Once again, they were working for the fisheries dept, testing fish from a set net, in between pulls they would drop a line under these nets and reel up as many as 60 fish a day just to kill time. They were not targeting any fish therefore had no need to have anything to kill a fish ie- pistol or harpoon. As for any kind of records, that went out the door as soon as the other person touched the rod, The fish was measured twice because they did not believe the first measurement. the measurement was taken by means of having lead weight tied onto a leader, dropped down and yes straight down, hooked on the tail then measured (twice) the 9'11 is an accurate measurement now there is probrably some room for error on the width of 6' now you guys do the math on the halibut calculater, It is my undersdtanding that the calculaters tend to be very heavy, so even if it was 200 lbs off you still have one of the largest halibut ever seen or caught.