Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
Well the objective was to get sammie blood and halibut slime on my new Alumaweld. It was my first "real" trip of the year. My regular partner couldnt make the trip for medical reasons so a friend from the mainland jumped aboard.
First thing we heard when we got into Quatse was how slow the salmon fishng was-- sure a 31 was taken at Duval and a pair of 20s at Castle, but not the great reports of the past that made me want to chase salmon. Instead we chose to chase butts and lings.
We started out in the Walker group and slowly moved north as the tide speed permitted. Even the bottom fishig was slow-- a snapper, a coupe of undersized lings then WHAM!!!!! A REALLY nice butt. The IPHC length-weigh table gave the fish a weight of 90 lbs. We high-fived and knew that fish made our trip, even if we came up with nothing else. A few Cuba Libres went down the hatch at the campsite that night. Talking to other experienced fishermen in the camp, backed up our decision to chase butts rather than salmon. A few chinooks taken but slow. ( with one exception-- limits on one charter boat-- Was that you Serengetti??!!!)
Next morning out to a FANTASTIC day!! Calm, bright and little tidr change. Off we went to the same area as yesterday-- but nothiong other than a few rockies.
Decided to head for area 11 to look for lings. But on the way up I noticed a pinacle that I had not fished-- shallow top-- deep all around... smelled of lings. By buddy dropped a Berkley Powerbait grub on a jighead. Before to long YAHOO!!!!! 30lb ling hit the deck!
Next came a smaller ling, about 8 lbs. Now things were improving!!![8D]
It was a rocky bottom and we hung up frequently. But the next time I hung up-- it was different!!! I whaled on the rod once to get the hook-up off-- nada. I hit it again!!!! Well that did it-- the bottom moved!!!! It pealed 150 ft of line and them went back to the bottom. After some more not so subtle coaxing it took off again and headed for deep water! Then the work started-- I would gain 40ft, the fish would take 80 ft!!! Back and forth for close to 45 min.
The Daiwa Sealine reel of mine started naking some very unhealthy noises!!! The to make matters worse-- the fish mananged to hang the cannon ball on the spreaderbar on the bottom!! I thought she was gone for sure. We had to reverse the boat back over the fish to get it moving again.
Well while that fish put a beating on me-- I finally got her into harpoon range. My partner made as good effort and nailed her in the gills.. Then the water erupted!!!!! We got soaked!. When the fish calmed down, I maanaged to flatten out the head with my ironwood fish bonker!!!.
But now what???? The thing was huge!! How do you get it into the open boat of the aluminum boat---??? Well with a lot of straining and grunting!
We bled and hogtied the fish, and covered it with seaweed to keep it cool. My partner got through on the cel to my bud at home an dasked him to check the halibut weight-lenght chart onthe internet. This fish was 7ft, 6 inches long!!! or-- converted to lbs...240 lbs!!!! Yes- truely a fish of a lifetime.
We ran back to Port Elizabeth to a shingle beach where we dragged it up to the logs at tide height. We put together dismemberment table from the logs and cut the fish into fillets (8) and ten into the large cooler we were carrying.
That night at the campsite I must admit that I somewhat "over indulged" in the nectar of the cane. As luck would have it-- the next day we got nothing bigger than 10lbs... but we all ready had a years supply of halibut for three families!! Life is good.
Oh! Forgot one other thing, anyone who starts the nonsense that "I wouldnt keep a big female like that!" Can eat my shorts!!!!!
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20ft Alumaweld Intruder
First thing we heard when we got into Quatse was how slow the salmon fishng was-- sure a 31 was taken at Duval and a pair of 20s at Castle, but not the great reports of the past that made me want to chase salmon. Instead we chose to chase butts and lings.
We started out in the Walker group and slowly moved north as the tide speed permitted. Even the bottom fishig was slow-- a snapper, a coupe of undersized lings then WHAM!!!!! A REALLY nice butt. The IPHC length-weigh table gave the fish a weight of 90 lbs. We high-fived and knew that fish made our trip, even if we came up with nothing else. A few Cuba Libres went down the hatch at the campsite that night. Talking to other experienced fishermen in the camp, backed up our decision to chase butts rather than salmon. A few chinooks taken but slow. ( with one exception-- limits on one charter boat-- Was that you Serengetti??!!!)
Next morning out to a FANTASTIC day!! Calm, bright and little tidr change. Off we went to the same area as yesterday-- but nothiong other than a few rockies.
Decided to head for area 11 to look for lings. But on the way up I noticed a pinacle that I had not fished-- shallow top-- deep all around... smelled of lings. By buddy dropped a Berkley Powerbait grub on a jighead. Before to long YAHOO!!!!! 30lb ling hit the deck!
Next came a smaller ling, about 8 lbs. Now things were improving!!![8D]
It was a rocky bottom and we hung up frequently. But the next time I hung up-- it was different!!! I whaled on the rod once to get the hook-up off-- nada. I hit it again!!!! Well that did it-- the bottom moved!!!! It pealed 150 ft of line and them went back to the bottom. After some more not so subtle coaxing it took off again and headed for deep water! Then the work started-- I would gain 40ft, the fish would take 80 ft!!! Back and forth for close to 45 min.
The Daiwa Sealine reel of mine started naking some very unhealthy noises!!! The to make matters worse-- the fish mananged to hang the cannon ball on the spreaderbar on the bottom!! I thought she was gone for sure. We had to reverse the boat back over the fish to get it moving again.
Well while that fish put a beating on me-- I finally got her into harpoon range. My partner made as good effort and nailed her in the gills.. Then the water erupted!!!!! We got soaked!. When the fish calmed down, I maanaged to flatten out the head with my ironwood fish bonker!!!.
But now what???? The thing was huge!! How do you get it into the open boat of the aluminum boat---??? Well with a lot of straining and grunting!
We bled and hogtied the fish, and covered it with seaweed to keep it cool. My partner got through on the cel to my bud at home an dasked him to check the halibut weight-lenght chart onthe internet. This fish was 7ft, 6 inches long!!! or-- converted to lbs...240 lbs!!!! Yes- truely a fish of a lifetime.
We ran back to Port Elizabeth to a shingle beach where we dragged it up to the logs at tide height. We put together dismemberment table from the logs and cut the fish into fillets (8) and ten into the large cooler we were carrying.
That night at the campsite I must admit that I somewhat "over indulged" in the nectar of the cane. As luck would have it-- the next day we got nothing bigger than 10lbs... but we all ready had a years supply of halibut for three families!! Life is good.
Oh! Forgot one other thing, anyone who starts the nonsense that "I wouldnt keep a big female like that!" Can eat my shorts!!!!!
[^]20ft Alumaweld Intruder
