Best Way To Land a Halibut?

[ful-rac]

Originally Posted by Mr. NiceGuy

Sorry, I had to work again today.

:big sigh:

Tomorrow is a 40/60, Tuesday is a 60/40. Between now and the end of Wednesday will hopefully be 100%

F-it. Sometimes we just have to drop what we're doing and go fishing.

---

However, I finished my new home made gaff set today with my morning coffee before I went to work.

Are you still trying to figure out how to land a halibut....?

Now you have a spear...? Looks like you did a good job...minus the zip tie holding the cable to the shaft...


Mr.niceguy....you are still seriously over thinking this. Just gaff the fish and game clip it...! No spear, no ka-GAY, no 55 gallon barrels....Just a perfectly timed and placed gaff shot...GAME OVER.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Are you still trying to figure out how to land a halibut....?

No. I think that has been covered pretty well. Thanks to several excellent contributions to this thread.

My only concern is losing a large one the next time an opportunity presents itself. That's what I have been mulling as I linger here and visit with kindred spirits. I want to reduce my risk of failure to as close to 0% as I can get it.

This place also serves as a social and networking environment, and not a bad one at that. I like meeting people and listening to all the diverse ideas.

Please start the next topic

Originally Posted by jorluivil

Now you'll have a halibut on your deck that can go ape sh*t at any moment with a hook in its mouth, a spear in its body and a gaff jammed in it?

That would be a neatly tethered and surgically placed spear tip only, not a spear. No need for a flailed hook gaff in this case.

The next one will be sufficiently dead, bled, unhooked and on a game clip before I pull him or her onto my lap.

[ful-rac]

What's a large halibut to you anyway?

Whether it's 20 or 50, 60, 75 pounds, it's not gonna be much different in the way you land them. What's gonna be different is how you keep them.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

What's a large halibut to you anyway?

Whether it's 20 or 50, 60, 75 pounds, it's not gonna be much different in the way you land them. What's gonna be different is how you keep them.

I'm a noob. I'm learning my way through these things. I lost a very nice halibut at the beginning of this thread when I tried to gaff him. His head-shake snapped my 25# Blackwater shock leader like it was nothing. I'm learning from my mistakes. I'm also blessed with rip-roaring ADHD so I tend to hyper-focus on challenges that excite me

You already know what the sizes are for the top 1/3 category of local halibut. You probably know some of the local guys who can target and land them consistently. I want to join that club. I want to do it from my kayak.

I like the pictures Paul posts ...



Life is sweet, eh?

[makobob]

SORRY Mr. NiceGuy
Every time I see your avatar I just want to make a comment. Please do not take this the wrong way.
You are no longer a NOOB.
AND if you get your tush on a trip to Baja you will no longer be MOIST, you will be DROOLING. Maybe forever after. So if you can jump on the Baja Express and take a walk on the beaches of Baja feel free to joins us. Tight lines.

Originally Posted by Mr. NiceGuy

I'm a noob. I'm learning my way through these things. I lost a very nice at the beginning of this thread when I tried to gaff him. I'm learning from my mistakes.

You already know what the top 1/3 larger sizes are locally for halibut. You probably know some of the local guys who can target and land them consistently. I want to join that club.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by makobob

SORRY Mr. NiceGuy
Every time I see your avatar I just want to make a comment. Please do not take this the wrong way.
You are no longer a NOOB.
AND if you get your tush on a trip to Baja you will no longer be MOIST, you will be DROOLING. Maybe forever after. So if you can jump on the Baja Express and take a walk on the beaches of Baja feel free to joins us. Tight lines.

Thank you Bob. I always enjoy your posts and I'm looking forward to the day we can meet in person.

I've flown my little Cessna 172 to Baja 6 times to explore Gonzaga Bay, Bahia LA, Mulegé, Guerrero Negro and several other amazing places with small landing strips. I have enjoyed many driving trips to explore primitive camping, photography and lush fishing. On my last trip, the honcho in charge of the airport at Cabo threatened to confiscate my airplane with his desk drawer of wadded up cash open for "parking fees." I've had trouble in Mexico on other occasions and stopped going there about 10 years ago.

I'm very sorry about this because I love Mexico and many kind people I have met there. Because of the culture of corruption and the risk of being a target of opportunity, it's no longer worth the risk to me. If there's no problem, then there's no problem. When a problem arises, there can easily be no solutions.

Moist, drooling or sopping wet ---- I'm envious of your coming adventures and I will be enjoying them with you vicariously.
I will be waiting to meet you in person north of the border


BTW, I don't look anything at all like the guy in my avatar, and I don't wear lipstick.

[ful-rac]

A little bit better...not by much...but better nonetheless...

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

What's a large halibut to you anyway?

For those of us who are curious, here's how the average length and weight numbers line up for halibut:

22" legal minimum is about 4 pounds

30" is about 12 pounds
36" is about 20 pounds
40" is about 30 pounds
44" is about 40 pounds
47" is about 50 pounds
50" is about 60 pounds

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

What's a large halibut to you anyway?
.

Originally Posted by Mr. NiceGuy

For those of us who are curious, here's how the average length and weight numbers line up for halibut:

22" legal minimum is about 4 pounds

30" is about 12 pounds
36" is about 20 pounds
40" is about 30 pounds
44" is about 40 pounds
47" is about 50 pounds
50" is about 60 pounds

You still didn't answer the question.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

You still didn't answer the question.

I don't have an exact answer for you.

Without getting it on a tape measure or weight scale I don't want to guess about the size of the halibut I lost. Our minds can play tricks on us and I wouldn't want to exaggerate.

Around San Diego I would be appreciative of catching halibut from 20 pounds up. I would like to be prepared to successfully land a halibut in my kayak over 40 pounds.


As a visual comparison to the length/weight figures above, this one weighed in at 43.3 pounds. That would put it at about 45" long.



I've heard people in forums boast of higher numbers as if 40 pounds was as laughable as a small dick, but who knows? Talk is cheap and BS is sometimes known to flow freely in fishing forums.

Maybe this will help answer your question. It would be nice to see some bell shaped curves as well, so can know the percentages by the number of standard deviations.



65 cm is about 25". According to this chart that comes at about 7 years. That makes me a little sad. If a 7 year old fish is only 25" then how old are the fish we see in local photos that are in the 40-60 pound range?

According to Wikipedia, typical California Halibut are between 6-50 pounds.

From another source, the top weight of this species is 72 lbs and the lifespan is 30 years.
Females reach sexual maturity in 4-5 years; 2-3 years for males.
California halibut are generally older in southern CA compared to central CA.

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/..._californicus/


67.3 pounds
https://www.fishwithjd.com/2011/07/0...-world-record/

55 lbs
https://youtu.be/AFdq72KXOy4

[ful-rac]

40 pounder...? Is that all?

My dog caught a 40 pounder...all SHE needed was a Gaff.