Here is a picture of a Halibut caught by Aaron Cooper (16 years old) while working for the fisheries dept on Kodiak Island earlier this summer, I just spent a week up their fishing with him and the rest of his family. He and another fish biologist brought this fish up to the boat. Knowing that they had nothing to kill this fish with and no possible way to get it on board, they tired the fish enough to take multiple measurements before releasing this fish. Truley a remarkable fish and fisherman to let such a fish go. They had caught this fish while reeling in an approx. 25lb Halibut when this one kept biting and swallowing the 25 lb er. They saw the big Halibut playing with the smaller fish so they dropped in anther line with just bait. And as the pic shows "he took the bait" this picture was then taken approx (2) hours later. A few news papers are going to write a full story on it.

Picture from July 2,2005. Fish measured 9’11” and estimated weight was 986#.

hopefully they didn't wear it out to much :rolleyes:

I am sure the fish was fine

holly hot damn that is one amazinv fish right there. i'm speachless, i've never seen a halibut that big even in pictures. thats just truely amazing. and to swallow a 25lb halibut whole is really amazing cause they aren't that small either. but compared to that i guess they kinda are huh

Looks like the ending to the movie "the abyss". that is a monster. wonder what the age is on something like that?

Nice story. I don't doubt that it's true. However, from the pic, you can't tell how big that fish really is. There is nothing to compare. The cannon ball weight comes close but I don't know how heavy it is. If it's a 16oz ball, that fish is considerably smaller than 900+ lbs. More like 200. But if the ball is closer to five or six pounds, the story becomes more interesting....

A different pic might tell a different story.

I hope they got a better photo then the one posted. There is nothing to reference the size. It could be just another 300 pounder.

Nice how we all become experts at judging how big a fish is by a picture posted on the internet.
You know, if the lead in the picture is only 2 ounces it might just be a 25# fish. Or not.

I know that I wasn't on the boat so I guess I'll just have to go with their story. Glad they let it go. Those are some mighty fine genes.

Seriously though, from the picture I'd guess only about 900#.

No, just the opposite. The pic does not provide enough information to determine how large the halibut actually is. It could be almost anything, including 25lbs or 900lbs.

That's why I'm confused by your response. How can you tell this fish weighs something close to 900lbs? On what information are you basing your conclusion?

I would note that at 986lbs, the fish would be just about twice as large as the largest halibut ever caught.

As the old saying goes, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".

He landed a 324 lb halibut 2 years ago, pictures were on the front page of the Kodiak news paper, and is posted all over town. I do believe he would know the difference between a 200 pounder, besides how many 200 pound halibut do you see measuring 9'11 .

I will forward the original photo to anyone who wants to see the original, the image is much cleaner

I don't buy it. Cool picture, but not conclusive. That cannon ball would have to be bigger than my downrigger balls to make this even a little bit beliveable. I have yet to see anyone fish with downrigger balls on a spreader bar so if that is what is going on hear, then this fisherman is one tough SOB.

any way you go it appears to be a nice hali,but i agree the picture is a little questionable as far as 900lbs goes or 9'11" but still a very nice hali!

i'm sure there are more pics ot this fish. someone find them so we can see it from a different angle. cause that is a little hard to believe.

but if in fact it is true then damn

All I know is if I caught a world record halibut, figuring out how to get it back would be a thought I have after I harpoon and blast it with the 44.

Put a call out on the radio for a larger boat to come help etc... I am calling BS on that photo. Cool though just don't buy it.

we caught a 156 off of PA, and in the water it looked like it was 300lbs from the magnification, so in the water does that look like a 1,250lber???? i'm also wondering how easily you can measure a halibut when its in the water and ur in a good sized boat leanin over the edge....it might just be a poor measurement on the 9'11", but as everyone else said, if it is true then that is one hell of a fish.

tgl, big halibut really aren't hard to measure on the surface, they are pretty docile and will just lay there until there head is lifted out of the water, I released 1 a few years ago that was 8'8", I know this because I laid a 1025 rod on its back and it was 2" longer then the rod.
Nootsack, if you shoot it it won't qualify as a world record, even harpooning it will disqualify it.

point taken, now that im thinkin about it our big one kinda laid there too and let us stick a harpoon through its back

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.