Fish Story

[WP]

I can relate to this adventure, been there and done that...but not to the extent that Steve did! I have twice captured "lost" cannon balls and spreaders. To date without a fish though! I did loose a giant fish last year that I had a hard time raising...maybe it was Steve's and I didn't know it! Great story , and again welcome!
Dave

[WildHawg]

Hey Maverick!!
You might remember me as the big guy you met at the bait dock at Newport last year in late August.
We were the one's in the little "UglyGreen" (The ifish name of my fishing buddy Brad) 19' Almar I suspect you may have suspected the seaworthiness of!
Well she's seaworthy, as is her Cap'n and 1st mate--me!
You asked us where the bite was out at the rockpile, I told you to hail us when you got out there, and we departed. You said you had a cat, so I thought you had a '78 Glastron or something and worried about YOU!
MAN...what a boat!!!!
You radioed us, and I replied with the GPS #'s.
As I recall, that was one hell of a bite that day!!!!
I think you went through 30 or so chinook before you got 4 dandy keepers--if I remember correctly.
Never got to visit with you at the ramp, and I lost your cell #, so message me and we'll visit.
You are the rancher form Central Oregon--yes?

[Maverick Maxcat]

Thanks for all the replies to my introduction. I had to think about which story to tell for everyone, but here goes.
Steve's Giant Halibut
Several guys were fishing with me out at the Chicken Ranch off Newport last year. It was a typical day, not too rough, with the Coast Guard and numerous fishing boats all drifting around. After a couple hours we had a couple nice 'buts in the box, up to 90 lbs or so. Steve finally hooked a fish and the battle was on! Only, this fish was way different than anything else we'd ever hooked. It would shake it's head slowly now and then, but mostly was just a very heavy weight. Steve is a pretty big guy, and he was straining that 80# Powerpro, but he couldn't make any headway at all until I backed the boat into the current and kept it over the fish. Everyone aboard had visions of Moby Halibut, especially Steve! After about 15 minutes we had a harpoon AND a shark hook rigged to floats, and all other lines were out of the way. The Coast Guard noticed all the commotion and came over to check it out. We told them we had a monster on, and they positioned themselves just off our stern to watch the show.
After half an hour Steve was all in. Giving up any hope of an official line-class record, he passed the rod off to another guy. 15 minutes later he took it back for a short time, then passed it to me. We had it over half way up, but it just didn't feel quite right. But, the only thing to do was haul it in, so I kept at it. All of a sudden I felt something "give", but the fish was still on. Just a lot lighter now. Steve took over for the final stetch. Looking down into the water we saw a halibut all right--about 40 lbs! Along with a couple miles of Tufline, several spreader bars, cannon balls, leaders, a giant glow squid, etc. Of course we were all disapointed, but managed to have a good laugh. All except Steve. He ended up just sitting on the deck with about a hundred bucks worth of gear in his lap, mumbling about the record fish that never was.

[Fishplay]

I bet Big Steve is the new owner of some of my takle.

Did you mark that spot as a drift to avoid in the future? If so I would trade a cold beer for the numbers.

Would have loved to see the big guys face when the trophy hit the surface.

Thanks for the great story Mark!