i11s California Halibut in Oregon

had a really great day on my i11s, came home with a 43", 37# California Halibut caught on medium spinning gear (I was jigging for 5# Lingcod but also hoping I might find a somewhat smaller cali-but).

Hobie guys should like this pic:



video link:

https://youtu.be/K7hrBfiBuVM

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2019 Outback360 'Fish Retriever'
2016 i11s 'Go Cougs!'
2012 Oasis and 2012 PA12 (moved on but not forgotten...)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing and congrats on a great catch!

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Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass

Way to go Roger!

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

thanks guys, my i11s is turning out to be a very 'fishy' boat or is it the old V2 Mirage drive I am using...

...there is a strange connection to Hobie fishing guru Morgan Promnitz that might be helping me- I am trying to sell the GT drive that came with my i11s to make space for a MD180 drive, so I recently switched back to my old faithful V2 drive that came with the 2012 PA12 that I bought from a great Oregon (and deeply missed) kayak fisherman named Ron Sauber. That PA12 and V2 drive were used, very successfully I might add, by Morgan in the Hobie Outdoor Adventures show filmed here in Oregon (Coast-to-Coast HOA 13-04).

so the way I see it, being used by great kayak fishermen like Morgan and Ron might have imparted a bit of good fishing karma on that dependable old V2 drive...cheers, roger

standing up on an i11s (anchored in 4' of water) trying to lift an almost 40# halibut...

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2019 Outback360 'Fish Retriever'
2016 i11s 'Go Cougs!'
2012 Oasis and 2012 PA12 (moved on but not forgotten...)

Nice fish.....that must have been a nice fight, or are Cali halibut like lifting an old boot off the bottom.

this is the only halibut that I have ever hooked. totally different from big shiny chinook that I have caught (two of mine have been over 30# but that was from PB), in April I caught and released about a 15# cabby in the ocean from my Oasis on a MH trolling rod/reel and that was definitely similar but this halibut was much stronger and it want to go back down to the bottom really bad...getting this beast on light gear and 20# leader was amazing fun.

early on I concluded the leader was fine (I had a couple snags earlier that could have nicked it) so my biggest concern was the rod, I knew that I was pushing it right to the limit and that a jagged graphite fracture and 30# braid probably means a sad pedal back to the car. That said, being a Materials Scientist, I know a bit about IM7 graphite blanks/rods, if they are going to fail it is usually early in their life due to a defect, get them broken in and stressed a few times without failure and they are really tough, proved that here for sure. cheers, roger

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2019 Outback360 'Fish Retriever'
2016 i11s 'Go Cougs!'
2012 Oasis and 2012 PA12 (moved on but not forgotten...)