Article on halibut mortality rates

From my brother...

http://www.marinij.com/sports/20170504/fish-wrap-hold-off-on-holding-halibut

To sum it up, DFW have concluded that released halibut that are handled carefully have over 40% mortality rate.
So, if you're catching 800 inches of little halibut in a day, you might be killing several dozen fish in your search for a keeper, even if you're making a sincere effort to handle them well. And if you're putting fly-swatter halibut between two slices of bread for a funny photo, you're just a dick.

Bigger hooks and bigger baits might be a good solution.
-Andrew

True. You shouldn't net undersize butts and shouldn't bring them into the boat/kayak. That's important for people to know.
But, sometimes, when you're fishing...fish may get injured...and possibly even die.

Should be a lot less of an issue from a kayak since there is no need to net or take an undersized fish out of the water before releasing it.

Should be a lot less of an issue from a kayak since there is no need to net or take an undersized fish out of the water before releasing it.

Hopefully, but my takeaway was that even fish that are just hooked and released at boatside are vulnerable. I guess there's not a lot to do about that. Barbless hooks, maybe?

From my brother...

http://www.marinij.com/sports/20170504/fish-wrap-hold-off-on-holding-halibut

To sum it up, DFW have concluded that released halibut that are handled carefully have over 40% mortality rate.
So, if you're catching 800 inches of little halibut in a day, you might be killing several dozen fish in your search for a keeper, even if you're making a sincere effort to handle them well. And if you're putting fly-swatter halibut between two slices of bread for a funny photo, you're just a dick.

Bigger hooks and bigger baits might be a good solution.
-Andrew

Quest for keepers continue......

I know a lot of peeps wouldn't follow but maybe they should get rid of the size limit and you have to keep the first fishes you catch.

And yet we're required to have a net when on the salt, leading people to believe it is the best way to land things ...

-Allen

I know a lot of peeps wouldn't follow but maybe they should get rid of the size limit and you have to keep the first fishes you catch.

Whole undersized deep fried halibut sounds awesome!

Sounds like we shouldnt fish for halibut then cause its just too much for some even tho this has been happening for decades and we're still getting returns....yea I'll stick with my stinger hooks😁

I know a lot of peeps wouldn't follow but maybe they should get rid of the size limit and you have to keep the first fishes you catch.

I've thought about this for years, seems like a good idea especially for abs, but then figured people would just try to high-grade and it would defeat the purpose.

Sounds like we shouldnt fish for halibut then cause its just too much for some even tho this has been happening for decades and we're still getting returns....yea I'll stick with my stinger hooks😁

The returns aren't what they used to be. I remember when we had huge wide open bites across the Berkeley flats, with hundreds of boats packed together catching limits, back when it was five. That doesn't seem to happen any more. I think larger hooks and baits would be a good place to start.

Sounds like we shouldnt fish for halibut then cause its just too much for some even tho this has been happening for decades and we're still getting returns....yea I'll stick with my stinger hooks😁

The returns aren't what they used to be. I remember when we had huge wide open bites across the Berkeley flats, with hundreds of boats packed together catching limits, back when it was five. That doesn't seem to happen any more. I think larger hooks and baits would be a good place to start.

When was that?  And did it last year on year?  For how many years?

If you do a bit of research on Halibut, there are very definite peak years, with many down years in between.  With the amount of juvies being seen now, we seem to be in an up cycle.

-Allen

Small halibut have very soft, fragile mouths. Even if you don't lift them from the water, you can still injure them.

For my part, I just don't go halibut fishing when I see that tons of shakers are getting hooked.


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I hope I see more underwater this year...last year sucked...course, I only really tried for them once.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Just fish in SC!     CAUSE THERE IS NO FISH IN SC!!!!