Ok, as you may have noticed, I tend to enjoy having a bit of a sense of humor on the water. I've always loved the majority of the people I have taken fishing. The fact is, that when put in the position of "authority" such as a guide or captain, people tend to believe everything you tell them. Done in the right way, this can be quite fun!
It was mid way through a summer of running a 4 passenger boat out of Deep Creek on the Cook Inlet in Alaska. I was out at Halibut Hill, approximately 18 miles from shore, just about halfway between Deep Creek, and the far side, where Mt. Illiama is perched magnificently. After a nice 40 or 50 pound halibut was brought aboard, one of customers started peppering me with questions for about the hundreth time. I don't mind answering questions, in fact I quite enjoy sharing my experiences. Sometimes it just seems right to lead people down a different path.
"Why are halibut flat?", "Why are they white on one side?", "Why don't I see anyone fishing on the far side of the inlet?" "How come you only fish for halibut this time of year?", "How come your clothes smell so funny?", "Why do we only fish at high slack, not on low slack?", Why do we fish out here in the middle of the inlet?". WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!!! Hold on there partner. Sit down and I'll answer all of those questions in order, seing how they are all related.
So here goes... First off, you have to understand about the Great Halibut Migration. You see, much like many other species, halibut have a yearly migration pattern. Right now we are at the tail end of the migration. Throughout the winter months, the mighty Halibut fattens up in the waters off of Baja. In the spring time, with the urge to propogate, large schools of 'Butt' head north, making their way in close proximity to migrating whales. This is a symbiotic relationship, you have to understand. As the whales feed on schools of baitfish, quite a lot of the uneaten, but injured baitfish come to rest on the ocean floor, where halibut can easily feed on them.
Once they've made their way clear up North, typically using the inside passage to conserve strength, they shoot up the Cook Inlet. Now the reason we only fish on high slack is because they are still active, and looking for food. With the mighty currents we have in the Inlet, on outgoing tide, every 'butt' in these parts hunkers down under the bottom sand to wait it out. Over the ages, these mighty giants have learned to use the flood tide to full advantage. Right as the tide turns to incoming, they burst out of their shelters and streak forward with the incoming flow. At high slack, they eagerly look for food before hunkering down again for another outgoing tide. So you see, it's useless to fish low slack. We fish out here in the middle because it's the greatest funnel, and here is where the greatest concentration of the big fish are.
"Well, that seems reasonable", my customers commented. "But why are they flat, and white on one side?" I'm getting to that I replied. Well, that's just a sign of the miracle of nature, and adaption to the environment. The reason they are flat is two fold. First, on the incoming tide, and with the Northerly spring currents, Halibut use their bodies much like sails to capture the current, and expend as little energy as possible swimming. They just sort of arch their backs up at a 45 degree angle, catching a ride. The other reason is because of their spawning. Remember how you asked about why we don't fish on the far side of the inlet? Well we can't by law. It's to protect the Halibut returning to spawn. The whole point of this migration is to get to those very few special rivers that have just the right consistency for halibut spawning grounds. Most of those rivers are on the West side of the Cook Inlet, at the base of Mt. Illiama. Once to the river mouth, the halibut charge like crazy up the rivers to lay their eggs. As you are quite aware, these rivers are very shallow in a lot of places. In order for a 100, 200 or even 300 pound fish to swim up these rivers, there's no way their body could be oriented like a normal fish. They have evolved, and flattened themselves out so they can get up to the prime spawning beds, often travelling through rivers that are a foot or less deep.
This of course leads to your other questions...Why are they white on one side? Well, young halibut aren't, but as they mature, the brown gets scraped off the bottom as they swim up river over the gravel beds. We can't fish over there because of things that happened in the past. With rivers thick with spawning halibut, people used to go to the rivers and just pitch fork them right out. A shame I tell you, a shame.
Anyway, hopefully that answers your questions, doesn't it? "Well, yeah, except for why your clothes smell".
To that, I replied. "Cause sometimes I'm full of sh**!"
Seriously, more than one group bought this story. When people are on vacation, sometimes they'll believe anything. I always made sure to clarify that I was just spinning a yarn for them though. They'd just shake their head and laugh. Being a good guide or captain is more than just catching fish, in my opinion. I always wanted to give my people an EXPERIENCE.
Mike (I'm the one on the right)
[ 10-09-2003, 06:27 PM: Message edited by: Nalu ]
Story #3 "The great Halibut migration"
OceanBlue
the only fish that get caught are the one's that open their mouth...
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