BEEEEEG Halibut out of CR

[Miss B Haven]

Just talked to one of my buds that docks in Hammond. Story is that the guy who "runs" A and B dock (Steve?) caught a 180 lb Halibut :shocked: out of the CR a couple weeks back. :smile:
I just gotta get to the coast! :depressed: (and I'll be lookin for pictures when I get there). :grin:

[WP]

I know that this is blasphemy but, I would not keep a halibut that big...I would not keep one over about 75-100 lbs max. The flesh is not as good and I definately fish halibut for the meat more than the sport. I feel the same way about lingcod. After they get to about 20 lbs, they go back...crew hate that so I make the decision only for myself! I have taken 2 lingcod over 40 lbs and know from what I speak. They were not even edible, to me. Glad to have a big one on (I had a huge one come unbuttoned on the second Thursday) but then I am glad to release them too....the sad thing is that to release a big halibut is illegal in Oregon...not sure of the ethics or reasons for that, other than to stop the fishing before it impacts more fish?
WP :whazzup:

[BUGLEMAN]

Got any numbers? :grin:

[tailchaser]

Sorry to open up a can of worms here WP but it's not illegal to release a halibut in Oregon. Let me explain. It's illegal to "land" and release one, but as long as you don't bring it out of the water it's not considered landing the fish. I've sat down with numerous ODFW and State Police officials over this one. That is why you're allowed to catch oversize sturgeon and it's illegal to take them out of the water. Same reasoning. One of the guys we take fishing is a OSP gamie and he agrees. So the smaller halibut get to the top and if we don't want them they see a pair of pliers and off they go. The only reason this is ok is because it doesn't kill a halibut to be brought up from those depths.


As of the monster flattie, no question in my book, BONK HIM!!!

tc

[ 06-11-2003, 07:31 AM: Message edited by: tailchaser ]

"Legal" and right aren't always the same. We cut the big girls loose at the boat when in Alaska.

[Birdnest]

WP,

I see nothing wrong with letting a healthy fish go. Anybody that gives you a hard time about letting a big ol barn door swim free is just ****ed because they aren't faced with that decison.

Birdnest

PS I drilled my first holes in the boat on Monday...painful.

[Sensei-san]

Birdnest, I still remember the first hole I drilled on a fiberglass boat. We were putting in an hour meter on the dash. In our haste we didn't pilot the hole and just got out the 2" hole saw and picked a spot. Well when the drill caught there was this big skid mark all over the dash!

Never did get the patch job to match the original gelcoat.

Given all the hype about halibut. Seeing is believing. I am sure that there are lots of hundred pound fish cross the docks every year. Except they all mysteriously get filleted before they hit a scale cus they are so big.

[ 06-11-2003, 09:34 AM: Message edited by: Sensei-san ]

[sherry marie]

Correct me but I have heard that all halibut over 125# are female and that the larger they are the more eggs they lay. If this is right then we should release all the big ones? I have killed a 200 and 143 and felt bad after I was told this. As for the taste I can tell no difference between the big ones and the little ones.. they all are great eatin.

Ray on the Sherey Marie

[Sensei-san]

Ray,

You are correct. Halibut when they get large generally turn to become female. Most all large halibut are female.

A lot of commercials like Keta release the large females because of this fact and also the large fish have very coarse meat. The muscle striations are bigger, tougher and tend to split. Personally I like about a 50# fish. Enough meat to enjoy and at that size you are not impacting the sex ratio like taking a big one.

[Birdnest]

Sensei-san,

As long as we are being honest and somebody might benefit from my mistake.

Project: mount two new fish-on rod holders
Goal: not to screw up
Results: screwed up

I thought I was very careful with my set up before I drilled any holes. I reached under the gunnels to check for lines and other objects that might interfer with the mounting. What I noticed was the lip of the gunnel came down about 1.5" and overlapped with the side of the boat creating a thickness of about 1/4". I didn't know if the rubber grommets would pass through the base and the extra thickness so I decided to cheat down a little to clear it.

I had the holders in their brackets and placed them where I wanted. I checked for range of motion with the holders and it all looked good.

Well after drilling two 1/2" HOLES :shocked: (the large holes are to accomodate a rubber grommet with a nut that when tighted, enlarges and holds everything in place) through my month old boat I decided to check and see how it looked. Looks great, range of motion great. Allright, this isn't to hard. Wait a minute. With the rod holder out and just the bracket attached to the side of the boat I discovered that to put the holder back in place it has to go backwards and down farther than my gunnel would allow it to travel.

So now the million dollar question is will their be enough room to drill another 1/2" hole above the first set of holes. There was, and with some careful drilling it worked out fine. The mounting brackets cover up the first set of holes. Now I will need to seal those with out interfering with the bracket.

If you haven't already hit the back buttom due to the sheer ignorance of this project out of fear that you might actually loose some IQ points just by reading this...this is what I would do different.

Check ALL range of motion features. I also probably should not have risked drilling another set of 1/2" holes so close. I should have drilled regular holes and battled the floatation to get a nut and washer onto the bolt.

So there, I confess before the Salty Dogs and beg for forgivness. If this helps just one person, it won't matter, I still have two big freakin' holes in my boat.

Sorry for the departure, I now return you to the huge Halibut already in progress.


Birdnest

PS First side, 1.5 hours
Second side, 30 minutes

[Miss B Haven]

I don't know if the guy kept this fish, I don't even know if it's true. Sure got me pumped up though! :grin:

Speaking of drilling holes, ain't even been there till you have a brand new boat and punch a 2" hole right in the bottom to mount a thru hull transducer. Took me 2 beers just to get the courage to drill the pilot hole. :shocked:

Miss B,
Use the SMALL chainsaw :grin:
If I had a boat like yours or Popeye's I would have to drink more than my alloted two beers before drilling. :depressed:

[corrirod]

The problem is Keta that because he drank those 2 beers he now has 3 holes in the boat! :grin: :shocked:

Then he had to go out and buy a washdown pump for one hole and a cork for the other! :tongue:

[Sensei-san]

Yeah... But once you get past the agony of seeing the drill moving slow motion across the gelcoat or the patched with 5200 hole, the screwed up holes all have story to tell when fishing is slow.

Mel, I'm surprized that you didn't down the rest of the six pack trying to figure out the angle on the fairing block. I ran one through the bandsaw 180 degrees opposite the angle it was supposed to be. It was a mindblower to put it up against the hole in the hull and realize I had just wasted an expensive piece of custom ordered AIRMAR plastic. Plus another three days in the yard.

[Miss B Haven]

I actually did the hole and the whole dang thing myself on my last boat when new (24 Bayliner) and it came out perfect! Had to take Miss B in to a yard where thye could lift her.
The guy did exactly the same thing with my $30 airmar fairing block (cut it backasswards) and had to make one out of Mahogany to replace it. I'm still tweaked about that. [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img]

[Sensei-san]

Mel, Now I don't feel so bad. Even professionals can do it. Now pass me that last beer. I have some holes to drill...