Just one halibut

    Pretty stoked. Last fish I shot was a PB halibut (around a month ago) and the very next fish I manage to shoot happens to be another PB hali. I'm feeling pretty lucky.


    Shot some video and made a few gyotaku prints of this fish, but for now I'll just post up the story of the dive.


    Story~
    I didn't have anything I needed to do the following day so I checked online for the surf report, which read 2.5ft. I thought that was pretty low, maybe good enough to dive. Only one way to find out. So I put on my shoes and headed down to the beach sometime after midnight. Not a car or person in sight as I crossed the PCH, felt very eerie. Got down to the beach and sure enough the waves were barely crashing to the shore. I stayed long enough to be sure no big sets were mixed in between, then I quickly jogged home. Just thinking of diving for halibut in such calm water was getting me excited. Back at home I realized this was a perfect time to try out to a new halibut spot I've been hoping to check out for over a month now. Grabbed my gear and jumped in the car, ready for anything.


    I've never dove this spot before so I didn't know if it would hold fish or not. Wading into the ocean until I was waist deep I splashed into the water. A clear view to the bottom opened up as I swam past the waves. With this sight in front of me I knew it was going to be a very relaxing dive.


    After only a few minutes of searching around the sand I spotted the outline of a monster halibut face, partly covered in sand, sitting right behind a shallow underwater ledge! My heart started to race. This was a big one, maybe as big as my last halibut (a 35incher)! As I swam closer the swell rushed in and threw me back and over the ledge. Staring down to the halibut all I could see was clouds of sand mixing in the water. This could be bad I thought. What if that swell jarred the halibut enough to make it move? The seconds lasted forever waiting for the sand to settle. I started to worry and quickly swam back and forth looking for a clear gap in the sandy cloud, even though there was none. As the dust finally settled I saw what lay below. He was still here! Turning on my camera I went down to take him out with my trusty old JBL in hand.


    Inching downward, closer and closer, until I was practically grab him with my hands. It was now or never. A short pull of the trigger and all hell broke loose! The shaft flies right into its head, but it's not enough to hold the fish! The fish flops like mad as I push the shaft further in and try to yank the gun, shaft, and fish up to the surface. But in that same moment another swell hits the area and I tumbled up and over the rocky ledge with the fish. I had no idea what was up and what was down at this point. Still crashing over the rock the 'but puts in a monster thrust and yanks the gun out of my hand! Thoughts of loosing the fish flood into my head as I continue to tumble, a second goes by and my hand touches a familiar object, it's my gun! I grab it and somehow pull the fish in close. Finding my balance I finally manage to seize both ends of my spear and quickly swim away from the ledge.


    Somewhere in the fight I had sensed this fish was bigger than my last. But now looking down at him struggling below me it was my first chance to really check him out. Green bulging eyes, gaping maw with pointy sharp teeth, and a fat body wider than my own. There's something about holding such a large fish in the water that makes for a truly blissful experience. But another kick from the fish reminded me I had some unfinished business to attend to.


    Looking down at the face I noted the shaft was wedged securely below one of its eyes, even so I couldn't risk tying him up in the water with my spike stringer. So I headed back to shore as he continued to jolt. Ignoring the waves and crawling up the sand I made it to shore safely. By now I just wanted to lay down and relax for a few seconds, but seeing the shaft sticking out of the fish gave me that nagging feeling of incompleteness. Reaching over I pulled the protruding shaft out and in response the 'but violently flops around with renewed vigor, squirting blood everywhere. Looked like a cheesy movie the way the blood splattered over the halibut. The sight of it forced me to react. Grabbing my stringer I lined up the eye to the gill plate and pierced the skin. The fish went limp so fast it actually surprised me.


    I could have called it quits by then, but it was just such a nice night that I thought, "Who knows I might even find another big hali laying in the sand." But 2-3 hours of swimming later and nada. So I called it quits and took my halibut home.


    Nice Daniel - Congrats!


    One's usually enough!...... This one's way more than enough! Nice fish and good shot.


    I hope the prints turn out well.


    Sounds like conditions on the beach are better than they were most of the summer..... and it's killing me. I'm sitting in Maui (that's usually a good thing)...... but stuck in a leg immobilizer waiting for my broken knee cap to mend...... can't bend it and can't swim..........


    did you get this one after daylight?


    mike

    Nice Door man! Iv'e got like 10 of them under my belt this summer and up until this point and none of them have been that big. my biggest one was 36inch so yeah i would say you have some luck on your side.


    cheers,


    Hut

    Nice going Daniel! News of this fish found me while away on vacation. Nice going for sure.

    Thanks guys it was a nice find for sure :thumbsup2:




    Broken knee cap! That sound aweful and serious. How did that happen?


    By the way, the prints turned out great! I've done a couple seabass, a carp, and a calico bass in the past but this halibut is by far my favorite. I made 5 prints. First one didn't turn out, but the rest look great. Though I only really need one print so I'm wondering what to do with the rest of them. I'll try taking a picture of them tomorrow when the sun comes out. You can click on the one below to view it in full size if you want.



    The conditions were very nice Thursday morning. But by Saturday a new swell hit and it looks like we won't be having anything as nice for the next week and possibly longer. It's those windows of opportunity that happen briefly between the swells. I try to watch the swell reports a week ahead of time to see if any are on the way.


    And yep this one was caught after daylight sometime in the early morning. I tried hunting in the sunlight as the sun rose but I just didn't see any halibut. Would have been nice to find one in the day.


    Quote from Bluewater1

    Nice Door man! Iv'e got like 10 of them under my belt this summer and up until this point and none of them have been that big. my biggest one was 36inch so yeah i would say you have some luck on your side.


    10 halibut just this summer :@ This was the 5th halibut I shot and I've been looking for them since last year.


    Quote from The freediver

    What was the wieght on the fish? At least 30lbs no?


    I weighed it at the Jig Shop in Dana Point and they thought it had to be at least 30lbs too ;). The actual weight was 26lbs. I've heard that a 50lb halibut can have a 10 inch girth. I measured mine and it was around 3 inches high.


    Oh and the carcass is sitting in the backyard right now drying out. I'm thinking of boiling down the head to see what the jaws look like. But I need to buy an electric or propane stove so I can cook it outside. Last time I tried cooking down jaws in my house and it stunk for days :D

    Quote from spearstuff


    Oh and the carcass is sitting in the backyard right now drying out. I'm thinking of boiling down the head to see what the jaws look like. But I need to buy an electric or propane stove so I can cook it outside. Last time I tried cooking down jaws in my house and it stunk for days :D


    Dan:


    Just cut off as much as you can around it, wrap it in foil and put it on the BBQ. You may want to add a table spoon of water but the moisture within may be enough. This is what I did for my sheephhead jaws. It didn't take long. (I'm assuming you have a propane BBQ in the back yard like everybody else.)

    It sounds like you just want the jaws and that area of the fish is pretty thin, not too fleshy so I would say maybe about 30 minutes. The nice thing about it is you can just create a pocket that you can open, inspect and close again, just like you were going to prepare a piece of fish on the grill. As a matter of fact I would probably just freeze the jaws and wait until the next time you want to grill some fish anyway and put it on at the same time.

    Awesome fish...Great report, thanks for sharing it:toast:


    you really earned that one...


    sorry for asking an ignorant question, but what do you do to keep from destroying your gear, specifically your suit when you are getting smashed on these rocks?


    are you actually getting rolled out of the water onto breakers or are these underwater boulders?

    i like to spear fish

    Edit: I added the gyotaku picture in post #12 for anyone that's interested.



    That rock was an underwater boulder, but it was only 2-3 feet from the surface and depending on the waves. I didn't get any rips that time, but the fish was scraped up a little.


    I normally rip my wetsuit from getting washed up on those shallow underwater rocks. The water just sucks you up and over them. In the tumbles I usually rip my wetsuit with my gear (my stringer, spear tip, and even my lobster guage). Usually the holes are small. And I've been using Yazbeck wetsuit glue for the repairs.


    With Alex's help and some extra wetsuit material from an old suit I was able to repair this hole I got from a tumble earlier this year.





    It's not pretty, but it's water tight :thumbsup2:


    Quote from LunkerBuster

    Nice. Thanks for the answer


    And sweet gyotaku. I am a big fan of fish printing. I'm just not all that good at it hahahaha


    Did you try using rubbing alcohol to get rid of the slime when cleaning the fish? And remember to dab the fish with a paper towel after brushing the ink on the fish? Those two steps made a big difference when I started learning how to make my prints.


    Here's a good reference video for printing fish. Although I'm no where near this level yet.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InpLfs4rasw

    Quote from spearstuff

    I made 5 prints. First one didn't turn out, but the rest look great. Though I only really need one print so I'm wondering what to do with the rest of them. I'll try taking a picture of them tomorrow when the sun comes out.


    Those are awesome dude sell them or send one to me:thumbsup2:.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member to leave a comment.

Register a new account
Sign in now