Batmans Brief!! - From June 15th...

From the pen of Capt David Noble - AKA Batman - world renowned fishing guide and tale spinner! June 15 www.batmansbriefs.wordpress.com I fished with Greg, one of the new guides today. Even though there are a few guests we are still training some of the new guides. We got to leave the dock a little before 0700 and when we reached the mouth of Yes Bay we turned north heading up to the Bell Arm of the Behm Canal. Little bit of a bumpy ride but as soon as we got into Hassler Pass the water flattened out and we had an easier ride up into an area we call the OK Corral. It is called that because a few years ago one of the guests (accidentally) shot one the guides while trying to subdue a halibut. We pulled into a weed line about an hour and a half before the tide fell to slack. There was some debris floating around because of the strong negative low tides but we managed to avoid the lumber and some of the bull kelp as we dropped our lines down. Both of us were fishing with cut bait. I was working the trolling motor while Greg was pounding the bottom with his bait every few seconds. I was trying to keep my bait about 3 or 4 feet off the bottom. Greg was up first, he reeled in a one eyed flounder. As it turns out he caught the same flounder the day before and everyone gave him so much crap about throwing fish back in we figured it was karma that it go into the well today. I am still keeping the boat pretty much in the same area while Greg re-baits and drops his rig back down. Greg is on again! This time a bigger fish is ripping out a little drag. Even though I have reeled in my line and have the harpoon ready just in case, we decide to use the gaff on what turns out to be a close to 30 pound halibut. I clobber the poor bugger right between the eyes a few times to subdue it (no firearms allowed anymore, lodge policy) before we bring it into the boat. Mission accomplished, we got the first one in the boat in less than an hour of working the baits. I let my baits back down after putting the boat back on the spot and Greg gets his reset and starts pounding the bottom again. We put another flounder in the boat after a few minutes. Greg's bait gets hammered by something VERY large and he justs hangs on while the drag peels out! As soon as he gets a chance he starts to take in line a little bit at a time. He tries pulling the rod up all the way to reel back down but the fish is so big he can only pull up about half way before the rod bends so much he can't get any more leverage. This is one BIG BASTARD of a halibut. I reel my line in quick as I can and start to set up the harpoon and get the shark hooks ready. The halibut doesn't like the pressure change as Greg gets him about 1/3 of the way up off the bottom and starts making a run for it's life! Rip, RRIIIPPPPPP, Errripppp, RIP the halibut peels line off the reel and it is heading under the boat! I start the head for the trolling motor to get a better angle when Greg yells, CRAP!!!! I look over and the line is slack. We are very disappointed that the big butt got away. When Greg reeled in his line we saw that the leader had broken where it had been tied to the bottom of the lead weight. Greg mused for a while about how to fix the rig to avoid having the same problem in the future. We both put our baits back down and by this time the tide is completely slack. I am able to stand up and work my baits a little better than when I have to keep boat in the same area with the motor. Up and down, feeling the changes in the bottom with the one pound ball I am using as a weight. I feel a little change in the bottom, from soft to hard, and then it feels like something is moving the rig around... I get ready to set the hook and pull straight up on the rod tip and then grab the handle to crank back down as I slowly lower the rod tip, keeping pressure on the fish that has felt the bite of my hook! Ripp, rrripppp eerrrrrrrrrr, the drag starts to go out a bit as I just hang onto the rod, letting the fish take what line it can. As the fish tires a bit I start to take in line as best I can. Damn! This feels like a BIG fish!! I raise the rod tip and reel back down, up and down up and down... My back is starting to ache, it is like reeling up a barn door. My left arm is pooping out so I raise the rod with my right hand and then grab it with my left so I can reel back down with my right hand. Greg is ready with the harpoon and shark hooks. I am still cranking, up and down, up and down, the ups seem to take much longer than the downs. "There it is," shouts Greg. I see it a few feet away from the boat and think to myself it doesn't look like a barn door size butt? Greg is ready with the harpoon and as I go to lay the halibut out flat I see that it doesn't have the hook in it's mouth at all, I have snitched this flat fish close to his dorsal fin on the side!! No wonder it came up so hard! Greg slammed the harpoon into the butt just below its gill and it just laid there until we stuck the gaff in it, laid it on the gunnel whilst I subdued it some more with the club. Two butts in the well before 1000 hours, not bad. The king salmon run has just barely started and we trolled around looking for kings the rest of the day without much success. We got some rockfish while trolling but the rest of the day was pretty flat. Some of the guides who had guests got one king in their boat but there were no doubles. Stay tuned for more about the big bastard halibut as he rears his ugly head in the next Batman's Brief. Batman out!