Icon Pot of Gold Halibut Derby - Sunday, February 1

[Sea Hag]

The weekend forecast was looking pretty nice for winter, so I decided Sunday to try out a bit of halibut fishing on the Icon. Long Beach Sportfishing was in the second week of their annual Halibut Derby, and Captain Shawn Morgan is back running the boat. I picked up Kenny on my way to Long Beach, and we boarded with 22 passengers. And I thought it would be a light load because of the Super Bowl. Guess the weather was just too nice for everyone to stay home!

Ocean conditions were fabulous for the ride out. The Captain gave a quick safety speech, and then went over his recommendations for catching halibut: 20-30 pound line, reverse dropper and a small treble hook with a short leader of flouro. Weight would depend on current and drift. I started out with 20 pound line and 3 ounces of weight. I mooched a treble hook from Rudy in the galley, and ordered a breakfast burrito while I was in there. That was one of the best breakfast burritos I have had in a long time!

When we set up on our first spot, there was not much wind and very little current. The Captain said they hadn't caught any fish on Saturday until the wind came up at about 2:30... and compared halibut fishing to watching paint dry. It was pretty slow. A few people caught some sculpin. One guy landed a really nice ling cod, and we pulled up a few big cabezon. All seemed a little unusual, we were only fishing in about 80 feet of water...

At about 10:45, after releasing a few shorts, one of the three ladies on the boat landed a legal halibut! That spread a bit of optimism around the boat, but was followed by more short fish.

The wind finally started to pick up some after noon. I finally had to go put on a little more weight. And on the very next bait, shortly after the weight hit the bottom, I felt a fairly hard tug. I let a little line out, then took up the slack.... nothing. I let line out again, and felt the bait get picked up again... and again let it take some line, then picked up the slack to try to set the hook. The bait was dropped again! Third time was a charm... I felt the bait get picked up again, and this time I must have let him chew on it for nearly a minute.
I landed our second legal halibut of the day a little after 2:00. And those two fish, 7.40 pounds on the first one, and six pounds on mine, were the only legal halibut of the day. So far, my fish is sitting at number 11 on the leader board!

Coming back in, the crew filleted the few other fish that were landed; a few sculpin and a couple of sand bass. The halibut were taken up to the landing to be weighed and photographed for the derby board, then taken back down to the boat to fillet.

Well, we'd like to thank Captain Shawn Morgan and the crew for a great day out on the Icon! I'll definitely be looking for another nice winter day to get out again before the derby is over.

The Icon was off-line yesterday and today, but they plan to be back out looking for flatties the rest of the week! The derby trips are only $50, and that includes your derby entrance fee. And the boat doesn't leave until 9:00 AM, so you can sleep in!!


The Captain's son... who helped out on deck. Really nice kid!!




Captain Morgan. (He's the taller one, in the red shirt...)
; )




Kenny and a couple of the guys in the galley. There was a TV, so that made everyone happy who wanted to see the game. Reception wasn't too bad...




Veronica's fish, that took the JP and is currently #9 on the leader board. Her dad's fish from the prior Sunday is #10.




My fish....




Coming back in to Long Beach.




A haron that hangs around the landing.




Rudy just got his captain's license. (Congratulations!!) He will be running the Icon when Captain Morgan is off.

[Mutt]

Looks like a good day thanks for sharing the pics.