PB halibut for Vets Day

[YakDout]

It was up in the air last night whether Mike and I were going to get out today or not due to wind/weather. Made the call late last night, let's go. Met at dana landing around 6AM. Perfect weather on arrival. Head over to the barge and they only have chovies. Damn! Oh well took them anyways. Went out through the channel and down southwest a ways to the kelp area. Lots of lobster pots around. I have a Carolina rigged up with 4oz on 25lb. Found an area around 9am that was holding some nice calicos. After fishing for a while I looked up and noticed I'm in over 100' of water and drifting south fast. That wasn't good because I knew the wind would come up between 11-noon. Came back in to 55 feet of water slightly southwest of OB pier. Pin on a fresh anchovie send it to the bottom and a couple minutes go by and I get bit. This area had lots of bass around so as I'm reeling it up that was my first thought. That's until it starts making a couple drag pulls against my lexa 400. I though I better check the drag so I pull out a little line and drag is pretty damn tight. Ok this must be a better fish than I thought. Get it to color and see it's a halibut. Grab the gaff and get it right below the gills.
This is the biggest halibut at gaff that I've ever had and I know they can go crazy once stuck, and this was no exception. I must have hit this thing with the back of my gaff close to 100 times. I'd get ready to pull it up on deck and it would go crazy every time. Then I start cutting the gills with my knife thinking ok this thing has to be ready but it would go off again. I then start braining it with needle nose pliers and my knife. It took some serious time to kill this thing and I have a new respect for people who land big halibut on the kayak. To be honest this thing almost flipped me a couple times on my outback and it's not even close to as big as some of the fish I've seen guys land on kayak. It's about 11am and the wind starts blowing about 20 so we head in and fight the wind and the channel all the way back. Pretty sore, but worth it. I need to stop being so selfish and start targeting halibut more since it's my fiancé's favorite fish to eat.

38" and 23lbs.