Halibut without harpoon
- Thread starter fishspoon
- Start date
Assuming your right handed, you tail him with your left, give him a couple of good right crosses with the right just below the eyes, and throw him in the cooler. Go back for his buddy.
Honesty though, a good gaff, couple of real good whacks with a bonker, and cut the gills to bleed him. Then bring him aboard straight into a cooler. Did that with a 40 lb'er a couple of weeks ago. Anything too big is going back to spawn another day.
Honesty though, a good gaff, couple of real good whacks with a bonker, and cut the gills to bleed him. Then bring him aboard straight into a cooler. Did that with a 40 lb'er a couple of weeks ago. Anything too big is going back to spawn another day.
scott craven
Well-Known Member
hopefully you have a gaff on board, and usually you only get one shot
so make it count. I have done it a few times , once i lost
one because it thrashed itself off the gaff before i get it into
the boat
so make it count. I have done it a few times , once i lost
one because it thrashed itself off the gaff before i get it into
the boat
Seawolf: did you tail a 40 pound halibut? that would be impressive...
gaff is the way to go for sure... one thing i would do is loosen the drag on the reel (not too loose) and either get your partner to hold it or put it in the rod holder... holding your fishing line, you line it up and hopefully nail it and bring it in... if you do miss, let go of the line, and you have a bit better chance that you won't lose the fish.
gaff is the way to go for sure... one thing i would do is loosen the drag on the reel (not too loose) and either get your partner to hold it or put it in the rod holder... holding your fishing line, you line it up and hopefully nail it and bring it in... if you do miss, let go of the line, and you have a bit better chance that you won't lose the fish.
Striper Sniper
Well-Known Member
Hey Maddog, what is with the "rub it on the white side of its' belly" or are you just setting some of us newbies up? Seawolf 1
The belly works, but to subdue AND bleed your hali quickly, what I like to do is slice across the tail, and then break the backbone. Blood will POUR out of there, and mr. Halibut STOPS. THe neat thing is if you bend it back and hook up his spine, it makes hime liven up again.
albernifisher
Well-Known Member
my son and I managed a 110lber with only a net.It took a couple of tries to get the net past its shoulders a quarter way in,once we did and after it beat a tattoo up and down the side of my boat with its tail in my face.We put a rope around its tail and cleated it off,every swell after that I stuck my knife into its gills to bleed it out. It took a while but we finally draged it in
I'd definitely advise against whipping the fish into the boat in a live condition! As has been indicated, running a club or other solid object down the lateral line on the white side temporarily subdues a halibut. Grab it above the tail, cut one side of the tail, and snap the backbone. Game over. Now cut the gills, let it bleed over the side, and then fire it into the cooler.
Commercial trollers from the days of ice boats tell tales of clubbing and gutting halibut, packing them in ice, and hours later, being woken out of a needed sleep by the tail of the dead fish beating against the bulkhead. Cutting the tail eliminates the Stephen King moment.
Commercial trollers from the days of ice boats tell tales of clubbing and gutting halibut, packing them in ice, and hours later, being woken out of a needed sleep by the tail of the dead fish beating against the bulkhead. Cutting the tail eliminates the Stephen King moment.
B
Brokenrod
Guest
A 110 pouder in a net could be interesting.
B
battaglino
Guest
where you able to shoot hali in bc years ago? It seems to me 20 plus years ago we could shoot them. I think we still can shoot down here.
R
roscoe-pco
Guest
Just have your paperwork and permit. Oh and remember shoot your Hali OUTSIDE the boat, yes I've seen holes in a boat before.!!!!
I've made many a .22 sized hole in a halibut (Not with the .22), and it didn't slow him down one bit. BIt slow fish like Halibut have a slow metabolism, the only way to make 'em quit is to stop the nervous system, the slice'n'break of the tail works for me, or as Wolf says, bonk the sh*t out of them. You know you have hit home when they change colour just after bonking, they will go quite pale in about 5 seconds.
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