Patty's Big 'But

We have enjoyed extraordinarily good weather this year in Southeast Alaska (The Panhandle) and it continued well into the fall. Maybe it is all part of Global Warming and this is what we can expect in the future! Last weekend was no exception and it was so nice that Miss Patty and I decided to take the Show Girl out and get some fresh halibut. We thought we would take our lunch and eat while we were fishing so we would optimize our time on the water. So off we went in search of a couple of smaller "chicken" halibut. The tasty, tender little guys in the 20 to 40 pound range. Well you can see by the pictures what happened. We no sooner got our rigs in the water, and got the lunches out when Miss Patty's pole lit up. I mean it REALLY lit up.

Understand, I'm not too surprised at this anymore. She cleans my clock every time we go out, and I'm supposed to be the pro! It gets so bad I have threatened to stop taking her. (Not really, and anyway she wouldn't stand for that.) If we didn't need the meat for our winter larder...but I digress.

Her reel is screaming and I am expecting it to start smoking any second. Our halibut gear, though stouter than our salmon gear is still pretty light by Alaska standards. Its a lot more fun and our guests enjoy it that way. So...the rod is in the pole holder, bent over double and there is so much downward pressure on it, it is jammed into the pole holder and she can't get it out. The two of us finally wrestle it out of the holder and the fight is on.

At first I thought it must be a big King Salmon, the runs were so strong and so long. We were only in 160' of water, so the fish had long since run out of "down" and was heading out and away from the boat, another indication that it might be a big salmon, which typically, after a few powerful deep runs will start to head for the surface, out and away from the boat the way this was beginning to look. Big salmon or big 'but. Which is it?! Finally, after several more smoking runs, the fight settled down into a pure slugfest, with the line near vertical, rod still bent over double and Patty straining to gain some line back onto the reel.

Now... Miss Patty is no shrinking violet. She has a room full of trophies from her days as a champion women's weight lifter. She'll tell you it was because she was a bit lighter in those days and those little girls just couldn't keep up with her. But she is well respected around the Lodge as being able to do the physical work of any man. We're not talking girly girl here. My point in telling you this is to help you understand, that this 'but was kicking her butt (so to speak) and that ain't easy!

Finally she started to gain some ground on this monster, and apart from those horrendous big ol' head shakes, that give you heart failure because you swear that line will snap with the sharpness and strength of each jerk, she gradually began working the fish up from the depths.

Now we had a problem. How are we going to get this thing aboard? We discussed releasing the fish, but it was the first fish of the day. What if this was the only one for the day. In our busy lives and at this time of year, we may not get another chance until next Spring. So releasing the fish was out. But there was just the two of us. If this was a regular Lodge charter I would have a deckhand and several guests to help. I could put the deckhand and the toughest-looking guest each on a gaff, while the angler worked the fish to the boat. With the fish alongside the boat the two gaffers (sorry Hollywood) would position the J-gaffs under the fish with the points up, whereupon I would shoot it in the head with a slug from the .410 Snakecharmer, and step quickly back out of the way. At the shot the gaffers would give a mighty heave and the fish would be aboard. Quick, slick and easy.

But it takes four people to pull that off. We were two bodies short of the ideal scenario. And now the fish was getting close. Time to improvise! And don't screw it up. Especially the shot. It better be right on the brain the first time or we are going to have a really ticked off big fish on a short leash.

To be continued next post...