Halibut In the Feather ?

[Tony Buzolich]

Yesterday Jim and I were coming into the ramp after an unsuccessful morning of throwing flies. There was a boat at the ramp washing down and just pulling out. As I got to the waterline there was a pile of fresh heads and guts. Geez! I'm glad somebody found them. They must have been bouncing minnows and went downstream as we went up.

As I'm looking at this pile of carcasses in the water I count at least six stripers and another bigger body I couldn't quickly identify. A Halibut ? Could that be a halibut? along with all those stripers?

I went and got the truck and backed it down the ramp while Jim drove it onto the trailer. After the wipe down I ask Jim if he had seen that pile of fish guts and heads. "Could one of those have been a Halibut?" , I asked Jim.

He smiled, and said guys have been going to the bay and delta getting fish then coming up here to clean and wash down their boats after coming out of the salt.

Oh! I thought. I've seen carcasses at the boat docks before but always though it was from other successful fishermen. Hadn't thought about cleaning fish so far from where they were caught. Guess it doesn't hurt.
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

About 50 years ago when I worked at the bait shop in West Sac someone said they had caught a halibut or flounder around the town of Freeport?

[John H]

A guy in Washington told me people up there do that. He said he often finds rockfish carcasses in the river at the boat ramp. People stop at the river on the way home from the ocean and clean their fish at the boat ramp.

[Darian]

That's a long boat ride to go Halibut/Striper fishing and return (maybe an overnighter??). I do recall catching Flounder on flies in brackish water while fishing for Salmon/Steelhead. In estuaries with muddy bottoms, if you let the fly sink to the bottom before starting the retrieve, it be taken or snag Flounders quite often. Fun stuff while waiting for some Salmon/Steelhead to go on a bite....