My halibut FAIL

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

They're out there! A couple of years ago, another kayaker who came in before me (I forgot who his name) greeted me at the shore, and listened patiently while I proudly showed my meager take. He then whispered to me, "you want to see something?" and walked me over to his pickup, reached into the back, and lifted up his game clip which had a halibut about the size you hooked. He said that a dory guy told him that they used to catch halibut at PC with some regularity, but that fishery had fallen off over the years.

Anyways, great story, great video, and best of luck in the future in landing one.

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! 

Bahahahaha Bill and Ted moment. You Think quickly.

“If you’re really me, what channel is my VHF radio on right now?

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! 

Bahahahaha Bill and Ted moment. You Think quickly.

“If you’re really me, what channel is my VHF radio on right now?

HAHAHA!

Totally awesome video - thanks for sharing.  A lot of this forum's discussion around ocean fishing is wrapped up in safety and preparedness (which is great) - and this is a good reminder to be even MORE prepared for the unexpected...in the form of a giant 'honkin delicious halibut. 

This got me thinking about how I could build a cheap harpoon.  Does anyone have any advice on that?

Nice work!

I'm looking for a gaff, pig-sticker, harpoon hybrid model that way I can minimize the amount of gear on the Ms. Salma. Axe handle? Hockey stick? Push broom handle? Ski-pole/harpoon/Kage hybrid?

Why would I need a gaff (for big lings) if I just went to a speargun tip/harpoon model? So many questions!

Needless to say, my lovely wife is craving halibut after seeing the Captain's video...

Fred "True" Trujillo

There are some good threads on this site about making your own various halibut-landing gear. My biggest problem is the same as Fred's - how do I combine things so I don't have to increase how much junk I take out with me?

I mentioned this on your FB post, but I'll add it here. If I were in your situation, I probably would've tried to whack the halibut with my fish club while he was alongside the kayak. With any luck, you could knock him senseless and buy yourself some time to secure him on the game clip and slice the gills to bleed him out.

Of course, it'd have to be both a good AND lucky whack with a competent fish club, but that's what I'd try.

Great video, thanks for sharing.  I have lost a few big flatties over the years at the gaff or net and now always make room for my harpoon and buoy. 

Norm

I mentioned this on your FB post, but I'll add it here. If I were in your situation, I probably would've tried to whack the halibut with my fish club while he was alongside the kayak. With any luck, you could knock him senseless and buy yourself some time to secure him on the game clip and slice the gills to bleed him out.

Of course, it'd have to be both a good AND lucky whack with a competent fish club, but that's what I'd try.

If you whack a fish when it's in the water and not controlled by a lip gripper, you risk having the blow yank the hook out of the fish's mouth or break your leader.  I've done both of these when clubbing fish which I've netted.  You can reduce the chances of that happening by pulling the fish to the surface, and then dropping the tip of your rod to put slack in your fishing line the instant before you smack the fish.

You can reduce the chances of that happening by pulling the fish to the surface, and then dropping the tip of your rod to put slack in your fishing line the instant before you smack the fish.

Agreed. I wouldn't whack with a tight line on the fish. Give him slack at juuust the right moment as you're swinging with the club. It could still knock the hook out, but I'd rather do that and lose the fish than try to mess with a hot halibut that could potentially swamp me. Given Cap Redbeard's circumstances, I'd consider a successful landing of that fish a bonus.

Yes, they are around those reefs! 

https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=3559.0

First off, great music! It helped get my blood pumpin!

Second, I agree with a lot of guesses here on the size.  I would say 60 lb, give or take 10 lb.

As was mentioned before, this is full-armchair-quarterback mode, so here goes:

My first move would have been to HAVE A WELL-GREASED DRAG, HONESTLY WTF??!!    That point is VERY important for trying to land a big fish like that.

Next, my two main goals would be to keep the head in the water and head towards shore. You have a Hobie, USE IT!    You succeeded in getting that thing very tired. The other thing you'd need to do is to try to get it away from potential sharks that might result from the next move.

Once I got it into a somewhat shallow area that I feel isn't super sharky, I would have tried to stab it right in the gills with the biggest, sharpest knife I had. Aim very carefully because this will, no doubt, really piss it off, but if it's tired hopefully it won't freak out too much.  I've done this with similar sized halibut (after I had them on a harpoon line) and it didn't get them too worked up since they had already fought for a while. 

Once you get it bleeding, it's only a matter of time before it's calm enough for you to actually secure it somehow.  Then it would be nice to have another somewhat big hook and have a friend tie some really strong line to it, even a rope of some kind would be better, like a buddy line. Once it's really calm from bleeding out, I'd try and get that other hook into its mouth because the hole from the first one isn't going to hold the original hook.  This could even be done before bleeding it if it's tired enough. 

They HATE when you try to stick stuff in their gills, btw. So it's a good thing your first attempts with you game clip didn't succeed because you would have lost your ling too. 

Once it's really calm, and assuming you haven't already just hauled it up onto the beach, which may actually have been the easiest way to deal with it, you'll want to get your game clip in its mouth, or as crash mentioned try and secure that tail. 

As soon as you can, hog tie that thing, also like crash mentioned.  Even after those things are "dead" they WILL flop around like crazy. I lost one because it freaked out and got off my flying gaff setup AFTER I ATE ITS HEART.

Great video!

Even after those things are "dead" they WILL flop around like crazy. I lost one because it freaked out and got off my flying gaff setup AFTER I ATE ITS HEART.

This right here is all you need to know about the need to secure a large flatfish.

I would think that most of us do not carry a casual halibut harpoon and attached buoy on a day-to-day/normal trip out.

So it would be nice to carry a small and compact hand harpoon/game clip. On this youtube video, from rawkfish, he has a fancy tool like that. Check out 2:09 in the video. But I learned that the tool is homemade.



I have since shopped around on-line for that tool, but found nothing. I see an entrepreneurship opportunity for crafting a cool fishing tool that like.

I would think that most of us do not carry a casual halibut harpoon and attached buoy on a day-to-day/normal trip out.

So it would be nice to carry a small and compact hand harpoon/game clip. On this youtube video, from rawkfish, he has a fancy tool like that. Check out 2:09 in the video. But I learned that the tool is homemade.



I have since shopped around on-line for that tool, but found nothing. I see an entrepreneurship opportunity for crafting a cool fishing tool that like.

They are commercially available. Lockjaw tarpon gaff.

Totally awesome video - thanks for sharing.  A lot of this forum's discussion around ocean fishing is wrapped up in safety and preparedness (which is great) - and this is a good reminder to be even MORE prepared for the unexpected...in the form of a giant 'honkin delicious halibut. 

This got me thinking about how I could build a cheap harpoon.  Does anyone have any advice on that?

Nice work!

(Old time, 1950's / 60's , TV announcers voice a la Stingray and cheap cop shows) Calling Insayn, Calling Captain Insayn..your talents are needed immediately.....