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Today's bass fishing Article
Halibut: Alaska Halibut Fishing For Barn Door Sized Fish

Standing on deck allowing the wave action to bounce your weighted herring or plastic lure off the bottom a hundred or more feet below is called ringing the dinner bell. Halibut will travel hundreds of yards to investigate the thumping of your lead lure as it will swallow the noisy lure?

The recognized tug, tug, then a strong pull begins the underwater rodeo. The heavy one pound lead nose on a split tail white scampi bounces off the ocean floor actually calling the halibut to the lure. At 200 foot deep the ocean is totally dark. But a white lure seems to be the best color for halibut. A 20-pound ?chicken? halibut fights likes a 60-pound salmon. The huge flat surface is added resistance teamed with muscle for a fish that is determined to stay on the bottom. The normal is three trips to the surface and two trips back to the bottom before you can land a 40-50 pound halibut.

Just as the halibut nears the surface where a net or gaff awaits, all that muscle turns the fish toward the bottom and the line screams off the reel. The Alaska halibut will not stop until it reaches the bottom again. Now you know what you have and you pray your equipment stays together.

Captain Jerry threw out the anchor on the lee side of a spit in 150 foot of water. The tide was just beginning to come in, the ?Dancer? was bobbing as the tide began to race back in. With 18-foot tides, a lot of water is displaced every 12 hours. The sandy bottom was ideal for halibut to wait for the tide to bring in the next meal. The sound of the anchor hitting the bottom had rang the dinner bell. The 55-foot cabin cruiser had pulled the slack out of the anchor chain and lined out facing into the incoming tide.

Dan dropped his one-pound lead nose white scampi lure over the side and waited for the reel to unspool. The foot long plastic lure hit the bottom with a thump. The slack was taken out of the spider wire line so the lure could be bounced on the bottom to create an underwater thump that seems to lure halibut from hundreds of yards away. Alaska halibut fishing had always been a dream, too far away to even imagine. From the day of decision it had been over 11 months of planning, preparing and dreaming for this day of fishing for halibut off Prince of Wales Island. A minute had passed then 5 minutes; Dan was thinking ?the bite? hadn?t started yet. Then it happened. Small yank, yank then he set the hook. Dan had caught several ?chickens? so he knew it was a halibut. Suddenly the short stubby deep-sea pole formed a ?U? and Dan began to lift the rod and reel down. The familiar yank, yank, yank as the fish refused to leave the bottom did not deter the stout built 6? 1?, 30 year old as muscle warred with muscle until the cry was heard from the skipper on the flying deck, ?my God the boy has hooked a keeper!? The fish looked slightly greenish brown and appeared to be gliding at an angle towards the boat but 6 to 8 feet under the surface. At 3 feet from the surface the addled fish saw the boat, bright sunshine and an excited angler all at once and did an about face heading back to the bottom. The Penn reel screamed as every bearing surface and brake rebelled as the 5 foot behemoth slipped out of sight. That foray had taken 20 minutes, Dan called for help. 6? 4? brother Paul with arms as big as a man?s thighs said ?let me have that!?

In the April Alaska cool, beads of sweat poured down Paul?s face, the yank, yank, yank, reel up and scream down had taken its toll. Weakly he said ?I?m gonna need a break!? Dan grabbed the short stubby ?U? shaped pole and began to reel. Paul had lasted exactly twenty minutes only to have a brief glimpse of a shadowed recluse before the line screamed and the halibut returned to the deep.

The fishing pole had fibers that were releasing long ways on the rod, the famous reel was making a strange squeaking sound as it reeled up and a disturbing grinding sound as the break squealed off line. The halibut was coming up but Dan gave out in 10 minutes. Paul grabbed the rod and manhandled the rod, fish and reel. 10 minutes later he hollered ?it should have been to the top by now, what is happening?? The brake on the reel had completely failed and as the line was reeled in the fish took back at its? leisure. Dan took the next watch. Within 5 minutes Dan yelled, ?I see color!? Captain Jerry was standing on the bow with a 22 rifle. Just as the halibut broke the surface Captain Jerry fired and dispatched the 124-pound giant halibut.

Alaska allows the dispatching of large halibut on the surface due to the tremendous power a halibut has after coming on board. These fish have been known to break the fisherman?s arms and legs contributing to several deaths by the flailing powerful tails.

Alaska halibut fishing doesn?t get any better. From a ?chicken? to a keeper the thrill is always the same. It starts with the same question ?Have I hooked the bottom??

About the Author:

Jim Zeller writes for numerous outdoor blogs and websites. Check out his favorite online Fishing Forum or his choice for the World's Largest Fishing Directory

Changing Pace - Striped Bass Fishing

Striped bass, the targets of striped bass fishing, which are often referred to by the more common name of ?stripers,? are one of the most popular types of fish among fishermen, especially among bass anglers. Striped bass are unique compared to their freshwater brethren in that striped bass breed in fresh water, but somewhat like salmon they spend the adult part of their lives in salt water. Despite this, if the environment changes in such a way as they can not reach salt water, they still have the ability to live solely in fresh water, like smallmouth and largemouth bass.

Striped bass can be found nearly everywhere now, from Chesapeake Bay and Cape Cod down to the reservoirs of Florida. This fish is extremely popular because of its ability to grow to large sizes and put up the type of fight that makes all bass very popular with anglers.

Another reason striped bass are popular is the challenge of catching them. Striped bass are notorious for being finicky about which baits they will show interest in taking. Because of this, when fishing for striped bass there is no specific favorite technique or strategy that is fool proof. Fishing for striped bass can require many different types of bait. This can include including clams, chicken livers, eels, night crawlers, grasshoppers, and minnows. Many anglers do prefer live bait of some type over something factory produced, though this doesn?t mean that actual lures can?t have success. If you find something that works in striped bass fishing, then by all means, don?t change a thing!

Striped bass fishing is a great change of pace for those bass fisherman who desire a fish that can break well above the twenty pound mark. In fact, stripers can easily grow up to an amazing four feet long and weigh over fifty pounds. The world record is 125 lbs, but don?t get your hopes up too high?that?s a record that has stood for over one hundred years. Still, there are huge striped bass out there, and if you are committed to striped bass fishing, you many find some dandies.

So which methods work? It depends on your strategy. If you don?t own a boat, then from a shoreline you would want to look at a technique known as ?surf casting.? Surf casting is the process of casting into the surf while you stand near the shore of the ocean. This type of strategy requires special gear that usually involves heavy test line an a series of lead sinkers to actually anchor their live bait of the ocean floor, since having the bait floating back to you is obviously not a good idea!

If you have a boat, then trolling is a great method for going after striped bass. You will definitely want a strong test line, and in this situation artificial lures are ideal. This is a successful technique for striped bass fishing because the striped bass is very aggressive and is willing to attack a moving bait. This allows a fisherman to use lures they may already have, and use a familiar technique as trolling is a great strategy not only for striped bass and largemouth bass, but even other fish such as muskie, pike, or walleyes.

Striped bass fiction is likely to continue to grow in popularity. These are big aggressive fish that put up a huge fight, are a challenge to catch, and taste great in the frying pan or on the grill. With qualities like that, how can striped bass fiction not be popular among any avid fisherman?

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Maine Fishing Landlocked Atlantic Salmon

Landlocked Salmon Atlantic Salmon are know only in the State of Maine. Some of the other names are Sebago Salmon or Quananiche and the scientific name is Salmo Salar. The average size is 16-18 inches and 1-2 pounds, but 3-5 pound fish are not uncommon. Adults are generally silvery wiyh a slightly forked tail and small x-shaped marking on the back and iper sides. Juvenile salmon have a dark red spot between each pair of parr marks. Mature males develop a kype or hooked jaw, during the spawning season.

Landlocked salmon are a freshwater form of the sea run Atlantic Salmon. Prior to 1868, landlocked salmon populations occurred in only four river basins in Maine, St.Croix including West Grand Lake in Washington County, the union, including Green Lake in Hancock County, the Penobscot, including Sebec Lake in Piscataquis, County, and the Presumpscot, including Sebago Lake in Cumberland County.

Today, landlocked salmon provide the primary fishery in 176 lakes comprising nearly 500,000 acres. They are present and provide incideatal fisheries in an additional 127 waters comprising about 160,000 acres. Maine supports one of the larges sport fisheries for this species in the world. Landlocked salmon also provide good fisheries in 44 rivers and streams totaling about 290 miles.

Hatchery stockings are needed to maintain fisheries in 127 lakes. These lakes do not sufficient amounts of suitable spawning and nursery areas to produce wild salmon. Without regular stockings, salmon in these lakes would disappear entirely, or their numbers would be very, very low. About 123,000 salmon were stocked annually in Maine lakes from 1996 to 2000.

Natural reproduction supports salmon fisheries in 49 lakes. These are lakes that have sufficient spawning and nursery habitat to produce enough salmon to support good fisheries. Most of these waters are located in western and northern Maine. Salmon spawn in lake outlets or inlets during the period from mid October to late November. Eggs are buried in gravel from 4-12 inches deep and remain there until hatching early the following spring.

Young salmon spend from 1 to 4 years in a stream environment prior to migrating to a lake. Recent studies in Maine show most wild salmon spend 2 years as stream dweelers. In wild salmon populations, most males spawn first at ages 3 and 4, although a few spawn at ages 1 and 2. Females usually spawn first at ages 4 and 5. Spawning runs of wild salmon may be composed of fish ranging in age from 1 to 10 but 3, 4 and 5 year old individuals make up the bulk of most runs. Landlocked salmon may be repeat spawners, but most fish observed on spawning runs are spawning for the first time. Salmon may spawn in consecutive or alternate years, some may spawn in consecutive years then skip a year, and some may skip 2 or 3 years between spawning.

Salmon populations sustained by natural reproduction often more older age fish those supported by stocking, wild salmon usually exhibit slower growth do hatchery salmon, so they reach legal size and harvested 1 or 2 years later. The oldest landlocked salmon on record in Maine was years old.

Rainbow smelts are the principal forage species for salmon in Maine lakes. Without adequate numbers of smelt, salmon growth and body conition will be poor, markedly reducing value as a sportfish. Maintain adequate numbers of smelt for forage is the most important element of salmon management in Maine. Extensive studies conducted in Maine clearly show that salmon growth rates, and consequently the size of fish available to anglers, is best in lakes with excellent water that do not have large populations of other smelt predators, particularly lake trout.

From 1996 to 2000 Maine open water anglers voluntarily released over 60% of their catch of legal salmon, ice anglers released about 25% of their legal salmon catch. Catch and release of salmon has improved fishing in many lakes, but in others it has resulted in depressed smelt populations and smaller salmon, because there are too many salmon. Maine fishery biologists have responded by reducing stocking rates by implementing fishing regulations designed to restore a reasonable balance between numbers of smelts and salmon.

Hatchery salmon generally provide fisheries for larger fish than do wild salmon because the number of smelt predators can be strictly controlled. Therefore, precise management for particular types of fisheries, such as those emphasizing trophy fish, is usually best achieved with hatchery stocks rather than wild stocks.

From 1996 to 2000, the average size of salmon harvested from all Maine lakes was 17.4 inches and 1.7 pounds, the largest since department fishery biologists began conducting scientific creel surveys in the 1950?s.

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