Monterey Halibut

Very cool, that'll have you guys in some great dinners for a while. That's what I love about the ocean. Never know what yer gonna get...

Way to go slayin that halibut.  Aint nothin like the feeling right before you pull the gaff out on your first hali.  jtf..

Check the look on Mike's face in this shot!

HOLY S..T!! is right. WTG. I said the words out loud when I saw the great pics. Your the man! I can only keep my hopes up for something close to the same after only 1 year of fishing from my kayak. You are motivation indeed.

Awesome halibut, man!  That thing is a beast.

That is awesome.  Nice work.  I want one now.  Maybe this will be the year for butts. 

Yahoo! I hope the butts are back this year. They are for you!

Awesome!!  Any idea how deep?

I'm going to guess around 50' or so, I had drifted off and in from the can and was just north of the grey wood condos

DUUuuuuuuddddde!!!!

What a nice fish!  Came up easy the first time eh?  then went ballistic.

Mike you are the dude.  Way to go.  Looks to me like you did everything right.   Great pix, too. 

How close to the hotel were you, and what depth of water?  also did you have a whole squid on the shrimp fly or just a strip?

Allen

I'm not sure if I am doing this right to respond with a quote-let me know if I should do it another way. I had drifted significantly with the SW swell and same wind direction that morning. I was out in front and north of the grey wooden condos towards the hotel, 50ft or so-best guess. I decided to try a technique that a deck hand showed me with filleting a squid body and then cutting small tiny freyes along the entire bottom of the skirt about an 1 1/2 long, then fold over and hook through the top-who knew?

Great fish.  I made probably 6 tries in that same area over the last 1.5 years for nada. You have inspired me to make another 6 tries at least. . .WTG on the beast!

Great fish.  I made probably 6 tries in that same area over the last 1.5 years for nada. You have inspired me to make another 6 tries at least. . .WTG on the beast!

if someone is going to go for kayak halibut in monterey i would say that the chances of landing one along cannery row is pretty good. after about 6 months kayak fishing i landed one myself there. i was in 35 ft of water and casting a squid head with a sinker slider setup and it got hit.

for spearfishing this area has always been good to us for halibut.

i think they are pretty agressive so if you work your bait it could be good.

john

WOW. Nice butt. Great post.

Wow man great fish! Some of those AOTY people are really jealous! 

Thanks for keeping us motivated.  Nice fish!

Nice catch Mike