Last week a friend told me the local fisherman were landing 40 lb halibut. News of local monster halibut had me intrigued and concerned.
Could I land such a fish with my small reef gun? My halibut hunting technique has been to pin them to the bottom, and grasp the spear tip on the other side before the fish got too eager.
This works for smaller fish up to 20 lb......would it work on a 40 lb monster? Could such a large fish could drown me, break my arm or pummel me before I subdued it? I am an average diver. I figured I would never see such a fish.
Never say never!
I was diving last night for Halibut when my light panned across a large tail protruding from the sand. My first thought was a big Angel Shark. They are great on the BBQ. They should always be shot in the head because they bite. I moved my light across the sand to find the shark's head and score 20 lbs of fish tacos but what I found was a huge halibut head!
My heart jumped through my throat.
I thought, Oh crap....how am I going to land this Barn Door Betty?
I floated back to the surface and assessed my options: I could:
1) shoot it now & hope the best,
2) Shoot and pin it and plan to take a beating
3) Wait for my dive buddy Tim to lend me a hand if something goes wrong.
I chose 1) shoot it now a hope the best.
I took a breath and descended on the halibut and sunk the shaft of my Rob Allen 90 in the middle of the fish. The fish took off, for a few seconds. The shooting line raced from my reel and the shaft fell out because sand jammed the flopper shut.
(Note to self: Rob Allen floppers are useless in the sand.)
A few minutes later Tim and I met up as he worked his way across the reef.
I told him about the halibut. He asked if I had seen a prosthetic leg washing around the sand. How this leg got on a reef at 20 feet is a mystery to me! The owner would notice a missing leg. Either a fisherman flipped his kayak & lost it....or a one legged guy tried body surfing.....or it popped off a dead guy.
I tried not to think about the dead guy too much.
We continued on our respective dives scanning the bottom for halibut. The water below me glowed from Tim's dive light. I took a breath and dropped to the bottom. I swam towards a large back lit rock as Tims scanned for halibut on the other side. I spotted a nice halibut on my side of the rock just as Tim rounded the corner. For a second, I entertained the thought of letting him shoot it. I pulled the trigger sank the spear home and grabbed the fish, which promptly started whacking my head with its tail. Tim watched me float over the rocks while wrestling the halibut to the surface.
Tim went home with a three pound spot fin croaker.
I went home with a filet knife,
a prosthetic leg,
......and a 16 lb halibut.
.......anyone out there missing a leg?
---------------------
The rest of the story.
The leg was lost by a war veteran named Rick Frich on week before I found it.
Rick an avid fisherman was launching his kayak to fishing the kelp. He pulled his loaded Kayak in to the surf zone. A set of waves turned the kayak side ways and flipped it as Rich tried to get on. Rick waited for the set to pass before trying to stand up. He realized that his prosthetic leg had washed away. Life guards were summoned to help him out of the water and recover his gear. The lifeguards recovered most of his fishing gear but could not find the prosthetic leg. The life guards helped Rick to his car and load his Kayak. The veterans’ administration informed Rick they could have a replacement leg for him in June of 2007. He left a notice with the La Jolla Life guards lost and found incase the prosthetic leg was found.
A week later Ser. Bender of the La Jolla Life Guards and Member of the San Diego Freedivers heard about a prosthetic leg. He found the rightfu owner through his network. Ser. Bender arranged for Rick and the me to meet at the Bay park fish house to hand off the leg.
Could I land such a fish with my small reef gun? My halibut hunting technique has been to pin them to the bottom, and grasp the spear tip on the other side before the fish got too eager.
This works for smaller fish up to 20 lb......would it work on a 40 lb monster? Could such a large fish could drown me, break my arm or pummel me before I subdued it? I am an average diver. I figured I would never see such a fish.
Never say never!
I was diving last night for Halibut when my light panned across a large tail protruding from the sand. My first thought was a big Angel Shark. They are great on the BBQ. They should always be shot in the head because they bite. I moved my light across the sand to find the shark's head and score 20 lbs of fish tacos but what I found was a huge halibut head!
My heart jumped through my throat.
I thought, Oh crap....how am I going to land this Barn Door Betty?
I floated back to the surface and assessed my options: I could:
1) shoot it now & hope the best,
2) Shoot and pin it and plan to take a beating
3) Wait for my dive buddy Tim to lend me a hand if something goes wrong.
I chose 1) shoot it now a hope the best.
I took a breath and descended on the halibut and sunk the shaft of my Rob Allen 90 in the middle of the fish. The fish took off, for a few seconds. The shooting line raced from my reel and the shaft fell out because sand jammed the flopper shut.
(Note to self: Rob Allen floppers are useless in the sand.)
A few minutes later Tim and I met up as he worked his way across the reef.
I told him about the halibut. He asked if I had seen a prosthetic leg washing around the sand. How this leg got on a reef at 20 feet is a mystery to me! The owner would notice a missing leg. Either a fisherman flipped his kayak & lost it....or a one legged guy tried body surfing.....or it popped off a dead guy.
I tried not to think about the dead guy too much.
We continued on our respective dives scanning the bottom for halibut. The water below me glowed from Tim's dive light. I took a breath and dropped to the bottom. I swam towards a large back lit rock as Tims scanned for halibut on the other side. I spotted a nice halibut on my side of the rock just as Tim rounded the corner. For a second, I entertained the thought of letting him shoot it. I pulled the trigger sank the spear home and grabbed the fish, which promptly started whacking my head with its tail. Tim watched me float over the rocks while wrestling the halibut to the surface.
Tim went home with a three pound spot fin croaker.
I went home with a filet knife,
a prosthetic leg,
......and a 16 lb halibut.
.......anyone out there missing a leg?
---------------------
The rest of the story.
The leg was lost by a war veteran named Rick Frich on week before I found it.
Rick an avid fisherman was launching his kayak to fishing the kelp. He pulled his loaded Kayak in to the surf zone. A set of waves turned the kayak side ways and flipped it as Rich tried to get on. Rick waited for the set to pass before trying to stand up. He realized that his prosthetic leg had washed away. Life guards were summoned to help him out of the water and recover his gear. The lifeguards recovered most of his fishing gear but could not find the prosthetic leg. The life guards helped Rick to his car and load his Kayak. The veterans’ administration informed Rick they could have a replacement leg for him in June of 2007. He left a notice with the La Jolla Life guards lost and found incase the prosthetic leg was found.
A week later Ser. Bender of the La Jolla Life Guards and Member of the San Diego Freedivers heard about a prosthetic leg. He found the rightfu owner through his network. Ser. Bender arranged for Rick and the me to meet at the Bay park fish house to hand off the leg.
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