Humanely Wrangling Halibut

May 6, 2010

Question: I’d like to try spearfishing for halibut. If I do find a nice one, can you tell me the best way to quickly kill the fish when I get to it in order to minimize any pain? There must be some spot on the fish where by using a knife, I can quickly kill it with the least suffering. (Justin M, San Diego)

Answer: A well-placed shot with a spear will immobilize a halibut fairly quickly and is probably the most efficient means of killing the fish. According to Department of Fish and Game Associate Marine Biologist Ed Roberts, most spear fishermen do not need to dispatch their fish after retrieving them as the actual shot usually does so. To minimize the struggle and ethically kill your halibut, direct your shots to the spine or brain. On those occasions when you may need to dispatch a halibut or other “round” fish (as opposed to a “flat” fish), bring it to the boat and strike the fish on the top of the head, in between the eyes, with a blunt instrument like a “fish billy” rather than with a knife. Trying to do so with a knife on a small boat can be dangerous.

If you are a novice, it is probably not a good idea to attempt to struggle with and subdue a large, wounded halibut underwater with one hand while holding a sharp knife in the other. If you are determined to try to kill the fish as quickly as possible while underwater, you might consider tearing out a gill arch with your hands, or severing it with a knife. Be careful doing this, however, because halibut do have sharp gill rakers and teeth that can cause injury to unprotected fingers. Blood vessels in the arches carry copious amounts of blood to and from the gills, so severing these vessels would cause the fish to bleed to death in short order.

Is putting that much blood in the water a good idea? I’ll leave that up to you, but remember that the sound waves created by the struggling, wounded fish may attract the attention of other large predatory fish. Remember too that many of these predators have highly developed sensory systems, and these sensations will probably travel farther and quicker through the water than will the blood.

So...I guess I'm not very "humane"?

 



I think every spearo would prefer to have every shot be a stone shot and have the fish just die right away, but it just doesn't always happen like that...

I'm a big fan of tearing the gills out...

But...next time I dive for halibut I may just throw them inside the center hatch of my yak and then rip the gills out and let them bleed out inside rather than in the water. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Damn Jim, that was a badass video..2 big butts and and a angel shark! Your an Animal Bro. Nice

I think I will be ready for a halibut soon.  I was sort of wondering the same thing.  I guess a well placed shot is what I will go for.  Don't want it wrapping around me and keeping me underwater.  They have so much power.

Along the same topic...I had a guy rip me a new one for this vid awhile back...

Said it was cruel and horrible to rip gills out and how would I like it if someone tore my lungs out and let me bleed and suffocate to death...

Said the humane was to knife em in the head...I explained that sometimes knifing in the head works super fast, but sometimes the fish still thrashes around and that I feel that ripping the gills out like this causes the fish to die just as quickly.

This guy was probably dead in less than a minute from the time I shot him...



 

Sincerely,

Jim

I think I will be ready for a halibut soon.  I was sort of wondering the same thing.  I guess a well placed shot is what I will go for.  Don't want it wrapping around me and keeping me underwater.  They have so much power.

Duane, Im definitely NOT an expert when it comes to halibut...have only ever shot three.

BUT, this is what people who are much better divers and spearos have told me:

When you see the fish in the sand hopefully you are looking at the head facing you. Shoot em in the head if possible....more bones and less likely that shaft will rip out when they take off.

If you shoot them when they are facing you, when they explode off the sand they "should" swim up the shaft, helping make sure the flopper deploys fully, and if lucky they will swim all the way up the shaft and onto the shooting line.

Once you shoot them, let them run and settle back down again, and then just follow the float line to where they are laying in the sand. Then you can grab them, stab them or whatever.

The first one I shot last year was text book...saw the head in sand facing towards me...shot it right between gill plate and pectoral fin, it swam up the shaft and onto shooting line, I let it run, it settled back down, followed float line, swam down with knife in hand and stabbed it in body and pinned it to bottom while got my hands in gills and then it was game over.

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/590

The first one in the vid above I also shot head on, but took a quick (shitty) shot on it since I had already spooked one earlier and didn't want to miss another one....shot hit in mid body on side and it took off and swam up shaft but then swam the opposite direction so didn't go all the way up shooting line, but then swam right back at me so just scooped it up nice and easy. 

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/1169

The second one in vid was swimming away and my shot hit it right in spine and shaft stopped right there...was lucky that it stunned it enough that it went straight up towards surface and let me bear hug it and get hands in gills. Once you get a hand in the gills you should be good. 

http://doty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches/1168

Hope that helps...

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thanks for the tips. 

As for the Angel shark I know you meant to shoot it.  But me I could see the outline of the body and would have just thought it was a halibut until I got closer.  [emoji2]