First 'But, Gut 'But, Lucky 'But....

[DaKahuna]

I finally got my first Halibut last night. It was a great experience.
Approx. 34" long and about 19 lbs. Not a bad first 'But!
Taken in Laguna in only about 8 ft of water, very near shore at about 11pm, solo.

I had a lot of surf surge to deal with that made getting off a good shot very difficult. As I kept my light on Mr. Flattie, I would get surged about 4 ft back and forth with the waves, which also made the vis bad. When I finally got off a shot, I somehow misjudged which side was the gut side. OOPS! Gut Shot! As it ran off into no-vis land, I went for a little ride till he settled down. Then on the second run I thought he pulled off, but he was still there when I swam up to him. I could see my shaft, the entire shaft including the tip, laying on top of the fish!! It had pulled back out of the fish and the only thing holding it was that both barbs were wrapped in a section of gut/intestine that had pulled all the way out of the fish. I was really worried that I wasn't going to land the fish, but he just sat there waiting for me to get out my sharpened screw driver I use for a killing pick, which I promptly dropped while fumbling with my light. So all that was left was to get a good breath and go tackle the sucker! I managed to get a hand in the gills quickly and it was over, no thanks to my expertise with my gear! :D ;)
Now comes the hard part.... I live in an apartment and don't have anyplace to work on this fish. Oh well, I guess the bathtub will do!
P.S. No pics yet, I'm still a film guy.

[gonetobaja]

Great story!

I felt like I was there in the dark with you, thanks for all of the details. It makes me realize that Im not the only one who has "less than perfect" takes.

Congrats on your fish,

GTB
www.gonetobaja.com

[Kyle]

Awsome! Thanks for the report.

Kyle

[Erik Sun]

wowwwwwwww i'm jealous!!!!!!!

good catch!


couple questions!
1) how's the vis @ night?

2) how do you spearfish at night with a flashlight? isn't it hard to carry both at the same time =P (gun and light)

3) around what areas was it caught in I know a hunter doens't give his secrets, or does he =P!

i mean 8 feet of water i'm usually swimming into deeper waters. I mainly dive Moss and Goff Cove and treasure island along with the occasional poor-vis Aliso beach in laguna. I don't see many at Moss =( were you around structure? or just in the ocean "desert"? thanks for the help! i want to experience the halibut catch too :)


EZE

[dpc]

Nice job, thanks for the report! That's a great first 'butt!

[Scottywotty]

For all you guys and gals that like to hunt 'butts
tonight is the night. Have you seen the swell
or should I say lack there of. It is starting to come up tomorrow
so get down there tonight!

[Prodigal Son]

Good job DaKahuna! That's a great story. You were diving alone that late? Man, give me a call next time!

[DaKahuna]

I finally got my pictures back. That chunk of guts hanging out of his side is all that the wings of my tip were holding on to after his second run. The idea was to shoot at an angle to avoid hitting the bottom too hard, and hope to catch the spine. Terrible shot! Lucky 'But! Better shot next time I hope. Howard, some of us should get together to try some night dives. Thanks, I might take you up on the offer sometime. Bluegill was supposed to go with me, but couldn't go at the last minute. I'm glad I did!

[Prodigal Son]

Chip, I am ENVIOUS. That is a real beaut. I agree; we definitely need to get together for a night dive. I know some of the other guys at OC Hunter would be interested too.

[Peter R.]

:) Nice going Chip!

[PhotoTJ]

When it's too big for the cooler, you're doing somthing right!