Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 06:06:57 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Recent Topics

[Today at 06:06:38 PM]

[Today at 04:50:16 PM]

[Today at 02:58:59 PM]

[Today at 01:13:46 PM]

[Today at 11:50:57 AM]

[Today at 11:08:39 AM]

[March 27, 2024, 07:25:42 PM]

[March 27, 2024, 07:05:39 PM]

[March 27, 2024, 12:35:34 PM]

[March 27, 2024, 11:18:23 AM]

[March 26, 2024, 07:45:07 PM]

[March 26, 2024, 06:19:03 PM]

[March 26, 2024, 05:47:06 PM]

Support NCKA

Support the site by making a donation.

Topic: Report: Halibut last night  (Read 1289 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

TheKeeneroo

  • Salmon
  • ***
  • Eric
  • View Profile FIN + FORAGE
  • Location: Pacific Grove
  • Date Registered: Feb 2018
  • Posts: 781
We've been working on transitioning my office into a new baby room (shhhhh - we don't want to post about it on facebook or insta yet) and we spent all weekend scrubbing, caulking, painting and putting together cribs, strollers and desks. I finally had a quick window between paint drying and reapplying to hop in the water yesterday evening. I've been going for a good halibut for Diver of the Year tournament and finally got a decent flatty to put on the board. It's still nothing to write home about, but it is a fish and will get me points.

The water was warm in the shallows and I stayed under 15' for most of the dive. The vis was garbage, maybe 5'. I had a Bat Ray buzzing me several times to check out what I was doing. Saw a couple more jam out from the sand too along with huge bait balls that swam near me thinking I would protect them. I decided to swim out deeper to near where I saw the GWS (I have Mattison's shark shield that he kindly let me borrow - so more peace of mind there - thankfully) and vis stayed the same on the top. Dropping in deeper water, about 35', I've never had such a noticeable thermocline - it was really cold but way clearer (15'). There were some cool ledges and structure so I figured I was in the right spot. I was really hoping to run into a trigger fish since I hadn't seen one yet but just as I was checking under a ledge, I realized there was a nice flatty 1 foot beneath me, less than 1 ft away. So I swam up, backwards and back down to get a more angled shot on it since there wasn't sand below her and I wanted my flopper to engage. Lined up a good shot right in her gill but she still took off and dragged my about 15' which was kind of cool. Finally gilled and brained her (thanks to the previous thread that gave some pointers on how to find the brain - it's not where you think it should be). I saw a super stout ling at one point too (in the 26-28" range and super fat), but it wasn't long enough to shoot for more points and I def don't need more fish meat right now so I decided to pass in hopes of finding another flatty. No luck. So I called it a day after only 1.5 hours of diving. Knowing Jim dove years for flatties, I'm grateful to get 2 in my first year trying and in only 5 dives at that. Looking at the sand is kind of boring but you occasionally see a lot of neat other fish and rays that you don't see in the rocks. I took a page from Jim's book and breaded and friend the roe. Jess had already made chicken fried steak and potatoes for dinner so I just put the roe on the side. Halibut steaks for dinner tonight! What's your favorite recipe for Hali?








"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." - William Arthur Ward

There's definitely a fish under THIS rock....

Eric, Pacific Grove
Instagram - @thekeeneroo
Facebook - @Ekeener1
Level 1 Free Dive Cert, EANx
FIN + FORAGE - Founder                  www.finandforage.com


BigJim

  • A-Hull
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • No white flags.
  • View Profile
  • Location: Watsonville
  • Date Registered: Jun 2009
  • Posts: 15216
Congrats on the keeper butt!

I've been digging this piccata recipe...simple and easy and keeps fish moist...

If don't like capers can just skip em.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/fish-piccata-recipe-1923443

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim

~GS4  2010-1st~
~DOTY 2013-1st~
~T2B2 2015-1st~
*DOTY: 2012-5th~2014-5th~2015-4th~2016-7th~2017-4th~2018-5th~2019-5th~2020-2nd*


  • Cabeza de Martillo
  • View Profile
  • Location: Costa de Oro, BCS
  • Date Registered: Jan 2011
  • Posts: 7707
Congrats on the baby first and the butt second  :smt001

Had some halibut sashimi yesterday and it was soooooo good.

I would recommend freezing a nice chunk for some sashimi later this week.
Pronounced in Spanish  ka·be·za de mar·t·yo
Translates to Hammerhead in English for my Gringo amigos.
....and yes that's me with a 6ft. green moray in the avatar.

"Spearos before Hos" - Silent Hunter

"Give your son a fish and you'll feed him for a day.
Teach him how to spearfish and he'll feed you for a lifetime" - Cabeza de Martillo

Proud Papa of ...........
2018 JAOTY Lucas aka Baja Ninja
2018 JDOTY Noah aka Silent Hunter