Halibut are a one way fish !
In the Sixties When I was younger Working at the Sandspit Coastguard station in the Queen Charlotte Islands , We used to go out fishing for barn door sized halibut .These monsters could and would tow a 12 foot boat all around skinkettle bay with ease . Some times you would hook up one so large that bringing it in was a real chore . You could finally get it up to the boat and then you were stuck . In no way would you consider bringing that monster over the side of a 12 foot boat . Some of the locals would just shoot the big ones several times with a 22 pistol and tow them back to the dock , hardly sporting . Mostly we just used to cut the big ones loose .
I really enjoy eating Halibut , they are one of my favourite fish . A single large fish can supply for your freezer for a whole year .
Halibut make some of the best fish & chips you have ever eaten . The fish is mostly meat , compared to its size very little is wasted . We used the guts for crab and shrimp bait , simmered the head and tail for making fish stock and ate the rest .
One day My Halibut fishing changed forever . I had an hour to kill while I was waiting for the barge back to Morsbey Island . I wandered down to the dock to check what the boys were catching . I struck up a conversation with an old Haida gentleman from Skidegate , the local Native village . He was getting out of a 12ft boat with one of the largest Halibut I had ever seen .
Colour me impressed ! I was flabbergasted . As I helped him drag the heavy fish up the ramp onto the dock and into a wheelbarrow . I asked him how in the Heck did he manage to get that huge thing in the boat ?
He looked at me and said , Halibut are a one way fish . I waited for more . He walked away , heading over to sell it to Canada fish packers . I caught up and said I don?t quite understand , what does it mean , Halibut are a one way fish ? He chuckled and said , ok I was just funning with ya , yanking your chain a little , you know the wise old Indian thing . Seeing as how you helped me I?ll tell you the secret , Halibut are bottom dwellers , If you horse on them from above they have that big flat shape , the angle of the line and the current all working for them . You have nothing working for you . Even If you get them to the boat you can?t bring them in without swamping . Next time you catch a big one , keep the line tight and head for the beach . Them big fish cant turn sideways very easy . It is really easy to just reel them right onto the beach , their profile is now working against them and for You . They can?t turn sideways easily and are forced to swim right at you . Standing in the shallow water you can now easily gaff them and flop them into the boat .
I learned two valuable lessons that day , lesson one.... and the most important is , listen to your elders , you just might learn something if you are having problems stop. Think outside the box there may be a simpler better way .
lesson two.... Halibut are a one way fish .

Anybody else learn a lesson that totally changed the way you fish .