Here' MY story and I'm sticking to it... :grin:
My love affair with the North end of Vancouver Island began about 20 years ago when we accompanied some friends in their camper.
We camped at a beautiful campground that looked out on Queen Charlotte Straits. The sunsets were awesome! We were anxious to try the fishing here but had to wait a day or two for the wind to die down.
About the third day there, we finally headed out to "sea" what we could see. It was an uncommonly beautiful sunny, warm, calm day. We all had lines in the water jigging for bottom fish. Not much was happening, so the guys were swapping lies (as only fisher
men can do) while I sat up on the bow with my feet and my pole (rod) dangling in the water.
I was gazing out at the horizon watching for whales, dolphins or eagles, when
BAM!!, my rod slams straight down into the water. As I (very calmly) squealed, Jim was bemoaning the loss of a new fishing rod. Being the good fisherperson that I am, I had that rod firmly grasped by the "tail".....just barely! I somehow managed to get the tip back out of the water only to have it slam back down again. About the fourth or fifth time, I actually was able to reel-in some line and stood up to fight my fish.
It swam anywhere it wanted to as I ran (barefoot) from one end of the (open 19 foot marlin) boat to the other. After "several days" er... minutes, the "fish" apparently decided to come up and see what was going on. As it approached the surface and all bodies were leaning precariously over the same side of the boat, it became apparent that I had hooked a decent halibut. The question was how to get it in the boat......
(Our inexperience with said halibut and lack of adequate tools made for some "lively" conversation, let me tell you!!)
Someone discovered that we had a net on board; a medium-sized trout net. So I reeled and stood on the opposite side of the boat while 4 fisherMEN proceeded to attempt to "net" my halibut. After chasing it around in the water for several minutes, someone actually succeeded in getting it's tail in the net. It leaped out and back into the water and headed south.
Next, we discovered....The GAFF...! :shocked: Into the water it went, several times in several different hands, coming up empty every time to the tune of unprintable expletives. I got to fight the fish several times as it dove after being "bumped" on the head.
The "boys" decided to go back to the net with a new approach. They would get under it with the net while I backed up and lifted the rod over the inside of the boat. Sure enough, they again netted the tail and the fish jumped out of the net and landed in the........BOAT!!!
We were all laughing so hard we couldn't stand up any longer.
That was my first experience with halibut and where my love affair with this extraordinary fish began. [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img]
Pilar, does this story sound familiar??? .....
We might have to tell......"The Rest of the Story"....soon!
DipSeaDiver
For the Halibut!!
3 more days of work for him..... :grin: 
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