What Hali measuring method is working best

[Islandgirl]

Usually the first time at the surface with a large fish the weight is gone.
I'm relatively new to the game - and have never caught a big Hali (nothing over 40 lbs so far), and I'm a bit confused with this. How is the weight gone? Do you cut it off when the fish comes to the surface?

When the fish starts thrashing or bolts at the surface mass in motion with the lead ball breaks the mono leader and the lead is on its way to the bottom.

 

[Bod]

These ideas are great, especially the one with marking the harpoon handle. Now the next question is...How do you release a 100lbs hali that is going stir crazy at the side of your boat...Has DFO thought of that...

A played out Halibut will, just lay at the side of boat most times. I don't understand all this talk of releasing wildly thrashing giant dangerous fish. Most of the time when we play a large Halibut the drag gets cranked to the max when trying to bring the fish up. First thing to do when the fish nears the surface is lower the rod tip and reel close to the swivel, back off the drag (not free spool ), put your thumb on the spool for a little extra tension and lift her head. If it goes nuts, let it run and start over. Not a big deal.
We don't bring Salmon to the boat cart wheeling end over end so why do it with a Halibut.
As for measuring, a mark on my broom handle seems to work for me, and if I drop it, it floats. Speaking from experience my harpoon handles don't!

 

[nicnat]

the hali should stay docile once on the surface as long as you don't pull it's head out of the water. I was on a trip to the charlottes in the early 90's with the halibut commission and we were tagging and releasing them off of hippa island, it was non stop pretty much and some were up to and maybe over 200#s. talk about a work out, lol, sure coulda used something like an ace line hauler, it was a brutal few days, sure couldn't do it now.
as for the measuring, why not just tie a swivel on your line at 126 cm from where the hook is on your setup,or from the swivel on your spreader bar or whatever you are using, you could put a red bead there for better vision, once the hali is on the surface and docile just lay the line back towards the tail, no fuss, no sticks, also would make it easier to eyeball if you were having trouble bringing it alongside.
cheers nicnat

 

[bee15]

why not just tap it on the head and bring it up again after its tired out more fun for u

 

[bee15]

tap it in the head let it go down again it will be so tired out you get a nice pic and could pet it