2016 Halibut & Ground Fish Review

[TheBigGuy]

There is already a thread for a review of the seasons Salmon fishing. So, I thought I'd create one for a review of the Hali, and bottom fishing. How did you find the Halibut and bottom fishing in the areas you fished this season?

I made a couple of attempts to get offshore for some Halibut fishing off Barkley Sound in Aug, but it was too windy to bottom fish while I was there most days. The Hali season has been a blank for me so far, as that was my only trip near any Hali grounds.

On a bright note I caught some of my largest Ling ever on my trips over to the Gulf Islands this season. The Ling populations seem to be quite healthy there, and seem to be getting better every year. I deliberately try to avoid catching Rockfish, but my son told me he caught some large Rockfish, Cabezon, and Ling, on his trip to the Gulf Islands in Aug. I think the RCA's have really helped improve the ground fish populations in the Gulf Islands since they were implemented.

How did you find the bottom fishing this season?

 

[MadJigga]

Lots and lots of dogfish and no Halibut from my regular haunts. Haven't caught any groundfish of note this year, other than a 20# Cabezon out of Pedder Bay on Fathers day.

 

[trophywife]

went 8 days catching on the inside out of 12 days..so four skunks inside barkley sound...

went 18 days catching offshore out of 21 days... so three skunks outside.

released 7 overs.

most anchor days are 4- 5hrs..

lotsa chickens on the troll, i dont count those as a hali day because i usually only try for hali for an 1-2 hrs when trolling on the bank.

overall a good hali year.

 

[TheBigGuy]

Oh ya, forgot to mention the ling fishing in Barkley Sound. It was good the times we hit bottom on the inside, always produced nice Lings.

 

[Dan The Man]

Halibut , lings, yellow eyes where steller this year off Nootka while the salmon fishing was hit or miss.

 

[Cut Plug]

Lots of dogfish in JdF his year. That being said, if you were patient and had lots of bait the hallies would show up at some time during a shift. 5 hallie trips this year, no skunks but not always limits either. Released what feels like about 1,000 dogfish though. No lings as I haven't invested the time and effort to figure out where they are in my local waters...yet....next year I guess.

CP

 

[The Jackel]

1 dogfish, limits of hally every time (4 trips) average size 55 lbs, good number of rock fish as a by catch (don't target them), 2 octopus, that about sums it up

 

[TheBigGuy]

If you don't mind please indicate the general area you were fishing. Ie, JDF, Nootka, Barkley, etc.

1 dogfish, limits of hally every time (4 trips) average size 55 lbs, good number of rock fish as a by catch (don't target them), 2 octopus, that about sums it up

 

[photocopy]

did very well on hali, even a couple double headers!!

 

[trophywife]

did very well on hali, even a couple double headers!!

those are the best.. doesnt happen too often!

 

[Rayvon]

Halibut fishing was easy pickins for me off Victoria this year, Salmon,different story.

 

[Dogbreath]

Constance Bank or thereabouts

 

[Heavyc]

Hit a couple off Port Hardy airport on the 21st with Riverboy. Chickens, nothing over 30lbs. Hope to get out for another before it gets too ugly out there.

 

[TheBigGuy]

What are guys thoughts generally, about halibut fishing this season in the areas you fished. Did you find the overall sizes had increased, decreased, or were relatively unchanged from recent seasons. Did the new slot limits affect the way, or places you fished. Did you find many fish that were over the slot limit this season. Just curious how guys thought this season compared to others.

 

[chinnok]

I only went on one trip to Barkley this summer for four days. Spent most of the time fishing salmon which resulted in three coho fishing inshore and offshore, terrible. Spent one whole day on anchor and only managed to get two 25 lbers. Then on the last two hours of the last day decided to give it one more try after only getting two coho at the Rat's Nose. Anchored up on the way in and picked up a 65 lber in the first 5 minutes(took us a while to determine if it was under the slot, 132cm). There were three us so now we only needed small ones, caught and released two more about 50 lbs. Couldn't get any unders and ran out of time. Worse trip to Barkley ever but did come home with a cooler full of white meat. Oh well, hope it's better next year.

 

[richmake]

Guys
My company runs 6 boats pretty much full tilt
If we were close in any shape or form to what we caught last year I'd be shocked.
If nothing else....the weather in general was twice as bad as last summer...
I don't post many comments anymore but something has to change with our current halibut situation
First...abolish the experimental licence
Second....get the political side of the general public to demand more of the tac....

 

[TheBigGuy]

I agree Richmake. We are getting the short end of the stick. We should have a greater percentage of the TAC.

 

[bigdogeh]

the sports fishing industry generates alot more revenue than the commercial. it should get a lot bigger slice of the TAC...