Got some salmon and halibut

Okanagan · August 18, 2016, 11:45:59 AM

I got invited to fish saltwater and we got quite a bit of fish: salmon, halibut, ling cod, red snapper, and I managed to get 20 minutes of very unserious-salmon-fisherman time catching black rock fish with a light spin rod from a kelp bed. The black rock fish look like freshwater bass, are black to dark grey in color, maniacally aggressive biters and fighters and are delicious, especially big 4-6 pound ones like we got.

Salmon in fish box, 22 lb. Chinook is the bigger one to the left and the rest in the photo are Coho.

My partner caught a 17 lb. Coho, which is very big for that kind of salmon. They tend to get big in late summer on the BC coast and I got a 16 pounder. My previous all time best was 13 lbs.

Two sides of a 45 lb. halibut below.

A HUGE ling cod I released close to 60 lbs. one way or another. There is no size reference but the fish in the water is between 4 1/2 and 5 feet long. Mouth big enough to take my head in and full of mean teeth. The big old ones are female and reproduce gazillions of eggs, and with the ling cod numbers declining, we usually release the biggest of them though it is legal to keep. I kept a 17 lb. one and don't think I got a pic of it. Delicious, some like it better than halibut.

Red snapper (also called yellow eye), salmon and a smallish black rock fish below that hit a trolled salmon hoochie.

Here's a hook for ya, Jim.

Dave · August 18, 2016, 01:34:43 PM

Wow!!! Great stuff. Sounds like one heck of a good time.

pitw · August 18, 2016, 07:30:05 PM

Man tat is some serious fishing. Glad you took us along sort of.

Okanagan · August 18, 2016, 08:04:14 PM

That represents one short evening plus two loonnngg days on the water, but a lot of meat in the freezer.

I think it would be a hoot to fish with Dante and Dave on one of these trips.

It is a poor year for salmon generally so we were very fortunate. The Fraser River where I normally fish every summer is closed tight and fisheries says it will stay that way for this season's salmon runs. There is a lady who runs a coffee and lure shop on the west side of Vancouver Island I got to know on a trip over there one time. I trust her more than the guide services as to whether fishing is good. She waved me off three weeks ago, said it was not worth coming over. This afternoon when I phoned she said that fishing is generally poor but that some salmon have moved in right on the shore in little coves too small between jagged rock headlands for trollers to fish well. Ideal for my kayak... if I can get re-packed and over some soreness, I may head over there tomorrow with my yak.

Hawks Feather · August 18, 2016, 08:44:39 PM

Great looking catch, but halibut are just one strange looking fish.

Jerry

FinsnFur · August 18, 2016, 09:49:21 PM

Wow that hook!

Okanagan · August 19, 2016, 10:06:52 AM

Quote from: Okanagan on August 18, 2016, 08:04:14 PM
I think it would be a hoot to fish with Dante and Dave on one of these trips.

It would be fun to fish with anyone from Fins and Fur and I apologize for leaving others out. My thinking was that at Dante's age and with his enthusiasm he would enjoy it more than the rest of us more jaded and faded with experience. He and Dog Dropper would have a ball with this kind of fishing.

Okanagan · August 19, 2016, 10:25:47 AM

Quote from: Hawks Feather on August 18, 2016, 08:44:39 PM
Great looking catch, but halibut are just one strange looking fish.

Jerry

You can say that again! For an inlander like me, the first halibut I ever saw looked like a space monster. Both eyes are on the top/dark side of his body, no eyes on the bottom. They rapidly change the mottled color to match whatever bottom they are on, from an even fine grained sand pattern to great blotches of almost black against Army green. They swim horizontally flat in the water with both eyes up, and spend a lot of time lying on the bottom, often covered with sand that they flip up over themselves with their side fins and a bit of body wiggle. I flat out LOVED to skin dive for them and shoot them with a spear gun, years ago.

They are delicious and have just enough flat frame of bones to hold huge slabs of boneless meat. Halibut cheeks are the best, a round chunk of boneless slightly firmer meat. On this 45 pound one a cheek would be nearly three inches across and an inch and a half thick. The meat is pure white when cooked and slightly firmer than average white meat fish, and it takes flavors well if you want to put lemon, spices, wine etc. and bake it or grill it. They grow to over 400 lbs. but most people say the best ones to eat are smaller, up to maybe 60 lbs. We kept 4 between us, from 14 lbs. to this 45. My biggest was 34 the other day. My all time biggest was I think 53 lbs.

Hawks Feather · August 19, 2016, 01:59:56 PM

I am not the biggest fish eater, but that sure sounds good right now.

Jerry

Dave · August 19, 2016, 04:17:06 PM

Quote from: Okanagan on August 18, 2016, 08:04:14 PM
I think it would be a hoot to fish with Dante and Dave on one of these trips.

Yeah Dante would love to fish one of those trips - almost as much as his dad!

That ling cod has some meat on her, huh! She's thick right out to the tail.
Hopefully you get out after those salmon in the kayak.

Okanagan · August 20, 2016, 12:17:32 PM

FWIW a couple of pics of ling cod. I had heard of them but never seen one till we moved to the coast and fished. These pics from Wikipedia. Hard to guess fish weight from pics but the one the guy is arm-lengthing looks like 10- 12 lbs. They come in a variety of colors with shades of brown, grey with green and turquoise shades sometimes but the brownish mottled like the one in the pic is classic.

FinsnFur · August 20, 2016, 11:01:40 PM

Wow that thing looks like it could eat a side of beef

And what the ??...are those arms? Fish arms?