Thumper and the Halibut

Sounds like a new rock group, doesn't it?  Well, it might be a fun name, but instead, Beth and Ted's boat, Thumper, took us out into the waters to catch fish.  At 25 feet, it is the perfect boat for 4 people, and with a flushie toilet, a stove, even a bed, it has all the amenities of home. Nice, nice way to go fishing!

After Ted successfully found otters and whales, he set out to find halibut and salmon.

We first had to get used to the fishing gear.  The hooks were the size of our palm, and he weights weighed eight or ten pounds and are huge!

We threw the line off the side and let it go until it hit bottom.

It took us awhile, but suddenly I had something on my line.  Since the line was 150 feet down, it took some time to reel it up . . . and it was like reeling a dead weight.  Suddenly, we saw a flash of white, which I now know is the sure sign of halibut, and the fish started fighting.  We managed to bring it in, and it was a pretty average sized fish.  I cannot imagine what bringing in one that weighs over 50 pounds must be like.  Before long we had 7!  We never did catch the eighth, though we had plenty of bites - they just never took the hook.  We also threw back several smaller ones.

We started trolling as we were coming in, and when Ted pulled the lines in, we were surprised to find two rock fish on them (Don is holding them in the picture).  So we had 7 halibut and 2 rock fish - not a bad haul.  The halibut translated into 40 pounds of fillets, which should do us for awhile!

Despite the rain, it was an awesome day of fishing!