Hunting Washington Forum

Other Activities => Fishing => Topic started by: h20hunter on May 08, 2011, 09:35:13 AM

Title: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: h20hunter on May 08, 2011, 09:35:13 AM: Get the harpoon! Get the gaff! Get the gun! I am pulling...it just isn't coming up! Shut it..I'm not being a sissy!

It's a what? Are you kidding me? A skate? Are you sure?

Yep.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: Cap.Silver on May 08, 2011, 09:41:29 AM: Oh man,I feel bad for you .....I would throw my rod into the water after that :bash:
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: h20hunter on May 08, 2011, 09:46:39 AM: It was a b***h I tell you. That thing would hang in the current like a sail. Not fun. I caught one smaller one that wasn't as bad. Add the dogs and it was a chore. However, with one hali boated it was worth it. I have a bruise from the rod butt digging in while trying to drag that thing in.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: Hunterman on May 08, 2011, 09:49:46 AM: You didn't throw it back did you :yike: ??? Skate are some damn fine eating :drool:

Hunterman(Tony)
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: bowsandhose on May 08, 2011, 09:50:22 AM: at least you got a good fight out of it lol
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on May 08, 2011, 09:53:46 AM: We went all the way to Yakitat to catch one of those stupid fish!!!
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: CastleRocker on May 08, 2011, 10:04:18 AM: I can relate the that! When I fished them commercially up north, I've hollared "FOUR GAFF"!!! many times in the middle of the night when they flash a huge white side to the lights, and have it just be an enormous scate.

You can always tell when you have one on a sport pole though, they don't fight anything like a Halibut.

They do eat pretty good though. I know they skin them, and punch little circles out of the wing part. I think the consumer term is, "Sea Scallop".
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: SkookumHntr on May 08, 2011, 10:20:57 AM: -One time my dad was fighting a big one he thought! Took him along time to get it in, all 4 of us were watching to see the big "Barn door" come up, and finally we see it and its about a 4 foot dog fish hooked in the side! :chuckle: He got alot of *censored* for that one!
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: TeacherMan on May 08, 2011, 10:41:22 AM: When I was a kid my dad and I went on a commercial boat out of Neah Bay, my dad had met the guy the night before when we went out to dinner. We originally where going to rent a kicker out of Big Salmon but this guy was a rod and reel fisherman and offered to take us out. Anyway we went out past the Strawberries and got into some really good fishing. My dad had bought a gross of live herring that morning and we used everyone of them that day, no limits :chuckle:. One of those fish that I caught was a nice skate around 70-80 pounds and we where going to cut it loose and the commerical guy about pissed himself. He got it on the boat and said they are worth there weight in gold. They cut the wings off and make artificially scallops out of them. At the end of the day we took out limits of rockfish and ling home and the commercial guy was super happy to have a couple fisherman for the day to help fill his boat for free.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: lokidog on May 08, 2011, 10:54:20 AM: Quote from: HUNTINCOUPLE on May 08, 2011, 09:53:46 AM
We went all the way to Yakitat to catch one of those stupid fish!!!

Yeah, me too, though we caught a bunch of halibut as well. I brought one of those about 200 pounds up to the boat in a 4+ knot current, what a let-down when I saw it wasn't a halibut. We released it even though I knew they have good meat in the wings. Ten minutes later, I hooked another about the same size so I passed it off to one of the other guys.

H20, We would have been happy to land anything out on Eastern on Friday....
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: Seatown5 on May 08, 2011, 10:57:09 AM: castle rocker- Are you kidding about using scate as "sea scallops" just curious. Had never heard that
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: pjb3 on May 08, 2011, 11:06:47 AM: Quote from: Seatown5 on May 08, 2011, 10:57:09 AM
castle rocker- Are you kidding about using scate as "sea scallops" just curious. Had never heard that

:yeah:
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: h20hunter on May 08, 2011, 11:08:23 AM: I have heard of people doing that with skates and rays. However, the only thing I wanted to do was put a few .45 rounds into it. However, I didn't.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: CastleRocker on May 08, 2011, 11:26:01 AM: Quote from: Seatown5 on May 08, 2011, 10:57:09 AM
castle rocker- Are you kidding about using scate as "sea scallops" just curious. Had never heard that

That's what we were always told. It's like "Snow Crab"...there is no such thing as a Snow Crab. That is a consumer market term for both species of Tanner Crab.

Another is the "North Pacific Cod"...that will be either Pollack, (at Skippers), Grey Cod, (at most other fast food fish places), or Black Cod, ie. Sablefish, (at higher end restaurants).

When I was a commercial fisherman, we always heard that the Sea Scallops that are sold as "fresh" are mostly scate wings. I don't know that for sure, but I do know that the real Sea Scallop is fished in the North Atlantic. It would be hard to buy them "fresh" anywhere on the west coast let alone in Alaska.

Like I said, it's just what we were told. I have no proof. We did eat some of the wings from skates, and they were pretty darn good the way our cook fixed them.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: lokidog on May 08, 2011, 11:29:03 AM: I have heard that it is used as "scallop". Haven't tried it myself. Went back and looked at my pics, maybe not 200 lbs but way too big to real up for nothing....

Technically, I guess these are Big Skates Raja ocellata.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: Straight Shooter on May 09, 2011, 02:37:48 PM: Fishing off of Guadalupe Island, Mexico back in the 90s, I hooked what I thought was a 100 lb-class Black Sea Bass. After a 15 minute battle, turned out to be a big Bat Ray. Man, was I disappointed.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: PA BEN on May 09, 2011, 03:44:09 PM: Thought I had a 100+ lb halibut last Saturday, until I finally got it to the boat. No pictures but it was 70 to 80 lb's. Very nice fight.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: bearpaw on May 09, 2011, 04:32:51 PM: A big bugger for sure, looks like fun anyway....
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on May 09, 2011, 04:50:18 PM: Skates are one of the most-favored species in England for classic fish and chips. Firm, dense white meat.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: Rob on May 09, 2011, 05:17:20 PM: Pretty sure the skate in the top photo is a longnose skate, not a big skate. the Big Skate have a huge spot on each wing.

I ran into a big skate up at Mukilteo while diving one night. It was pushing 5 feet wide and the body was a good 10 to 12 inches thick in the middle. I was able to touch it as it swam off. I was not able to get in front of it and touch it's nose-sometimes they go immobile when you do that and you can lift them up off the ground.

Very neat animals.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: dirty24d on May 09, 2011, 06:05:38 PM: Quote from: DOUBLELUNG on May 09, 2011, 04:50:18 PM
Skates are one of the most-favored species in England for classic fish and chips. Firm, dense white meat.

:yeah: took the words out of my mouth, they are pretty good fried up have had them before, no complaints from me at all.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: YoterHunter on May 09, 2011, 06:13:52 PM: skate is a very good tasting fish .they call them a poor man scallup.they use a peace of pipe and stamp the wings. fishing nea bay years ago with my dad. off the garbage dump. thought i had a monster halibut we got every thing ready .then when it came up it was a skate. it went from one side of the boat to the other.when it went under the boat it was wider then my boat which.was 7 ft. it was hooked in the wing pulled to the boat. pulled the hook and let it go.was prety cool seeing a fish that big.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: h20hunter on May 09, 2011, 06:39:48 PM: You know whats funny Rob is my hundred or so dives at Muk, tdock, wall, crabbing over at the oil dock, hell, paying homage to troll down there...never once remember seeing any skate. Strangers things happen I guess. I was glad to let that one go and get away with no broken off gear. Also, i agree on the longnose classification.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: fisheral87 on May 09, 2011, 07:07:50 PM: Nice skate! You can always tell the difference between a skate and a halibut cause the skate doesn't give you those big head shakes. They make you pucker up for a while though. :tup:

You could deep fry a skunks a$$ hole and it would probably taste just fine. :chuckle:

Quote
One minute youre just flying along and then -BANG- gravy
Now that is funny.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: Rob on May 10, 2011, 09:31:05 AM: Quote from: h20hunter on May 09, 2011, 06:39:48 PM
You know whats funny Rob is my hundred or so dives at Muk, tdock, wall, crabbing over at the oil dock, hell, paying homage to troll down there...never once remember seeing any skate. Strangers things happen I guess. I was glad to let that one go and get away with no broken off gear. Also, i agree on the longnose classification.

Yeah, I have well over 100 dives there too-my favorite north end dive site for some reason even though it is not that exciting. I'll do that over Cove 2 ANYDAY. the shrimping is fantastic there too.

That is the only Skate I have ever seen there as well and it was several years ago. I see them all over Three Tree point though.

Muk always seems like a cool spot to see unusual things. I have seen true cod there more than once too. Saw a pair of Six gills too.

Did you hear about he electric ray someone saw down at Redondo a few years back? They got photos. I snagged them as I figured no one would believe it...
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: Rob on May 10, 2011, 09:32:46 AM: Oh yeah, is T.O.M. still down there on the mound??? I have not gone to see Tom in a long long time. I think it's probably about time to go do that again.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: phishisgroovin on May 10, 2011, 10:34:31 AM: YUMMY!
Those Skate taste like Scallops! just cookie cutter cut the wings and deep fry!
Nothing better than dragging up a 100lb LOG to the boat lol!
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: thinkingman on May 10, 2011, 10:57:58 AM: We played that game outside of Sitka a few years back....never did get it to the boat.
The current was too strong and the thing was so wide, we could see it 50 yds off the back of the boat, just hanging in the current.
Broke off 100lb mono after about 20 min.
The guy that reeled it up from 330 ft was done for the day.
Title: Re: My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!
Post by: h20hunter on May 10, 2011, 03:56:59 PM: Regarding the troll. I'm not really sure. It has been a few years since I made the trip. I would assume so.