Claymaker
Active Member
The day started like most days when heading out on the kayak to do some fishing; driving out to the launch site, unloading the kayaks, and of course setting up the fish finders, rods, and any other gear we need readily at hand. But, today wasn’t going to be just any ordinary day, today we were doing something we’ve dreamed of, a bucket list item per se; and as it turns out, mother nature had quite the day planned for us.
The currents were right, nothing but clear blue sky above, and low wind on the water. There was 4 of us in total, all imports to the island but now all locals. Clay, who grew up fishing in Ontario and hasn’t known life without a fishing rod in his hands and has fished most provinces and territories in Canada. Adam knows more about the ocean from diving and education than he does about fishing, but since moving to the island kayak fishing has become a main activity in his life. Jan, the weekend warrior, great guy, and our own “Janis Putelis,” what he lacks in experience he makes up in personality. Last but not least, Brian, Clays dad, the most experienced fisherman of the group, and while he might not be able to haul in the big ones he did back in the day, his joy comes from being on the water, watching the “young bucks” at work, and challenge of adapting his techniques to the new waters.
We were on a slight flow when were got on the water, which made the slog out to the hole we had scouted more difficult than we had hoped for. But none the less we made the slog out and dropped in our lines, in and around 100ft of water. Adam dropped a shad swim bait down and was trolling it just off the bottom. Clay meanwhile had gone the more traditional way, a salmon head with tandem J hook. By now you probably have figured it out. We weren’t going to be trolling for salmon, or jigging for rockfish, nor was our target a big ling. We were after Halibut.
Action was slow to start. We bobbed around, played in the currents, and settled into fishing. But for Clay things were about to change. It started as he was drifting slowly down a long ledge, which petered out to a flat plateau. First a light tug, enough to get Clay’s attention. Then a big bend, causing Clay to set the hook. As Clay reeled there was something not right, there was no fight, no head shake. Then the line peeled out, “what the hell is this, is this what Halibut feel like?” But there were still no head shakes. After about 10 minutes of peel and reel fishing, a large bright red to orange blob rose from the deep blue, Clay had hooked a Giant Pacific Octopus. And not a small one, no no, that just wouldn’t be right for this day. “Adam, I got F***ing Octopus,” he shouted half laughing. All Adam heard was Clay yelling, which usually is enough to pull up and heard over to your partner. Once the rest of us got closer Clay said again, he had an octopus. You can imagine the doubt we all had, catching an octopus on hook and line isn’t easy and isn’t something you see happening on a weekly or even monthly basis. But all doubt went out the window when it latched on to Clay’s peddle drive (thus causing him to be dead in the water) and the large tentacles wrapped around the side of the yak and on to the top. It was like a scene out of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” as the Kraken consumes a small ship.
This beast was gorgeous. We aren’t entirely sure of its length, but when compared to the yak it’s likely that its tentacles would have stretched beyond 10ft. And she was beautiful. After taking some pictures and short videos, the next question came up how to release such a large beasty. “I don’t know what to do, it’s an octopus not a fish” Clay jokingly says. “Well not sure I do either, but there’s no way you can do it solo anyway,” Adam volunteered. Now some may say we should have kept it, but this was a large female and was important for the population. Fortunately, release couldn’t have been easier. The hook wasn’t even past the barb and was embedded in one of the suction cups, thick solid tissue. A simple twist and she was free, taking a second or two before sending one last ink cloud our as she disappeared back into the blue. We all took a few minutes to appreciate what had just happened.
As we settled down from the adrenaline and endorphins, thoughts turned back to the “white gold.” Adam thought maybe it’s just a bait type of day. So out come some extra large, salted herring rigged up to a tandem J hook setup. But like many fishermen, Adam has a small secret to the rig that he seldom tells. What can be said is that is a 3 ft leader to a split ring, where the main line is clipped and a 1lb cannon ball is attached. After about 30-40 minutes, just enough time to settle in and start chatting, there’s tapping on the end of Adam’s line. Tap, tap, tap, pause, tap, tap, tap, set, nothing. Having no idea what that was the line was dropped back down. No sooner did it hit the bottom, slight rod bend, then another bend, set, HOOKED! And it was something BIG. Having never fished Halibut we didn’t really know what to expect, I mean sure we had talked to the experienced fisherman, guys at Trotac, read articles, etc. But it’s not the same as actually doing it, well we were about to find out.
As soon as the hook set there was a head shake, then as the fish was reeled in it decided it wasn’t a fan of that idea. First it came up 5ft, then back down. Up 10ft off the bottom, straight back down. Then after about 10-15 minutes it started to tire, as were Adam’s arms. But even then, we didn’t actually know what it was yet, we hadn’t seen colour. Brian situated himself on the rod side of Adam, and when the fish came up the only thing Brian could say was “Holy **** it’s a big Halibut!” When it was finally reeled in close, we knew this was at least 40lbs. Now the big question people ask is how do you with a big fish like that on a kayak? Simple, most will know the shark hook attached to a buoy technique, and that is used too to safely tire big fish out. We tried, unfortunately it shook the hook, and off Adam went being towed by the Halibut as it peeled out line. “Well that was fun” Adam said beaming. After getting it back up a second time, the fish was tired and it was dispatched in the water. We spent the net few hours with net to nothing (Jan caught a small Sculpin), but that was fine by us.
What an epic day. Back on shore, it didn’t take long before a few people spotted us with the fish, then it was a steady stream of inquisitive and positive individuals keen to see it. In the end, it was 50lb 11oz and measured 122cm with head on.
A once in a lifetime experience for Clay (and us all), a bucket list fish for Adam, and a day out on the water with friends. It will be one we will remember for the rest of our lives.
The currents were right, nothing but clear blue sky above, and low wind on the water. There was 4 of us in total, all imports to the island but now all locals. Clay, who grew up fishing in Ontario and hasn’t known life without a fishing rod in his hands and has fished most provinces and territories in Canada. Adam knows more about the ocean from diving and education than he does about fishing, but since moving to the island kayak fishing has become a main activity in his life. Jan, the weekend warrior, great guy, and our own “Janis Putelis,” what he lacks in experience he makes up in personality. Last but not least, Brian, Clays dad, the most experienced fisherman of the group, and while he might not be able to haul in the big ones he did back in the day, his joy comes from being on the water, watching the “young bucks” at work, and challenge of adapting his techniques to the new waters.
We were on a slight flow when were got on the water, which made the slog out to the hole we had scouted more difficult than we had hoped for. But none the less we made the slog out and dropped in our lines, in and around 100ft of water. Adam dropped a shad swim bait down and was trolling it just off the bottom. Clay meanwhile had gone the more traditional way, a salmon head with tandem J hook. By now you probably have figured it out. We weren’t going to be trolling for salmon, or jigging for rockfish, nor was our target a big ling. We were after Halibut.
Action was slow to start. We bobbed around, played in the currents, and settled into fishing. But for Clay things were about to change. It started as he was drifting slowly down a long ledge, which petered out to a flat plateau. First a light tug, enough to get Clay’s attention. Then a big bend, causing Clay to set the hook. As Clay reeled there was something not right, there was no fight, no head shake. Then the line peeled out, “what the hell is this, is this what Halibut feel like?” But there were still no head shakes. After about 10 minutes of peel and reel fishing, a large bright red to orange blob rose from the deep blue, Clay had hooked a Giant Pacific Octopus. And not a small one, no no, that just wouldn’t be right for this day. “Adam, I got F***ing Octopus,” he shouted half laughing. All Adam heard was Clay yelling, which usually is enough to pull up and heard over to your partner. Once the rest of us got closer Clay said again, he had an octopus. You can imagine the doubt we all had, catching an octopus on hook and line isn’t easy and isn’t something you see happening on a weekly or even monthly basis. But all doubt went out the window when it latched on to Clay’s peddle drive (thus causing him to be dead in the water) and the large tentacles wrapped around the side of the yak and on to the top. It was like a scene out of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” as the Kraken consumes a small ship.
This beast was gorgeous. We aren’t entirely sure of its length, but when compared to the yak it’s likely that its tentacles would have stretched beyond 10ft. And she was beautiful. After taking some pictures and short videos, the next question came up how to release such a large beasty. “I don’t know what to do, it’s an octopus not a fish” Clay jokingly says. “Well not sure I do either, but there’s no way you can do it solo anyway,” Adam volunteered. Now some may say we should have kept it, but this was a large female and was important for the population. Fortunately, release couldn’t have been easier. The hook wasn’t even past the barb and was embedded in one of the suction cups, thick solid tissue. A simple twist and she was free, taking a second or two before sending one last ink cloud our as she disappeared back into the blue. We all took a few minutes to appreciate what had just happened.
As we settled down from the adrenaline and endorphins, thoughts turned back to the “white gold.” Adam thought maybe it’s just a bait type of day. So out come some extra large, salted herring rigged up to a tandem J hook setup. But like many fishermen, Adam has a small secret to the rig that he seldom tells. What can be said is that is a 3 ft leader to a split ring, where the main line is clipped and a 1lb cannon ball is attached. After about 30-40 minutes, just enough time to settle in and start chatting, there’s tapping on the end of Adam’s line. Tap, tap, tap, pause, tap, tap, tap, set, nothing. Having no idea what that was the line was dropped back down. No sooner did it hit the bottom, slight rod bend, then another bend, set, HOOKED! And it was something BIG. Having never fished Halibut we didn’t really know what to expect, I mean sure we had talked to the experienced fisherman, guys at Trotac, read articles, etc. But it’s not the same as actually doing it, well we were about to find out.
As soon as the hook set there was a head shake, then as the fish was reeled in it decided it wasn’t a fan of that idea. First it came up 5ft, then back down. Up 10ft off the bottom, straight back down. Then after about 10-15 minutes it started to tire, as were Adam’s arms. But even then, we didn’t actually know what it was yet, we hadn’t seen colour. Brian situated himself on the rod side of Adam, and when the fish came up the only thing Brian could say was “Holy **** it’s a big Halibut!” When it was finally reeled in close, we knew this was at least 40lbs. Now the big question people ask is how do you with a big fish like that on a kayak? Simple, most will know the shark hook attached to a buoy technique, and that is used too to safely tire big fish out. We tried, unfortunately it shook the hook, and off Adam went being towed by the Halibut as it peeled out line. “Well that was fun” Adam said beaming. After getting it back up a second time, the fish was tired and it was dispatched in the water. We spent the net few hours with net to nothing (Jan caught a small Sculpin), but that was fine by us.
What an epic day. Back on shore, it didn’t take long before a few people spotted us with the fish, then it was a steady stream of inquisitive and positive individuals keen to see it. In the end, it was 50lb 11oz and measured 122cm with head on.
A once in a lifetime experience for Clay (and us all), a bucket list fish for Adam, and a day out on the water with friends. It will be one we will remember for the rest of our lives.
. Kidding... kind of. Thanks for taking the time to tell this story! Great day.
