when life gives you smelt......

[bigbarrels]

congrats! I was parked next to you on the beach with the white Tundra who was taking off......good to see somebody hooked into something

[tattuna]

That's a lot more than just a nice fish, that's a fish of a lifetime! Incredible catch man

[ken aguilar]

Wow thats a fish! congrats!

[Dan]

WOW

[dfroggy54]

thats a big ass barndoor...

[DESTROYER]

RUG!

[sdfisher]

for those that want the long version

it was on the first bait i put down, got to where i wanted to fish, paddled north a little bit then headed back south to a area that looked good on the fishfinder, had the rod under my leg with the reel engaged so I could watch the rod tip and see when I had a bite----that was unnecessary,

this thing smashed the bait and started screaming off line, pulled me out a little bit and then started pulling me straight towards the shore, I thought I had a shark on by the way it was pulling, luckily I was able to turn it away from the shore and start gaining some line on it, when I got it to color I saw the white bottom and then the brown top and knew I had the right kind......

then I realized how big it was and recalled all the stories of how halibut freak out, have sharp teeth and can possibly tip you over, so when I got it boat side I gave it a meager gaff attempt and missed, then this thing took off back down, I looked back towards the shore and realized i was about 20 ft from the where the surf was breaking and had to start paddling with this fish hanging off my line,

the whole time i was certain it was going to break off, because I had to keep taking a break and paddling away from the surf, I guess I dont have to worry about if my knots are strong anymore, I missed the second gaff attempt and fought it for about 15 more minutes hoping that it would be tired by the time i got it up again, this time I sunk the gaff right in, quickly put the game clip in it and started cutting gills with the gaff to bleed and kill it,

surprisingly it didn't freak out or have any last minute attempts to get away, but I wanted to make sure it was dead before i put that huge mouth with sharp teeth anywhere near my jewels so i had to paddle with 50+lbs of fish hanging off the yak and against the wind and swell, I finally was comfortable with it being dead and tried to get it on the yak, that fish took up most of the room, i sat on it's head and paddled it in

Leo and Val were on the beach, Leo had a nice WSB, I think val was headed out. Lots of high fives and pictures going around

[Oolie]

epic fish! congrats

[steveooo]

Nice! Put some of those lemons on that fatty all cooked up! That is a BIG ASS HALIBUT!

[deepdvr]

Originally Posted by sdfisher

i sat on it's head and paddled it in

That's freaking hilarious. I don't care how dead that fish is, my jewels will never be that close to those teeth if I have anything to say about it.

[PaddleHP]

Sick fish. Congrat's on the catch.

[jbaker]

has any one ever heard of cutting out the cheek meat on huge halibut? i fished up in Alaska a few years ago and they were all about the cheeks when the fish got much over 50lbs. sorry to steal your thunder, that's an awesome fish i cant wait to get out to lj and get my own.

[Aaron&Julie]

Sweet, very sweet! And worth the wait.

[Spyder]

My hat is off to you. Many congrats on a fish of a lifetime. I'm going hunting for one this weekend.

[cowboybill]

That is a beauty! I love when your Mom (?) says holly SH*T!!!

[buttchaser]

WOW ! Great Job Nick ,

[sdfisher]

I cut out the cheek meat on this one and grilled it that night, it has a different kind of texture than the rest of the meat,

all my buddies were laughing at that part where my mom says that, if you know her it is even funnier

thanks for the praise guys, glad I could add something more to the reports then it just being a great paddle on the ocean