About Wright Now: Kickin' butt with the Halibut!

WOW!!! I have never caught such a huge fish in my life, nor has Justin!! Plus, I have never been so completely frozen while fishing either!

So, we tried a little halibut fishing last month (May), which is supposedly a little early in the season to catch any big fish. We left at 3:00 in the morning, picked up our friend Nick, and headed down Highway 1 to Seward, which is rated the #1 most beautiful drive in North America (or at least somewhere in the top 10). I slept the whole way down since it was 3:00 in the morning unfortunately....the joys of being a resident, not a tourist. You don't feel quite so compelled to do everything today...there's always another weekend trip!

Once we got to the ocean, we hopped aboard, flashed our fish licenses, and staked out our spot in the back of the boat. For some brilliant reason, all the other passengers sat in the heated, dry cabin instead of being frozen solid under layers of wool, gore-tex, and other non-cotton materials. (A common saying in Alaska is "cotton kills" since it doesn't dry out easily when it gets wet and facilitates hypothermia or something like that. Ask your local REI specialist...not me! I like cotton!)

We sped away through the gorgeous, mountainous straits of Resurrection Bay and watched the sea lions, otters, mountain goats, and other wildlife along the way. After 3 hours of breakneck speed on choppy arctic waves and only one sick passenger, we came to a stop and anchored off of Montague Island (the largest uninhabited island in North America, for you Trivial Pursuit nerds!). We threw our lines overboard and waited and waited...this is lazyman's fishing. You don't do a thing...no setting the hook, jigging, or any of other kind of sportsmen's lingo. So, I kinda like this!

After a while, you feel a little nibbling at your bait. You wait a little longer, then start reeling. After 90 feet of line being fought over, the mammoth appears. Here are some pics to whet your appetite in case you've never tried.