Spaced Invader sent me this picture today: "Got 2 off the bar with my dad.
He was pumped!!Anyways not much to get excited about, but some dinner to be had." Those look pretty good to me. I'm kinda excited just looking at the picture. Your dad is right to be pumped. There were quite few other halibut caught today, from the bar back to Hog. Not too many big ones (although Mike Mack's pair were in the teens) with the vast majority running 7 to 10 pounds or so. Most fish on live bait with a few jig fish thrown in. Speaking of jig fish....
....Captain of Shrimp Boat and pretty good guy Alec Bennett caught this 30 pound halibut on the bar on a Bigfoot Tube Jig about 7:00PM tonight. He caught it within 100 feet of where I jigged up a 23" halibut an hour before. I guess I should have used mine for live bait, because this one could have eaten it. Nice job, Alec. Catching a 30+ pound halibut in Tomales Bay is a rarity, at least during most of my lifetime. I've had, let's see..... two halibut 30+ pounds in the boat, ever. It seems like there's a few around lately. Maybe I have a shot at one... Yeah, I know, probably not.
What I like about this report is that I get to share my opinions and guestimates about stuff. I mentioned that the 37 pound halibut had a scar that looked to like it was inflicted by a gaff or spear. In my opinion, it likely was. Can I prove it? Nope. It could have been something else entirely that caused the damage. Same for the other halibut I saw this year with scars (a total of four). The wounds looked anthropomorphic in origin to me. but human stuff is what I know best (I'm a human). I look for what I think I recognize. I don't know what could make scars like that, but I bet there's a bunch of stuff that ain't human that could. Halibut live in the world of tooth and claw, as Jack London described it. It does seem like the halibut are running smaller, on average, which also concerns me, but that's subjective, not empirical evidence. So, throw out my observations. The CDFW is already working on new regulations for halibut. We'll see what their evidence tells them to do.
Speaking of new regulations, rockfish gets interesting next year. I'll post a link to the proposed new regulations soon, but know that next year shallow fishing will be limited more than the deep fishing you haven't been haven't been able to do for 20 years. Yay?
Willy, what on earth do you need a 23" halibut for? In the past month you've caught ~500lbs of bluefin, multiple limits of halibut, and now a barely-legal 23" fish that probably has never had a chance to reproduce.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with some of the previous comments about excess take. With the way some of you regulars catch fish up there, I'm not surprised the halibut numbers in Tomales are dwindling.
The fish was hooked deep and may or may not have survived. The larger halibut the following evening was hooked for an easy release and was. And after a slow start and middle of the halibut catching season it's hard to sit it out when the weather is good and the fish are finally here and biting at the end.
DeleteHarvest-shaming should not be a thing. Haven't you ever read "McElligot's Pool"? The ocean is a vast engine, a virtual mass production line of food for people. 1 Timothy 4:4
ReplyDeleteHarvest Shaming, great term Harvest Time.
ReplyDeleteKnow of a few that don’t report their catches because of this phenomenon. DFG sets regulations and I follow them. To be honest those 23” fish taste the best IMO.
Nice Fish!
I like the term “Harvest Shaming” Harvest Time.
ReplyDeleteKnow a few folks that don’t post or report because of this phenomenon. I follow DFW regulations and to be honest a 23” fish eats better than the big one.
Nice Fish!
Sometimes the appropriate comment is "nice fish!" and other times it is "it'll eat good!"
ReplyDelete