On the last day of halibut season my fellow Heroes on the Water kayak fishers and I set out thru the breaking waves of Makah Bay, Washington in search for a fish to cross our paths. I dropped my line and thought I felt a snag, when I yanked at my line and it vibrated back I knew I had hooked a fish.
I was lightly geared. I had literally bought most of my gear a few days before. I was fishing with a Shimano rod and reel, 35-pound braided line and a trout as my lure. When I first hooked the fish I thought I had snagged the bottom and retying my lures in the swells was making me sea sick so my first thought was “Oh no I don’t want to have to tie another lure.”
As this was my first halibut season I had no idea what to expect. I grabbed my rod with both hands and reeled the fish up to 60 feet from the 120 feet I was fishing in and she dove right back down. With each spin of my reel I prayed that my rod and line wouldn’t break.
Slowly but surely I reeled it back up next to the boat and I saw how big it was. I grabbed my radio and asked my friend Rich Fargo for help and once again the fish dove back down to 120 feet.
I tightened the drag and slowly reeled it back. When the fish surfaced next to my kayak I shouted to my friend Rich Fargo: “Where do I harpoon it?” He replied, “Anywhere man, just get it anywhere!”
Rich just happens to own Coastal Waters Adventures, a kayak guide service, so it was perfect that he was so close by. My harpoon pierced the fish right behind the gills on her belly. As I shouted, “I got it!” the halibut went crazy and dove back down pulling the rope with the buoy.
Between my drag on my rod set all the way and the rope of the buoy tangled with my harpoon I flipped right out of my kayak and found myself below the surface with my kayak overhead. When I surfaced I asked Rich if I still had it and he reassured me that the buoy came back up.
The fish fought so hard that it ripped my rod’s tether from my kayak and sadly the rod and reel still lie at the bottom of Makah Bay. I righted my kayak and through my exhaustion I climbed back in.
The buoy continued to bob in and out of the water as I came closer. After a 20-minute fight I managed to get the fish on my stringer as John, another fellow kayaker, approached to help. He later described the image of me holding on to the stinger like someone riding a bull, the halibut flailing about.
He helped me cut and pull the gills out and shortly after he assisted in hauling the fish onto the back of my Hobie® Outback. It took some time but I peddled the five miles back to shore with the fish tail dragging behind, the nose of my yak high in the water and my safety flag more horizontal than when I set out, it had snapped in half!
When we got back to shore a handful of other guys helped get me to the marina to weigh it and back to the campsite to filet it. It was a community effort, everyone around telling stories and joking about my catch.
As I pedaled back I had hopes that I had caught a 60-pound or maybe even a 70-pound halibut. I had no idea that I’d pulled that 124-pound beast from the bottom!
My biggest fish before this was a 32-inch lingcod. My fishing career began about four years ago and I’ve never been very lucky… I’ve always loved fishing but I never dreamed of anything like this. Brad was actually my inspiration for even wanting to kayak fish. I read an article about him and told of his catch whenever I explained kayak fishing to friends. I also watched tons of videos of Richard Wark.
My wife and I bought a Mirage® Revolution and an Outback and I later bought Hobie Top Gun Brad Hole’s used Pro Angler kayak (the one he caught his big halibut in). The quality and thoughtfulness of the engineering never cease to amaze me. The kayaks are perfect for fishing and just for fun.
