Monster Halibut

[TongassFisher]

This picture is hanging in the federal building here in Juneau Alaska. The caption by the pic says 515lbs, not sure how accurate that is but either way it's a monster! I believe it was commercially caught.



Thought I would share!


Trev

[Keta]

Bummer, I hate to see the large hens killed.

[Alto Mare]

Bummer, I hate to see the large hens killed.

X2...

[Bill B]

Crap....I may never swim in Alaskan waters again.....but then I have never swam there....just sayin'......Bill

[Keta]

Winter diving in SE Alaska was great.

[David Hall]

Had to be commercial, otherwise it would have been released.  Great photo, that's a barn door for sure.

[foakes]

From my experience, the best eating Butts are 25-35 pounds.

Most knowledgeable anglers know that nearly any Halibut over 100 pounds is a female.

So they are released to breed.

I have read that Halibut live up to 55 years.

Gary, Ted, and Lee can correct this, if I am off base.

They can breed a lot of offspring if allowed to...

Great texture and good tasting -- one of my favorites.

Best,

Fred

[Keta]

Most knowledgeable anglers know that nearly any Halibut over 100 pounds is a female.

Most Pacific halibut over 60# are female, the big girls produce far more eggs than the 100# ones.

[Putte]

This one is caught by a local fisherman at "my" paradise island, i´m not really shure about the size and weight, but it looks really BIG !
And i agree with you all, hate to see theese beautiful ladies killed... 

[gstours]

Wow thats a big monster, I can only feel the burning thumb and dwindling line racing across the spool!  Then theres the aching back and rubbery arms!
  Unfortunatly these are becoming more rare.  Yes we should release them,  but the charters target them?  It can cause ill feelings.
These fish move into shallower water to feed and breed,  Then migrate out to the safety zone of big water.
   The larger fish lay waay more eggs, and are more valuable to this cause.  Its a controversial fisherman issue.   This site may educate many that view this.   In this America we grew up thinking bigger is better.   ie (big wall)?

[Dominick]

This one is caught by a local fisherman at "my" paradise island, i´m not really shure about the size and weight, but it looks really BIG !
And i agree with you all, hate to see theese beautiful ladies killed... 

If you look at the lady on the right she looks to be 6' tall and around 300lbs.  That halibut is bigger than her.  That is some fish.  We are hurting our future by taking those big fish.  Dominick

[oc1]

length:weight chart
http://www.iphc.int/publications/bulletins/lenwtimp.pdf

Fishery managers only get one chance to prevent a population crash but they ALWAYS miss it.  I can't think of a single case where they acted soon enough, even when everyone knew that a population was being overfished.  What they call "rebuilding" stocks is a long slow process and never gets the population back to where it originally was.
-steve

[gstours]

Another quick question?  Why is it that the halibut pictures seem to get the most conservative minded comments ,when most of all species of fish(ans mammals) the largest are what the fisher is after?
   I never see this attitude with tuna, marlin, sails, tarpon, cats, salmon, etc?  Nor monster deer and elk?   Just wonderin?

[David Hall]

Another quick question?  Why is it that the halibut pictures seem to get the most conservative minded comments ,when most of all species of fish(ans mammals) the largest are what the fisher is after?
   I never see this attitude with tuna, marlin, sails, tarpon, cats, salmon, etc?  Nor monster deer and elk?   Just wonderin?

I can only speak for myself but perhaps others share the same opinion.  When it comes to giant halibut targeting to catch is one thing, these massive females would be an amazing experience, perhaps even a once in a lifetime for those of us that don't get the opportunity to fish for them often.  That being said I would never want to kill one, firstly I believe the smaller ones are better eating.  Secondly that one massive hen will add 10x more "stock" to the fishery than the average size will.  I a, of the same mind when it comes to the larger specimens of other species except tuna.  I have only fished Marlin once on a small charter boat.  We managed a hookup and the angler landed a beauty over ten feet and 400+ pounds, the captain gave the option to the angler, kill it or release it.  I was all for releasing the fish, pictures had been taken and it was otherwise unhurt.
The angler however was adamant about keeping the fish and so it was. 
  When it comes to deer species, we target males the bigger the better which do not have the same impact on breeding stocks as large female fish have on their species. 
  That being said I do not consider myself a trophy hunter, I typically do not target trophy size game, if circumstances allow a trophy I will take the shot, but Like giant fish, giant deer do not taste nearly as good as the smaller younger deer do.
 

[Keta]

Large YFT are close to the end of their lives so it is not a big deal, marlin should not be killed as well as large lingcod, the big lings are all female too.

I am on the board of directors of OCEAN and do what I can to help conserve fish stocks, especially yelloweye.  In the last year I personally gave away 50+ $60 Seaqualizer barotrauma releases and 75 Shelton SFD releases.  Two weeks ago OCEAN gave away 190 Seaqualizers and many of the Shelton SFD's.

http://oceaned.org/




http://seaqualizer.com/



http://www.sheltonproducts.com/SFD.html