A Great Day Out Gathering

April 17, 2022

Since the beginning of April we have had our Prawn and Crab traps set, and we have been checking them every few days.  Our numbers are much lower than they were last year, but we have still been getting enough to eat and to freeze.  We have been doing quite well with crab, but not so well with prawns.  We have also been out fishing a couple of times and on one wonderful day we had great luck. 

On Easter Sunday, April 17th, it was forecasted to be sunny.  We headed out in Little Red to spend the day fishing.  The wind was calm, and although the air was still quite cold the sun was warming.  It was a beautiful day to be floating on the water fishing.  

Our first fish felt like a small halibut, it fought and pulled downwards like a halibut, but when it came up to the surface it was a nice-sized five-pound Pacific Cod. 

We were quite happy, not only would we not be going home empty handed, but it was also the first keeping sized Pacific Cod that we have caught in a long time.   

The day was still young so we kept fishing.  After we had been out on the water for a couple of hours I got a good hit.  Instead of pulling right away, my line went completely slack.  I pulled up and started to reel, but nothing.  Then bam, there it was.  Halibut! 

We were prepared for it when it got to the surface and we hauled in a 38”, 30lb fish.  What a beauty!!   

Since the air was plenty cold to keep the fish well, and since we were happy spending the day floating on the water, we decided to stay out.  An hour later and we got another one, this time a smaller 12-pound halibut, but still a lot of meat.   

Finally, an hour later, we decided that since we still had our traps to pull up and check on the way in, and then several fish to fillet and freeze, we would head home.  Jason began to reel up his line and put everything away while I made a few more jigs.  Suddenly my line went slack, and then back to normal; that was weird.  A few more jigs, and I had one.  It was another 12 pounder.  What perfect timing!! 

Last pull up of the day and with a fish on the line, what great luck!  Apart from the day two years ago when we caught our biggest halibut, this was definitely our most lucky day out halibut fishing, and it was the first time that we had limited out. 

On our way back to the dock we pulled up our prawn traps and we had 52 prawns, then in our crab traps we had 4 nice-sized Dungeness. 

When Jason was done filleting all of our fish, we had one very very full five-gallon bucket full of seafood to take home.  We gave some of it away, and then went to work freezing 20 good-sized-portion meals for the two of us of Halibut.  What a great day out gathering!!!