Alaska Sea Hunter


  • Hello from Seward Alaska. I spent the morning hunting in Thumb Cove in Resurrection Bay in South Central Alaska. Thumb Cove is known for giant halibut coming in shallow to feed on salmon entering the river. We left the cabin at 0600 and rode the Kawasaki Ultra Jet Skis accross the Bay. We arrived just as the sun came up over the mountains and set up the gear in the shallow water near the river mouth.


    I brought my new Riffe 130 Euro and my 42" Biller. I was testing my new Cressi 7mm wet suite and it worked great. I barely got wet. The water temperature was 43 deg f and the vis was about 10 to 15'. I spent a couple of hours searching the sand bars and weed beds for a Butt and was not blessed with a shot on this fine day. The good news is I tested the updated gear and worked out the weight bugs. I am in shock that I need 39 lbs of weight to get negitive? I don't use that much with my DUI dry suite. I hope to pick up my boat this week and get back out on the big water for some ling cod.


    Regards, Alaska Sea Hunter

  • Awesome having a guy out there doing it so this warm water pussie can be a part of the adventure. Are there bears that would might come in the river to check out you and your ski? What year is it?
    That place looks amazing.:toast::toast:


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

  • Welcome aboard. You are a serious badass to dive in that. And with they huge fish you have up there.


    The ski is amazingly equipped. Can you please show us a few more pick of the rig?


    Looking forward to more of your reports

    i like to spear fish

  • wow i take my hat on you . great to have you , bring more pict for us .. :welcome2::bienvenido:

    Que viva la pesca :cuba:

  • Hi Don, the pic is from 3 days ago. Yes, bears do visit and you have to stay watchful to make sure one does not swim out to the jetski or worse the diver. It is very unlikely although the first time you say it will never happen is the time you will find your self face to face with a swimming bear.


    Regards, Paul


    Awesome having a guy out there doing it so this warm water pussie can be a part of the adventure. Are there bears that would might come in the river to check out you and your ski? What year is it?
    That place looks amazing.:toast::toast:


    Cheers, Don

  • Welcome aboard. You are a serious badass to dive in that. And with they huge fish you have up there.


    The ski is amazingly equipped. Can you please show us a few more pick of the rig?


    Looking forward to more of your reports

  • Very cool thread. Please keep us posted on how it goes and certainly once you spear any fish over there. I would love to dive in Alaska someday. What are the spearfishing regulations like over there? Do they allow you to spear salmon? Cod?

  • Hey Don, I noticed your from Newport. I was born and raised there. I graduated from Newport Harbor High in 78.


    The Kawasaki Ultra is a 1600 cc, 160 hp crusier. It has 55 gallons storage in the bow and I added the aft plate. The aft plat will hold 6, 6 gallon cans, a 70 qt cooler and a rifle/spear gun or two. I put some extra flotation between the plate and hull, I used two of those closed cell foam tubluar kid floaters for the pool.


    I am not comfortable diving directly off th emachine in deep water, I feel like it would be too easy to roll over or get in trouble messing around with the 39 lb weight belt or spear gun. I go near shore and get set up standing in shallow water before moving off to deeper water. Alaska has some extreme drop offs, some go from 0 to 500 feet in just a few hundred feet.


    I loop the weight belt over the rear grab handle although I am not sure what will happen if I roll over in teh waves and have a new ballast to deal with, I guess I will be dumping the weight belt if it happens.




    What a bitchin ski, looks like at least a 10k ride.


    Cheers, Don

  • I moved to the Oakwood Apts by the Harbor High field in 1977, I used to watch the football games from my back porch.


    Thanks for all the great data on the ski, I'm leaning in that direction as I don't have an offshore boat any more.
    Be careful with that weight belt unless your trying to set the Alaska record for depth.;)


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

  • Alaska spear fishing rules only require a diver to be completly submerged when firing a spear gun. You can not us a bang stick for any reason, I had given thought to using my 44 mag bang stick to finish off a giant halibut. The large halibut are giant flat bottom dwellers that are solid muscle. They are very tough and vigerous so landing a large one with a spear shot is going to be fun.


    Regards, Paul






    Very cool thread. Please keep us posted on how it goes and certainly once you spear any fish over there. I would love to dive in Alaska someday. What are the spearfishing regulations like over there? Do they allow you to spear salmon? Cod?

  • Fun to see someone else going after the giant halibut on the other side of the Northern hemisphere :D
    At what depth are you negative with 39 lbs of weight with the 7 mm suit?
    I use a 7 mm suit most of the year in Norway, and they will soften up quite fast and loose buoyancy. On my new suit I started out with 22-24 lbs in September and I'm down to 17-18 lbs now after about 15 days of diving. I use a made to measure suit, between sizes 3 and 4 (medium-large), and aim to be neutral at ~30 feet depth.

  • Hi Anders, good to see a fellow cold water diver hunting with a spear. I need to do some more testing on buoyancy this spring. With 39 lbs I am slightly negative at the surface. When I decend I go down fast so I am working my way up to diving deeper than 30 to 40' at this point. My plan this season is to try to bring big fish into the shallows with a bait station and chum.


    Cheers, Paul

  • I can't wait,....I fell through lake ice, testing it for a hockey game.:@ does that count/;):D


    Balls of steel you guys have:thumbsup2:.


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

  • Breaking through the ice is scary no matter how deep the water is, glad you made it back up Don :D ;)


    Hi Anders, good to see a fellow cold water diver hunting with a spear. I need to do some more testing on buoyancy this spring. With 39 lbs I am slightly negative at the surface. When I decend I go down fast so I am working my way up to diving deeper than 30 to 40' at this point. My plan this season is to try to bring big fish into the shallows with a bait station and chum.
    Cheers, Paul


    Being negative on the surface sounds dangerous, especially if you dive to 30-40'. At that point you're pushing quite a lot of lead to get back up..
    The most shallow I have seen halibut was at ca 12 feet depth, and it was a big one. I don't know if the Pacific halibut have the same behaviour or hunting grounds, but if you'd like some pointers as to what type of places to look for, just let me know ;)

  • I agree and I am very focused on getting the weight right. I like the idea of neutral at 30'. We do catch large halibut in the shallow water in the spring, the females lay there eggs in the shallow gravel. What I understand is that most halibut over 100 lbs are female. On a good year we will let the bigger fish go.


    I am ordering my herring gill net tomorrow so I can catch a 100 lbs of herring to use for chum and bait. I plan to set out several bait stations and go in to hunt them at low tide.


    Paul

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