July 16th. 2012: Halibut Fishing, A Half Day Trip On Cooks Inlet

July 16^th. 2012: Halibut Fishing, A Half Day Trip On Cooks Inlet

Everyone who has been halibut fishing has told me the same story that the hardest part of fishing halibut is winding up the three pound weight. They have also said that the halibut doesn’t fight much and of course they all rave about the mild tasting fillets.

So of course I would book a trip aboard a charter and I decided I would just do a one half day trip. Arriving early, at 5:30 am, I parked the truck and checked in to the boat. It was a nice looking ship and the tackle and crew were all ready to take us out. The Spirit had a crew of three and was clean, large, and looked well maintained so I felt good about going out in Cook’s Inlet.

Leaving port we headed west and soon passed a sea otter. Of course I forgot the binoculars, so we next passed rafts of birds that were all new to me and I wasn’t able to identify them. Further out, we all ran outside the cabin as the captain announced that a whale was sighted. Looking in front of the bow we all saw it spout, before it dove and disappeared from sight. It was my first whale and really made my day!

Arriving at the fishing waypoint the Captain came down and demonstrated the day’s technique of halibut fishing. He handed the pole to one of the other clients and soon the man landed the largest halibut of the day. I waited with my pole, and waited, and waited as halibut was on the menu for tonight.

Feeling a bite I wound up without jerking the pole as we were using circle hooks, and the fish really hook themselves. It felt like a fish but really small and soon begin the arduous task of winding up 230 feet of line with a three pound lead ingot and small fish attached. It turned out to be a grey cod and so the mate rebaited my hook and I dropped the rig to the bottom.

More bites and more small fish which seemed to plague everyone’s poles. Another fisherman hooked a large skate and the crew helped the fisherman bring in and release the large delta shaped fish. The captain dropped a package of chum, wrapped in paper towels, using another one of the poles and soon the halibut started hitting.

I caught my first halibut, a fifteen pound chicken and tagged it so dinner was assured. It was pretty much the same size as everyone was catching. Again the mate put a new herring piece on my hook. I lost several smaller fish, before I finally caught my second halibut of the day.

It was a mirror image of the first and so I was done fishing. Getting my camera I returned to the deck and watched others finish their limits.  A father and son from Arizona were using a jigging pole and it looked to me as they were having a good time as the fish actually fought all the way in to the boat. Not having a three pound weight seemed to make all the difference.

Soon we were all limited and returning to Homer, about ten am. The deck hand washed off the halibut before the first mate started to clean the fish. He must have worked in a fish processing plant as I have never seen anyone fillet fish so fast, and I have cleaned a lot myself!

By the time we reached Homer the fish had all been filleted and bagged. As we stepped off the ship we were handed our bag of fillets, with the attached colored tag. It was a much better system then used in Texas where the mate inscribes you initials on the side of your fish.

It had been a calm boat ride and a fun morning. The clouds had cleared out and it even was sunny, one of the few pleasant days we have had here. It was a good morning and a good day of fishing aboard the Spirit. Halibut, a whale, and sea otters were all that I could have hoped for so now my biggest concern was show to grill the fish. Clear skies