Fishing for Halibut (Halibut)

 

The same applies here as with king fishing:

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If you don't know your way around and don't have your own boat, a guide service should be booked. There are plenty of offers that can either be posted in the supermarket or booked directly in the visitor center. In any case, you will find enough sources online - you just have to search a bit. Depending on the guide service, it's not exactly cheap either - up to 400 USD per person are charged, with often 6 or more anglers on board.

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In any case, fishing for halibut is done from the boat and, if a guide service is booked, the guide service will of course also provide the fishing equipment and bait. Unfortunately, you cannot influence the weather. From Ninilchik or Homer on the "Gulf of Alaska" with a lot of horsepower, this is where things really get going.

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The fishing itself is a real experience and I think every Alaskan angler should definitely try it once, although at the time once was enough for me. I was fascinated by this type of fishing with very (very!) heavy gear on my first trip in 1997. Anyone who has ever fished for cod in the Baltic or North Sea at a water depth of 20-40 meters and with a pirk of 100-300g thinks they know what "heavy" fishing is. Here you have up to 80 meters of water, a drift to wave off and a weight of up to over 2.5 kg on the natural bait leader. This natural bait is often a cod head, which one would like to catch and eat in our country. Fishing is done with strong boat rods and right-handed multiplier reels. I can only say: a real experience! As already mentioned, the bait used is scraps of fish, whole herring or even large cod heads.

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We had an aluminum flat boat in 1997 with no cabin and were about 2 hours away from any country. It was stormy, it was raining badly and it was freezing cold - in one word: it was just "great".

But all the effort and suffering is over when the first bites or even catches appear. You're suddenly wide awake, the adrenaline is somewhere in the tips of your hair; You no longer feel the rain, wind and cold and the rod becomes as light as a feather. At that time we were lucky enough to boot two large halibut after several smaller specimens. One weighed 120 lbs, the other 100 lbs.

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It is of course clear that my catch . . . . the smaller was.