Author: Adam

Alaska Halibut Fishing

Big Halibut

If you are in search of some monster sized halibut to fill your freezer back home, then you must head up to Alaska to go halibut fishing.  The size and the amount of halibut that are swimming in the cold waters up north is amazing.  Most of the time, people who wake up very early for a full day of halibut fishing are back home with their limit within just a few hours.  There are just that many fish to be caught.

Fishing Deep Water For Alaskan Halibut

Most people who go after the halibut figure they need to be fishing in 300-500 feet of water.  That is actually not the case all of the time.  Many extra large 200 lb halibut are caught in just 150 feet of water.  This makes for a much more interesting fight with the fish too.  When you begin to pull up a monster halibut from five hundred feet of water, it can turn into a very boring catch which nobody really wants to be a part of.

Shooting the Halibut When they Reach the Surface

One of the most common forms of killing a large halibut is to shot it with a lead shot.  There are different types of ways to shot the halibut, but the safest and most popular way is to use what is called a bang stick.  This delivers a shot from a .22 caliber bullet which goes right through the halibuts head and sometimes can hit the brain and create an instant kill which is desired.  The large halibut can really damage the cockpit of the boat if they are brought over still alive.

Packing Halibut and Taking The Meat Home

One thing you will all want to do is bring some of your fresh caught halibut back home with you.  That is actually the most popular thing to do for all visitors who fish in Alaska.  They all want to bring home halibut.  It is even more popular than bringing home salmon these days because the value of the halibut is so much higher.  Nobody should worry at all, the towns in Alaska are well aware of the goal of the fishermen.  They are prepared to pack up and vacuum seal all of your fish within just hours of it being caught.  And once it is all processed, they will bring it back to your fishing lodge and store it in the freezers until it is time for you to take everything home.  Most people end up taking with them over 50 pounds of halibut on the airplanes.  Sometimes for people who catch a several hundred pound halibut, there will be some options to actually just ship some of the meat back to your home state.

Great Salmon Fishing Is Expected in 2011 for California and Oregon

2011 Salmon Fishing Outlook:

It still is quite early, but the preliminary numbers on the salmon runs are getting everyone excited from Washington and Oregon down to California.  It looks like the salmon this year are finally coming back in big amounts.  The salmon counts have been exponentially larger compared to the last five years and this is definitely reason to get excited about the possible salmon fishing coming up soon.

The local departments of Fish and Game have not made any direct announcements concerning the commercial and sport salmon fishing seasons yet, but they are expected to start talking about the exact numbers they are seeing within the coming weeks.  As for locals who are more anxious than normal to hear the news, well, they too are excited.

For the past several years, the numbers of Pacific salmon has gone down to levels not seen before.  This had  many people concerned and worried that there would be some eventual never ending shut down of the salmon season.  But the fish and game people have somehow found a way to slow the fishing and now it is looking like the seasons might come back once again.

There have been tremendous efforts to farm raise and hatchery raise salmon and then to turn them into the rivers, however this does not always end up benefiting the fisherman or the fish and it is difficult to measure any of this success quickly and accurately.   In just a little while longer, everyone will have a much more clear view on the salmon fishing season for 2011.

How to Go Surf Fishing

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No Fishing Pole Needed to Surf Fish Anymore

This method of surf fishing has been used successfully for several hundreds of years.  The main difference with this and with trolling is that you don’t need to have a boat, and you can actually get closer to shore if you like.  It is also very easy to control the speed of the lures that you are fishing with using these methods and techniques.  Often, you will hook up multiple fish at the same time.