Landing Halibut

Hey everyone, finally landed my first halibut from my revo 13 in Santa Cruz. I'm interested to hear people's process for landing halibut, especially large ones. My halibut absolutely exploded after being gaffed, and it was a scary experience getting it clipped and under control. How do y'all do it? Gaff, net, clip, brain, gill?

ALWAYS gaff them in the stomach, they instantly go still. Gaff them anywhere else and you have bad times coming your way!  Keep them hanging on the gaff with one arm, secure to your roped off game clip (its within EASY arms reach).  Once its full secured on a roped clip, rip a couple gills remove the gaff and chuck it overboard. Let it do whatever crazy shit its gonna do in the water.  Nets are misery waiting to happen.  Shakers get released while still in the water.

Flatten em out and gaff em.  Hit em hard, especially the big ones.  Leave the gaff in, put the game clip in, and then bonk em.  Once they calm down, remove the gaff, slit the gills, rinse, and squish em into the kill bag.  Ofcourse... anything could go wrong during this time... haha

Flatten em out and gaff em.  Hit em hard, especially the big ones.  Leave the gaff in, put the game clip in, and then bonk em.  Once they calm down, remove the gaff, slit the gills, rinse, and squish em into the kill bag.  Ofcourse... anything could go wrong during this time... haha

+1
Try to gaff it in the belly. Almost every time it stuns them until gaff is removed.

On a boat, I like to call it “boating” a halibut. Now slap me for being’s pain in the ass

There's a halibut gaffing shortly after 2:15 in this video:



If possible, it's best to keep the halibut's head under water (unlike in the video), as they usually stay fairly calm until their head comes out of the water. Once gaffed, get the fish on the game clip ASAP. After that, I always bleed and gut them (with the gaff still in, if possible, as they usually don't start berserking until the gaff comes out). It seems to me that gutting is an important step that people often ignore. In any case, I also put them on ice ASAP...

Congrats landing one 

wow,  I've been twice and only had a net. 

I never thought about this...thanks for telling stories.   I guess I need to build a gaff!!

A little tip for ya,
Attach your game clip to the yak with 4-5 ft of bungee cord.
This way if it goes bezerk, the cord will absorb the shock and not throw you off balance.
Also handy if the Landlord decides to have halibut for lunch.
I knew a guy
;0)

Huge self talk for starters...
'ooooo it's a keeper".....calm down...lift rod...gaff...and decide to lift out of water completely or leave submerged...if submerged slightly lift out head and clip point first down throat out gill.  Do not flip your kayak leaning over.   Sometimes the gills are shocked closed to enter from gill first direction.  I travel with my game clip pre opened so it's ready to use.  See safety section .  If you decide to lift fish out of the water, do not leave any lower portion in the water.  That tail with leverage in the water can literally lift the hali off the gaff.  This all takes place without hesitation unless you're in stupefied awe which you have permission to be in AFTER the clip is secured.  Brain spike, ikijime wire then bleed...woo hoo...

What others said.  Just 1 more tip, get a heavy duty game clip.  I knew some people lost a nice one because the game clip came open.

What others said.  Just 1 more tip, get a heavy duty game clip.  I knew some people lost a nice one because the game clip came open.

And leash the game clip to your kayak...

do what works for you. every single halibut i gaff, hand into gills, between my legs, brain spike, cut gills, onto game clip. fast, quiet, drama free. it’s what works for me and what works for my system.

best advice in this thread is staying relaxed, most of the halibut i catch never really wake up,

I like to gaff through the head then lift head to yak side and while keeping gaff in head run the lead for stringer which is flexible SS windshield wiper blade through mouth and out gill then pull stringer line taut and run through a loop attached to yak then tie off. With gaff still attached I lift up a bit more then club head hard three or four times then cut gills and if in Tomales let drift behind boat  on stringer. If off shore I swing string and fish to back hatch and throw wet gunny sack over.

Whatever you do, don't try to net one that is clearly the biggest you've ever caught... Hard truths are often learned through experience....