광어 365파운드 포획..캘리포니아
John Bierman, from Orange County, Calif., landed a whopping 365-pound halibut while fishing aboard the 28-foot Koffler, "Shooter" on June 18. Bierman is shown with his father, Ray, and the huge fish.
Angler from California catches huge halibut
365-POUNDS: Man had Ninilchik derby ticket, but he lacked a Homer derby ticket.
Published: June 26th, 2005
Last Modified: June 26th, 2005 at 06:39 AM
When charter boat skipper Steve Moe peered over the side of his boat 30 miles out of Ninilchik and started going bananas, angler John Bierman thought it was all a joke.
Minutes earlier, the gang aboard the F/V Shooter had been joshing about mythical halibut of 700 pounds or more. Now, here was Moe -- "Captain Crusty'' as everyone liked to call him -- screaming about a 400- or 500-pound halibut on the ends of Bierman's line.
A veteran of seven summer fishing trips to Alaska and an experienced big-game angler, the 33-year-old fishermen from Orange County, Calif., knew how a big fish felt. He had already caught halibut over 100 pounds, as well as plenty of big tuna and marlin.
"An 80-pounder came up harder than this,'' said Bierman of the fish he caught June 18. "I was thinking, 'Yeah, great. Let's just put another 100 pounder in the boat and go get in the hot tub.' I'm going home tomorrow.''
Then Bierman saw the fish that had gently plucked his bait off the bottom of Cook Inlet.
It was a shock.
There was a reason Captain Crusty was almost beside himself with excitement.
"You always want to get a really big fish,'' Bierman said, "but it never happens.''
This time it had.
Back at the dock later, after losing a 5-gallon bucket worth of stomach contents including a 4-pound cod, the fish would register an official weight of 365 pounds, making it the biggest halibut caught in Cook Inlet this year and the second-biggest ever registered in a Cook Inlet halibut derby.
Bierman, a vacationing accountant, wasn't thinking about any of that when he first glimpsed the fish. He was thinking about the difference between seeing a fish on the end of the line and actually getting it in the boat.
"What's going to happen now?'' Bierman wondered.
What happened was Moe got his .375 Magnum caliber handgun and shot the halibut in the head. It reacted by taking off.
"I think Steve more p----- it off than anything," Bierman said. "My only concern was when it went back down."
Bierman had to muscle it up again.
"It was like reeling up a couple sheets of plywood,'' the angler said.
The difference was that this was powerful, muscle-bound plywood didn't want to leave the sea.
When they got the fish to the surface a second time, Moe got serious. He not only shot the fish, he got a harpoon and a flying gaff into it. Finally, Bierman said, it appeared the fish was dead, but that didn't mean the battle was over.
"Then, it's like, 'Now what?' " he said. "How in the hell are we going to get it in the boat.''
Five people were on the Deep Creek Fishing Club charter: Moe; Bierman; Bierman's 66-year-old father, Ray; deckhand Brittney Gaethle and one other client.
Moe maneuvered the fish along the gunwale of the boat, and everyone grabbed hold and started pulling.
"Catching a big halibut is not an individual sport,'' Bierman said.
Getting this one in the boat required all five people.
"It was hysterical,'' Bierman said. Everyone was pulling and grunting before the fish came over the rail.
"It filled up the entire boat,'' he said.
That's when the size of the catch registered.
"It was like five people going crazy like a bunch of little school girls,'' Bierman said. "We were just on the deck jumping up and down, and then someone said, 'Is it dead?' ''
That question sobered everyone up quickly. Four-hundred pounds of live halibut pounding around in a boat can smash out its sides, break people's legs, even kill.
"People could get hurt,'' Bierman said.
Fortunately, this halibut was dead. Moe's last shot with the .357 made sure.
"Steve (Moe) has a lot of experience with big fish,'' Bierman said of the Ninilchik charter boat operator. "It's all luck and the captain.''
And they got just enough of a break in the weather to make a trip possible.
"It was really rough out,'' said Gaethle, a Homer resident who has worked boats seasonally for the past four summers to help pay her way through college. "We were getting tossed around all day. (But) we had diehard fishermen.''
Besides, Bierman's dad really wanted to fish for halibut.
"This old dude,'' Bierman said. "He runs five miles per day. He's a stud.''
And thanks to his persistence, son John has a fish to brag about.
"This is the fish of a lifetime," Bierman said. "I'm just kind of bummed that I didn't get a Homer (Jackpot Halibut Derby) ticket.''
A 352-pound halibut -- a fish 13 pounds smaller than Bierman's -- topped that derby last year, earning more than $50,000. A similar cash prize is expected for the big fish this year. A 276-pounder leads the Homer derby.
Bierman won't be making a windfall off his halibut, but he could still win a nice bonus prize. He bought a ticket for the Ninilchik Halibut Derby just before heading out to fish. He should win that derby and collect the top prize of $5,000 along with some local attention.
Even before the fish was hung in Ninilchik, Bierman said, the local grapevine had spread news of the big catch. When he went into the derby office to register the fish, someone was already on the phone asking if a 365-pounder had been caught.
The fish's official weight had been shouted out for the first time seconds earlier.
Meanwhile, traffic was getting congested on the Sterling Highway as people driving through town slowed to rubber-neck at the monster halibut being weighed. John plans to have its tail mounted as a trophy for a new office he's building in California.
It will serve as a reminder of just how much fun fishing can be in Alaska.
But if you're a tourist, you always have to go home.
"You go fishing for a week, and come back (home), and it's miserable,'' Bierman said Wednesday by telephone from California. He was already plotting his next fishing trip.
Daily News Outdoors editor Craig Medred can be reached at cmedred@adn.com.