Can you say halibut? Part II

No complaints on Sunday morning when we awoke, as the sun was shining. As anyone living in Southeast Alaska knows, the sun has the uncanny ability to take a good day and immediately make it a great day. Robbie and I slowly made our way out of bed, as I had homework to do, and he painting. Thank goodness our great friend Chad Hood called and asked if we wanted to go fishing. We looked up the tide and marine forecast, and knew everything was aligned for a successful day on the water. We met up with Hood about 1pm, and headed out on "The Summer of 99" for one of the best fishing excursions we’ve had in a long time.

On the way out to our location, about an hour away from Juneau, I spotted what appeared to be something in the water off in the distance behind us. Chad turned the boat off and we sat and watched for just a brief moment, that’s when we realized I spotted some Orca’s (Killer Whales). A little interjection, I don’t like to use the words killer whale, because Orca’s aren’t a whale at all, but part of the dolphin family. O.k. back on track! The Orca’s were not in a tight swimming group as I had imagined they traveled, but sparsely spread out. Before we knew it the Orca’s were headed in our direction. Chad and I immediately got our cameras out to get some snapshots. The hard part about filming on the water is it is so vast, and you never know when or where sea life will pop-up next. Well, low and behold one Orca decided to surface and then dive under the bow of the boat and swim underneath the right hand side of the boat. I could see everything about it under the water, the white and black.

Hood’s dog Beavis was on the boat as well with us, as soon as she sensed and saw the Orca in the water below us, she jumped up on the side of the boat, and instinctually I grabbed her by the collar, this was one fish she didn’t want to jump in after. Thank goodness for Hood and his charged camera, because mine flaked out just then. I did get a shot of the Orca as it surfaced behind us on Robbie’s camera. It’s hard to make it out, but provides proof that what I’m saying isn’t total bull sh**.

With our adrenalin pumping, we discussed the day’s beginning, our excitement, and talked about that if we had to go home, the day would still be a total success, but that just isn’t how we roll. We continued on another 20-30 minutes to the halibut hole. The rest of the boat ride was uneventful, and that was just fine by us.

Hood took us to a tried and true halibut hole, he had secretly marked on his GPS, and as soon as we started dropping lines in the water, the bite was on. Chad was the first to yell “Fish On” and bring a fish in the boat, and actually I think he probably caught the most fish all together (catch and release after he met his limit of course). It didn’t take Chad and I long to get our two fish limit, when Robbie hooked into a “Masher.” Robbie knew immediately that is wasn’t a chicken on his line. It’s hard to tell actual size when a fish tugs 200 feet down, but by the way this fish took the bait and was stripping line, we all knew history was in the making. Robbie made good time reeling up the fish, not like some stories I’ve heard, but this fish wasn’t going easily. I was now on video detail and Chad was waiting in baited breath with the gaff. Unfortunately Chad’s first attempt with the gaff didn’t prove successful, but that was fine, as Robbie had the fish hooked really well. It didn’t take long to realize we might need to bring out the big guns, or some might say little guns, and nip this in the bud. Literally, Hood brought out his 22 pistol and instead of taking the chance at missing this honking fish, he put a bullet in it, and then just like a professional gaffed the halibut into the boat. We didn’t have a scale that went above 50 pounds, which this fish most definitely did, so we used the tide book to get a good estimate of its weight. Tide books have a section in them that give a length to weight ratio chart for fish. Robbie’s halibut was 55 inches long, so therefore approximately 82 pounds. The seas laid down and we stayed out on the water a bit longer and enjoyed the sun.



On the return we checked the dungi crab pots, plenty of crab in them, just not legal’s. I think we had a total of five for the day. All in all we all made out very well, and are grateful to the ocean for providing us with its bounty, but also an experience we won’t forget. Every time I’m out on the water and phenomenal things like this happen, I think of our family and wish they could enjoy and witness this as well.


Video footage to come, check back soon.