8 days in the salt near Sitka

[Sandan 0]

Very cool post Mark. I'm enjoying your blog too. Thanks

[Mark Knapp 0]

My understanding is:

Stripping line out is taking from the reel to increase the line "in hand" or towards the fish.

Stripping line in is making fast, long pulls to move the fly in long, straight "flight" motions.

Mending is when you have line out that is being pulled downstream (or downwind) and you flip the line to get it back upstream without re-casting and with minimal movement of the fly.

Just a response to your post #4, Mark.

 

 

Now, as for the trip. WOW !!! Nice haul of fish. That Yellow Eye is gorgeous. I've never caught a Halibut, but my Dad caught one about 85 pounds. He said that the first 10 minutes, he thought he was hung on the bottom. The son-n-law kept telling him he had a fish on. Only after that beginning did he feel it start moving and fighting.

I can't imagine reeling in one on a 1:1 ratio fly reel.

Thanks Mike, your explanation makes a lot of sense on the stripping/mending thing.

 

Yes, it was a great trip but not our best in terms of hours fished or fish caught. It was our best in terms of the halibut my buddy caught. We've been doing this since June of 2013 and learning more about it with every trip.

[Mark Knapp 0]

 

 

I'm interested in the line and set up you took the halibut on. Fast sinking heads or full lead core lines???

I make my own lines. I weld or lap and whip thirty feet of t20 to 90 feet of t17 the t20 is attached to the tippet and the t17 is attached to the backer.

 

When fishing, we set up the drift so that we are drifting toward the structure. We cast toward the structure and as we drift toward it we mend out line until we are just tickling the top of the structure. We typically fish in 60 to 120 feet of water.

 

The IGFA only allows you to mend 120 feet of line from the reel (More than that disqualifies that fish from the records) They call it stripping line from the reel but in fly fishing nomenclature, I believe they mean "Mend". Sometimes we fish deeper than 120 feet but It just so happens that we have 120 feet of fly line so we always know if we have exceeded to limit set by IGFA.

 

With the fly lines made the way I do it, the fly sinks straight down as you drift toward it. The first thirty feet is recognizable by the transition between the fly lines. I mend out 2 feet of line with each strip, so I can tell to a certain degree how deep I need to be according to what the graph is showing us. These are mostly bottom fish so it's important to be as close to the bottom as we can be.

Ah, the first pic made me think you were shore fishing.

 

Yeah, that was at the cabin, just before cleaning the fish.

[Mark Knapp 0]

Very cool post Mark. I'm enjoying your blog too. Thanks

You bet, sharing this stuff is almost as much fun as doing it.