Friday, May 18, 2018
No new fish pictures. A few boats tried for halibut from here, both in the way back and in the clam channel, but no fish to weigh in. There were some pretty good rockfish caught over the last week but the weather forecast for this weekend would seem to indicate that we won't be seeing any come in. The crabbing is still very slow for Dungeness. At least the surfperch still know how to bite. The gaper (horseneck) clams have tested clean of the PSP but the Health Advisory on sport-caught bivalve shellfish remains in effect.
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16 comments:
We ran to the back again yesterday and it payed off. We landed six shorties before we boxed two nice keepers around 10lbs. The wind was a bitch, and the -tide had us fishing in 3-4' of water. So I have a question for the Halibut experts out there, why do most of the Halibut we catch in the bay have bloody and split tails? A guy told me that it was because lager fish (Sharks) bite them while there being played. We only saw three other boats the whole day.
bloody split tails=shakers being landed with nets then released. shakers should always be handlined into the boat
Yeah sounds like net rash to me. Bad practice right there. In the words of abfish...... googans.
unfortunately buying a fishing license doesn’t come with common sense...
Same as buying a boat.
Common sense should be renamed to rare sense
I have no idea what you guys are talking about? How long does a Halibut take to grow 1"? I net a lot of 21" fish that have to be measured. The fish that are small, no net needed we unbutton them along side of the boat with pliers. As all you Halibut fisherman know Halibut have a lot of very sharp teeth, keep your hands out of their mouths. So any Halibut experts out there? What say you abfish? I'm talking fishing here, no need to put folks down because of where they live or imply they have a lack of good sense. Hey Willy, you've caught more flaties that most people, can you add any info on why a lot of the nice size fish have bloody split tails?
The split tails are from the net. The shape of the halibut forces the rays of its tail against the mesh of the net, splitting the tail. The law says you must have a net to land undersized fish but most nets end up harming halibut. A few companies make fine mesh, flat bottomed nets to more safely land small halibut (Promar is one), but the best bet to avoid injury is to avoid netting them in the first place. I have had some success by stretching the net tight like a tennis racket and "spatula"-ing the fish aboard. Either way will mean losing a few fish. IMHO, if I lost one while trying to lift a questionable fish into the boat, clearly it was a short. If it's obviously a keeper I prefer the gaff for flatfish.
The growth rate of halibut around legal size seems to be about 2" per year, depending on feed and water temps. According to NMFS, a 22" male halibut is about 7 years old. a female keeper is about 6. https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/spo/FishBull/994/mac.pdf
Additionally, the flattery is appreciated but by and large I surround myself with better fishermen and try to learn from them. I don't think I've caught more than most people. I just share photos better.
Thank-You Willy, this has been a learning moment for me and maybe others thanks for sharing info and photos.
Always nice when someone can share useful information without denigrating the person asking the question. Thank you Willy.
I was happily netting my short halibut until a few years ago when I found out I was doing it wrong. Now I get a big halibut with a split tail and I wonder, "have we met before?" I can't get mad at someone for doing what I did before I learned better.
Now if you could just enlighten me on how to stretch a hali say 1/4 to 3/8 inch.....
Those are called stompers
I’m sorry if I implemented a negative comment to the question about split tales... I know not everyone is not aware of cause and effects... I’m great full that other fisherman have shared their educational information about the subjects.
I hope all who reads this gains experience from the information shared. I’m not taking back my comments about fishing license and buying a boat coming with common sense... I’ve observed many instances where my life and well as Mother Nature’s were in gods hands because of licensed fishermen and boat owners!
Haha if we start listing our ignorant mistakes and screw-ups starting with my own we’ll blow up this blog
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