I'm halibut curious...

[Lovestafish]

I have some questions I hope someone can help with.... [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img] As I understand it, the chicken ranch is fairly close to the continental (sp?) shelf, and that's quite a step down... I read in a book that halibut can/will/do go down as far as 1000' feet. Does the ocean floor drop off to more than 1000'?
Has anybody ever fished for halibut down there? Would they be bigger fish? Would it be worth it - that's a looooong way to reel! (I'd do it, tho...)
I hear that out of Garibaldi they fish in 800' - 900' of water... are they fishing over that edge there?
I appreciate any info......

[Pilar]

Hi Lovstafish. I'm John and I'm billfish curious.

The Chicken Ranch is on the drop off at the end of the continental shelf where it becomes the continental slope.

Yes it gets much deeper than 1000 ft just west of there. I don't know anyone who fishes 1000 ft for Halibut. Based on what I know about the 600 ft fishery at the ranch, a 1000 ft hole would be alot of work. Especially for a prospecting trip, no guaranteed fish. Until I started doing FB in Oregon I did not know anyone fished 600 feet of water either.

The days available for this fishery are very limited. Most I know just blaze out to the tried and true gravel bars and catch a limit. Not too many days there to explore and test new spots.

The Pacific Halibut Commission does test fisheries and publishes reports on population distribution and abundance of Halibut. A test fishery is a long line set by a commercial boat. The test fishery is allowed in exchange for catch info and other considerations. The info from this is Catch per unit effort by area. This might tell you more.

If I can find the link to the most recent study I will post it here.

I think that you will find areas with little or no angling pressure will hold larger fish. That is just true for fishing in general.

I can't find my good halibut biology books but here is a link that might help. Halibut spawn in 1000'+ water and then migrate to the shallows to feed.

IPHC Research Link

ADF&G Halibut Link

Alaska Sea Grant Halibut Link

[ 05-29-2003, 02:05 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Lovestafish]

Thank you both. I've heard there are some other spots "out there" - it stands to reason that there have to be more than one spot the fish would be in. Could either of you recommend a chart/map that would show an overview of that area? That would be revealing....
And thanks again.....