Newport Halibut

[Threeweight]

Huge difference in ride between the Hewes and my old Arima 17.

Arima fully loaded w/ 2 passengers and gear was maybe 2500# and 16'11" long... Hewes with three passengers, 100 gallons of fuel, gear, etc... is likely around 5500-6000# and 24' 6" long (counting the full planing bracket).  Saturday's conditions would have been life threatening in a 17 Arima.  We were one of the smaller boats where we were fishing.

Can't compare the ride to an Arima 22', but my guess is the Hewes is similar in weight but has the extra length to help it.   I was able to make 14-18 mph into the nasty 3' chop, using trim tabs to hold plane.  When it laid down to a 2' chop I had periods of 20 mph or so.  I'm guessing the 22' Arima could match that, but I don't think others could.  The suspension seats make a huge difference.

[HemiGTX]

Sounds like typical halibut conditions.  Nice job on the fish, and it's always great to see wives enjoying our hobbies as well.

[Vancouvertechie]

3WT,

I wouldn't mind tagging along sometime. 

VT

[Threeweight]

Lets keep in touch when summer halibut opens in August.  I just got back from 4 days down there taking advantage of the "spring" halibut extension.  We only fished Thursday and Saturday. 

Took my wife out Thursday and we ran 30 miles SW to some numbers that have been producing me... beautiful ocean inshore that got unpleasant on the halibut spot, then really bad really fast.  She was chumming by the 2nd drift, and we had wind waves breaking over the motors.  Ran the kicker at medium throttle to get a decent drift.  We tagged 2 40ish inch long fish and made a loooong ride home at 14-16 mph.

Made it up to her by taking Friday off and doing stuff around Newport.

Saturday I had two buddies come and fish... they usually fish out of Tillamook, where a 'big" halibut at halibut hill is 30".  Ran to the same spot and made 3 drifts.  First drift resulted in 2 fish about 36" long, they really wanted to tag one so we did.  Next drift resulted in a 45" or so fish.  Last drift was a heart breaker. I fish a version of the ultimate chicken ranch rig, with 2 16/0 circle hooks about 4' apart. Buddy hooked up and thought he had the bottom till I saw head shakes on the rod. Passed it off to a guest who does not fish much who then took 15-20 minutes to reel up, working really hard. Got it up and saw a good 45" fish so I asked if he wanted it and when he said yes I harpooned it. As we get ready to gaff it we notice the leader below it has a lot more than a 32 Oz weight on it.

Pull up the lower rig and hidden in the murky water is a 2nd fish around 55" that dwarfed the top one. We let the big guy go to gain some weight for August season.

I saw Russ' boat down there, moored on F dock, but I never got the chance to talk to him and see how he was doing.  Talked to Eric on the radio a bit Thursday, he was out fishing in a buddies Hewes Alaskan.  I only have one slot left on my halibut tag for the year... nice problem to have!

[HemiGTX]

What a great, if somewhat tragic, story.  Your buddy brought up a lot of meat on a single drop! 

[Vancouvertechie]

Some friends and I were able to get down on Saturday for some crab.  Had I brought halibut gear with me I would have been tempted to try, but I don't think they could have handle the ocean.  We arrived around 8 a.m. or so and got out to second green ATON around 9.  I can say that crabbing was really good and we were done by noon with 4 limits. 

On the way back I hit the scale and with 1/2 of tank of fuel, crab gear and misc stuff I was at 7,050 on the scale.  The first week in August I will be fishing out of Kona.  Hopefully we can meet up.

VT

[Threeweight]

Here's Terry with his consolation prize 45" fish. Charts say it should have been around 42-43 pounds:



Here's my buddy Wil holding the little guy and another 45ish inch fish.  Wil is 6'6" or so, note the size of the fish relative to him:



Here's Wil holding the head of the big boy as we got the circle hook out of him:



I've given away a bunch of halibut, but my freezer is pretty full!



We left our crab gear at home because it was pretty terrible the last few times I tried.  Hearing reports, it sounds like it has really improved over the last week and was red hot over the weekend.

[Rokefin]

Threeweight - My season hasn't started yet, I have plenty room in my freezer

[HemiGTX]

Beautiful fish, 3WT.  Time to pick up another freezer.  Or two!

[beancounter]

Naw no more frezzers just start eating faster dude.