboat as its very stiff which is needed when trying to lasso a broad tail under water. Even if you succeed in tailing the fish you have a bull by the tail.  You will get wet. And trying to thread that tail rope through a green fish's gills to hog tie it will not be a task easy to do. Just touching their gills will lock them and their mouth closed. I'm speaking from a number of attempts a long time ago.

I don't advise the use of a gaff on big halibut in a kayak. Again, a thrashing powerful fish with a oversized pointed 'hook' its trying to rip from your hands could pose a rollover or pull you off the boat.

Bottom Line: Take a harpoon and buoy. You instantly secure the fish in the event your hook comes loose at some point. Its still your fish. And you will then be able to control the fish much easier to cut the gills and bleed it out to kill it. Or stick it in the brain to dispatch it, or club it to death.  I personally like to harpoon them through the gills where its soft tissue, easy to penetrate, causes bleeding damage to the gills, and MOST  IMPORTANTLY, the harpoon tip is now pulled tight against the underside gill plate preventing proper water flow and Oxygen to the fish which allows it to tire quicker...suffocation.

Looking forward to your next episode: My Halibut SUCCESS.

I mean, I agree with all this, but it wasn’t really the question.  The question is what would you do in the situation when you aren’t targeting one or prepared to land one properly.  The answer can’t be “go back in time and bring a .22 pistol, a harpoon, and buoy with you”.  Do you try to land it, and if so, how?

Way to go man. Idk, some losses are still a win. You caught a halibut that you were not fishing for. Hard to prepare for that. The only one I ever hooked (got away) out there bent a big hook on me and I was after rockfish. You tried with the best had at the time. I see a successful halibut video from you in the future.

What a great opportunity for a fair fight.  I definitely would not call it a FAIL... just that the fish got the better end of the fight.  Sometimes, that'll happen.

My experience says that was definitely at least a 50" halibut.  At 50" the round weight of the fish is estimated ~60#.  A 46" fish weighs 46# then halibut start packing on the poundage for the amount of length...they just get heavier once they reach that 46" inflection length.

What a great video.  I don't see anything that you did wrong.  Perhaps since your buddy had a harpoon, you could have called him in for the assist?  But those fish are so powerful, I think you'll be glad you were not successful on putting your stringer through it's gills.  Would have certainly pulled on that game clip and possibly capsized your boat or tangled you in the stringer retainer line.  It could have ended very differently if any of those things happened.  So, the fact that the fish got away is a happy ending. 

Way to go, Redbeard!

Thanks! And I appreciate the size estimate. FWIW I was prepared for the worst if I'd gotten on the clip; I wouldn't have done that if I was alone out there, but I was ready to get in the water if necessary. I just figured my kayak would be a big enough float to hopefully wrangle it. 

What kind of footwear do you have there?

They're Cabela's "bonesneaker". I don't think they make them anymore. I talked about them here: https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=15428

I've done a lot of fishing since I wrote that and, while I still like them enough to keep wearing them, there are some negatives. Like, when you self-rescue with them they're pretty heavy, and if you find yourself in a situation where you have to swim very far at all you're going to have to do all the work with your arms and drag them behind you or take them off and abandon them. As mentioned by others in that thread they are also not the warmest option. I don't bring spiny fish on board as much anymore (I lip, string, and bleed them overboard, usually) so I could do without as heavy duty of boots. Still, it is really nice to get out and hike around on shore wherever I am and essentially have hiking boots on.

I've had the NRS knee-high neoprene "Boundary Boots" (https://www.nrs.com/product/30035.02/nrs-boundary-boots) recommended to me by several people, and once it crawls far enough up the priority list, I plan to try those.

Really don't know what I would have done. Had the other close kayak dump my fish off my stringer on his boat, attempt to get the game clip on it with my dock line attached? if I got to that point, tied the dock line off the back of the kayak or something then maybe would have tried getting in a few good smacks with the fish whacker when it broke surface, or use my bait knife to stab it center right behind the eyes and hope that it went? Very hard to tell what I woulda done in the moment like that with lighter tackle. I have seen some people get a loop around the tail, hogtie em so they can't flop around once on board.

Good clip either way definitely not a fail!

Thanks! One recommendation I've gotten from several people is I could have been whacking it in the head to try to take it out of the game a bit. Looking back, I don't think I expected the hook to hold for as long as it did, so every time it was close to the boat I felt like I had to land it that second. I like to think that if I'd known it was going to stay buttoned for a few minutes I would have calmed down and tried some things, but who knows. Next time, for sure.

Great video! Took me back to my trip in Alaska when I caught a 157 pounder from a boat out of Deep Creek. I switched my gear from a shark hook and a buoy to a harpoon connected to a thick graphite ski pole. I was able to put it through some cardboard pretty easily and the pole seems thick enough to not shatter.

* - starts breathing exercises...

Okay, man. I'm pumped!

Fred "True" Trujillo

You've got next!

The question is what would you do in the situation when you aren’t targeting one or prepared to land one properly.  The answer can’t be “go back in time and bring a .22 pistol, a harpoon, and buoy with you”.

I appreciated his thoughts but this comment cracked me up. Best advice: build time machine! Man, if I saw me waiting for me beside my car at 4:00am to tell me what to do with the halibut I'm going to catch that day I think I'd believe it was the sea sickness meds talking and call it a day right there! 

Thanks, everyone, for the comments and suggestions. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I took me a couple of days to get over it but then I felt like it was too much fun not to share. I'm still trying to decide what to take on my boat when I fish out there that I haven't been. I don't use my spear gaff much, so I could replace that with a flying gaff, however even a small float is going to take room I don't usually have. Might be time to re-arrange my cargo well.

I don't know if this experience encouraged me to start targeting them or not. On the one hand, hey, apparently it's doable at Pacific City. On the other hand, it could have just been a fluke (pun intended).

Of course... I saw a picture from just yesterday of a kayaker with a halibut on shore... if anyone wants to speak up...