Diving for Halibut

[Metal man]

I was talking to a Halibut fisherman today that told me they catch the fish (from a boat) at depths of 90 to 150 feet, so I was wondering if anyone has ever even seen a Halibut while diving. The fish he was describing were in the 50-150 lbs range, so there's no mistaking that for a Flounder!!

[Stu]

I wish! Sticking a halibut would be pretty interesting.

[CaptnJack]

Seen some small ones as I drifted Possession Point bar once. Maybe 10-15lbs tho.
With ample food they grow fast, at least the 2 or 3 in the Aquarium Dome have.

[DiverDown]

Be carefull, One of my instructors was a police diver. They did a body recovery years ago for a diver that speared a skate. They found him underneath the oil docks at Mukilteo. The diver had his spear gun clipped to his BC and was tangeld up in the pilings. When they retrieved the body the skate was still alive. My point is, a fish like a halibut is pretty much all muscle. I would think twice about spearing anything over fifty pounds.

[Tom Nic]

I've seen video of a 60 - 70 lb halibut swimming on a pinnacle in SE Alaska.

When we fished in SE Alaska we landed halibut up to 340lbs. My biggest is 80 or so. A 50lb halibut will kick your but - and that's when you are holding a short stiff halibut rod. If you bring a 70 lb halibut into your boat without making sure it's dead it can trash the inside of your boat, and there are anecdotal stories of careless fisherman being killed by large halibut. Some of those stories are no doubt apocryphal, but that being said, a halibut is a pretty tough fish.

I would really hesitate to spear a large one unless I really knew what I was doing.... The tables could be turned very quickly.

I'm wondering if Dmitchell has any experience with them diving out of Juneau?

[Metal man]

Be carefull, One of my instructors was a police diver. They did a body recovery years ago for a diver that speared a skate. They found him underneath the oil docks at Mukilteo. The diver had his spear gun clipped to his BC and was tangeld up in the pilings. When they retrieved the body the skate was still alive. My point is, a fish like a halibut is pretty much all muscle. I would think twice about spearing anything over fifty pounds.

Wow! Talk about an extreme ride!! I wonder if this was sport fishing or poor mans scootering.

I couldn't imagine actually spearing something that big, but it sure would be cool to see it.

[Tom Nic]

I've seen video of a 60 - 70 lb halibut swimming on a pinnacle in SE Alaska.

When we fished in SE Alaska we landed halibut up to 340lbs. My biggest is 80 or so. A 50lb halibut will kick your but - and that's when you are holding a short stiff halibut rod. If you bring a 70 lb halibut into your boat without making sure it's dead it can trash the inside of your boat, and there are anecdotal stories of careless fisherman being killed by large halibut. Some of those stories are no doubt apocryphal, but that being said, a halibut is a pretty tough fish.

I would really hesitate to spear a large one unless I really knew what I was doing.... The tables could be turned very quickly.

I'm wondering if Dmitchell has any experience with them diving out of Juneau?

Tom, I'll have to show you a picture sometime of the 180# one I caught while in Alaska. It was MUCH bigger than I am! Hmmmmm...........maybe I'll figure out how to post it on FB. We always shot them before bringing them on board the boat, they can trash the boat and the boaters.

Yeah - a big halibut is an impressive site. Our largest was 6' 10 inches long. It was quite funny watching 3 grown men trying to wrestle that thing vertical using a pulley to try and get a picture. Good times. Cleaning it was like butchering a cow.

I actually prefer the ones between 25 and 40 lbs for eating! We would hog tie the big ones, running a line from their gills to around the tail so that they couldn't trash the boat. (Oh, and this was AFTER having shot them, stabbed their gills and bleeding them out. We've had them "wake up" after a couple hours and go beserk. Crazy fish....

Sorry in advance for the hi-jack.

[Dmitchell]

Saw about a 10 lb halibut just about 2 hours ago, it was cool sitting on the bottom about 2' from a nice big King Crab!

We see them from time to time diving. Probably the biggest one I've seen was 150lbs. I have a buddy who saw one that he swears was in the 300lb range.

I've never shot one, Not sure what the ride would be but much more than 25lbs and you better be ready. They do shoot them out of California quite a bit.

Here's my then 11 y/o with a 95lb fish he caught and a few others from that day.

[Tom Nic]

Nice pics Dave! I was wondering if you'd seen any while diving. I'm with you - don't think I'd be brave enough to spear on much over 25-30lbs. I am amazed at their strength - and that is while I am at the other end of a strong, 6' halibut rod and 80lb braided dacron. I can't imagine what it would be like to be attached to one in their element in scuba gear...

[Sounder]

We're going to need a bigger boat... er, tank.

I think I would shoot them attached to a float. Do it like the boys do who take down the big ones... they shoot it with a spear attached to a set of floats.

Wow. I love halibut - SO delicious!!


Dave - if I flew to your neighborhood, could we catch king crab on scuba and eat it that night? If you say yes, I'm booking a ticket.

[H20doctor]

I couldn't imagine shooting such a large fish and then being pulled away with a great force. You would really have to be on your game for halibut. I have heard that some large sport spearfishing they keep the line on deck and that way when you do shoot the Big one the boat pulls it in. And yes fresh halibut is yummy .

[pensacoladiver]

http://spearboard.com/

This site has some great info and stories about some of the extreme ends of spear fishing. There is currently a thread about making your own float system using a boogie board. Some have had their fish pull the boogie board completely underwater and not seen again. Thats a powerful fish.

For the big ones, they use a reel attached to some sort of float system that detaches from the gun once the fish is shot (at least the smart ones do). Some folks actually go in for a kill with the knife no matter what size the fish.

[Dmitchell]

Dave - if I flew to your neighborhood, could we catch king crab on scuba and eat it that night? If you say yes, I'm booking a ticket.

The Answer is - Maybe, I'll know later this month.

The research boat is out right now doing the annual survey. If the numbers are good, we will be allowed to take King Crab this year. If not then we are closed for the 3rd straight year.

If we get a season, they allocate something like 3/4 of the catch to the summer season (boaters) when the crab are at 400' then the other 1/4 to the winter (divers, hardcore boaters) when they can be as shallow as 5' but usually 80ish feet.

It's really interesting, Right now the crab are wrapping up spawning and are shallow. If there is a season it starts July 1. The Crab know this I'm certain cause they are gone by then!

[Dmitchell]

As far as Halibut size goes, I honestly thought twice about keeping that big one. If it hadn't been my kids biggest fish ever, it would have gone back. The big one's are the breeders and they need to stay! I prefer to keep the 20-40lb fish, they taste better anyway!

[CaptnJack]

http://spearboard.com/

This site has some great info and stories about some of the extreme ends of spear fishing. There is currently a thread about making your own float system using a boogie board. Some have had their fish pull the boogie board completely underwater and not seen again. Thats a powerful fish.

For the big ones, they use a reel attached to some sort of float system that detaches from the gun once the fish is shot (at least the smart ones do). Some folks actually go in for a kill with the knife no matter what size the fish.

The adept ones free shaft. I have no idea what it would take to stone a halibut. (stone = brain shot) I do know that its not that hard to bleed out a 20lb salmon with a pole spear, only having a 2 chambered heart helps. It still takes awhile and its kinda sad to watch them go even if they are spawned out and dying anyway.

[Dmitchell]

It takes alot! Trust me! They don't like to die. Salmon a smack to the head and they are done not so with Halibut.

[CaptnJack]

It takes alot! Trust me! They don't like to die. Salmon a smack to the head and they are done not so with Halibut.

Try a Javelin

[Mattleycrue76]

Hm this sounds like an answer to the old question: Why would anyone need a glock that can be fired underwater?

[pensacoladiver]

http://spearboard.com/

This site has some great info and stories about some of the extreme ends of spear fishing. There is currently a thread about making your own float system using a boogie board. Some have had their fish pull the boogie board completely underwater and not seen again. Thats a powerful fish.

For the big ones, they use a reel attached to some sort of float system that detaches from the gun once the fish is shot (at least the smart ones do). Some folks actually go in for a kill with the knife no matter what size the fish.

The adept ones free shaft. I have no idea what it would take to stone a halibut. (stone = brain shot) I do know that its not that hard to bleed out a 20lb salmon with a pole spear, only having a 2 chambered heart helps. It still takes awhile and its kinda sad to watch them go even if they are spawned out and dying anyway.

I'll have to agree with you there. Spearfishing is up close and personal. Sometimes when I don't get the golden "kill shot" and they squirm around for a while while I get them under control, it is a bittersweet moment.

Thank God by the time I get them in the deep fryer, that moment is passed though.

[no excuses]

when I lived in New Orleans I would go spear fishing on the rigs and several of the people I went with had been taken for a ride from a big fish, and they all knew someone who did not make it back. I never tied my gun off to my BC, figured a new gun would be cheap to replace if needed. My biggest fish was around a 30# redfish (yummy) biggest off the OR coast was a 20-25# ling years ago.

[Scuba Jon]

We had a guy at one of our past dive club meetings a few years give us a presentation (and sales pitch) on diving at some fishing resort in Alaska. He talked about going down 150 feet and shooting a 175 pound halibut. However, he was using a spear with a 12ga shotgun shell on the end (bangstick) and a liftbag to get them back to the surface. Even this way it sounded pretty intense especially at that depth.

I do not believe I have ever knowingly seen a halibut. I always figures if I did see one and had a speargun I probably would not shoot it if it were anything over 25 pounds. Their muscle to body weight ratio is pretty high. They make lingcod look pretty tame.

Randy

[ArcticDiver]

As far as Halibut size goes, I honestly thought twice about keeping that big one. If it hadn't been my kids biggest fish ever, it would have gone back. The big one's are the breeders and they need to stay! I prefer to keep the 20-40lb fish, they taste better anyway!

Yep! Fully agree, at least for those in my area, Cook Inlet and off Valdez.