In the period from 18.6. until 30.6.2011 skipper Ulrich Altstetter and his crew Wolfgang Boric, Reinhard Wührmann and Jürgen Grüneberg from South Germany after 2010 came for the second time with their own boat to the island of Senja in Northern Norway to catch halibut, cod and redfish.
On the penultimate day of fishing for the first time a presumably large halibut had taken one of the bait and line broke to our disappointment. Reason enough to the last day (Wednesday, 29/06/2011) again go to the same territory and end up with big rubber fish and 500 grams Bergmann jigs still to get a good fish for the photo book.
Reinhard Wührmann focused on the other hand, with its 3.20 m long "Denker" self made rod and a 200 gram jig to catch even one or two redfish or a cod for the last fish soup. A big fish in about 85 m depth seemed to care. He ignored it for the imaginary rubber fish and large jigs and grabbed the little colored 200 gr jig.
The Denker bowed reverently, the fish at the other end of the 0.23 mm braided cord seemed relatively unimpressed. The team watched the action in a few minutes, then was clear, that's a fish in the 3-digit and all other fishing tackle was taken from the water. While camera equipment and landing were prepared Reinhard Wührmann drilled the fish on the carrying capacity of its device without winning even one meter cord. On the other hand, the fish could not or would not dive into an approximately 140 m deep channel through which we drifted with about 0.4 kn.
We got a little worried because of a bad weather front in the south. Was still unclear how the whole thing would turn out, because now after 1 ½ hour intensive drill there was still not won 1 m line. Suddenly the pressure was to much and the Denker broke at the pin connection into two parts. Skipper Ulrich Altstetter due to its superior position in the boot took the rod, holding the cord under tension. Meanwhile, the broken rod tip slowly slid down on the braided line to the halibut.
But then the drill seemed to be effective and the flounder came up a few meters. First came to mind and then were also pronounced words like " we can get him .. " After another hour of drill time, the bad weather had moved back to happiness, dipped the tip of the rod on the water surface. The butt was right under the boat. With the rod butt, it was difficult to direct the fish to the side of the boat. Then, the halibut was seen the first time. A huge fish, which we estimated to more than 200 kg. Wolfgang Boric now led the butt to the boat and skipper Ulrich Altstetter harpooned the fish. The halibut was racing exploded in the depth and took line and harpoon line with it. To a holding was not thinking. The harpoon line was fixed to the side of the fishing boat "BLUEFIN". The line taut and the fish ripped the harpoon tip from his body. After 100 m the butt stopped his escape. It was the brake of the fishing reel Shimano Stella FA 10 felt hot, but was held to the enormous burden. After that the fish had to be pumped again to inch for inch to the top. Even after the second shot harpooning the fish it again, pulled it from the fishing line and could not be kept on a leash by two men. Stopped by the length of the harpoon rope the fish was pulled to the boat and then began to beat wildly at the surface around. Meanwhile Jürgen Grüneberg tried to photograph the scenes as best he could. After attaching a sling tail we were confident, this huge fish was caught.
Well, we dragged the halibut for 2 hours with 4 kn to the bridge of our fjord house. There 4 men moved the fish on the dock and we realized how heavy the halibut is really. We notified the neighboring Senja Havfiskesenter to weigh the fish. Unfortunately they didn`t have a suitable scale for the whole fish weigh and our balance was not good enough (max 150 kg weight).
It was presumptuous of witnesses, and weighed in pieces. The halibut was 2.55 m long, 1.36 m wide and almost 30 cm thick. The sum of the parts was 245 kg, is not considered lost blood and fluids. The head alone weighted 34 kg. At least now we knew: we have caught on light tackle under difficult conditions, a record halibut.
On the penultimate day of fishing for the first time a presumably large halibut had taken one of the bait and line broke to our disappointment. Reason enough to the last day (Wednesday, 29/06/2011) again go to the same territory and end up with big rubber fish and 500 grams Bergmann jigs still to get a good fish for the photo book.
Reinhard Wührmann focused on the other hand, with its 3.20 m long "Denker" self made rod and a 200 gram jig to catch even one or two redfish or a cod for the last fish soup. A big fish in about 85 m depth seemed to care. He ignored it for the imaginary rubber fish and large jigs and grabbed the little colored 200 gr jig.
The Denker bowed reverently, the fish at the other end of the 0.23 mm braided cord seemed relatively unimpressed. The team watched the action in a few minutes, then was clear, that's a fish in the 3-digit and all other fishing tackle was taken from the water. While camera equipment and landing were prepared Reinhard Wührmann drilled the fish on the carrying capacity of its device without winning even one meter cord. On the other hand, the fish could not or would not dive into an approximately 140 m deep channel through which we drifted with about 0.4 kn.
We got a little worried because of a bad weather front in the south. Was still unclear how the whole thing would turn out, because now after 1 ½ hour intensive drill there was still not won 1 m line. Suddenly the pressure was to much and the Denker broke at the pin connection into two parts. Skipper Ulrich Altstetter due to its superior position in the boot took the rod, holding the cord under tension. Meanwhile, the broken rod tip slowly slid down on the braided line to the halibut.
But then the drill seemed to be effective and the flounder came up a few meters. First came to mind and then were also pronounced words like " we can get him .. " After another hour of drill time, the bad weather had moved back to happiness, dipped the tip of the rod on the water surface. The butt was right under the boat. With the rod butt, it was difficult to direct the fish to the side of the boat. Then, the halibut was seen the first time. A huge fish, which we estimated to more than 200 kg. Wolfgang Boric now led the butt to the boat and skipper Ulrich Altstetter harpooned the fish. The halibut was racing exploded in the depth and took line and harpoon line with it. To a holding was not thinking. The harpoon line was fixed to the side of the fishing boat "BLUEFIN". The line taut and the fish ripped the harpoon tip from his body. After 100 m the butt stopped his escape. It was the brake of the fishing reel Shimano Stella FA 10 felt hot, but was held to the enormous burden. After that the fish had to be pumped again to inch for inch to the top. Even after the second shot harpooning the fish it again, pulled it from the fishing line and could not be kept on a leash by two men. Stopped by the length of the harpoon rope the fish was pulled to the boat and then began to beat wildly at the surface around. Meanwhile Jürgen Grüneberg tried to photograph the scenes as best he could. After attaching a sling tail we were confident, this huge fish was caught.
Well, we dragged the halibut for 2 hours with 4 kn to the bridge of our fjord house. There 4 men moved the fish on the dock and we realized how heavy the halibut is really. We notified the neighboring Senja Havfiskesenter to weigh the fish. Unfortunately they didn`t have a suitable scale for the whole fish weigh and our balance was not good enough (max 150 kg weight).
It was presumptuous of witnesses, and weighed in pieces. The halibut was 2.55 m long, 1.36 m wide and almost 30 cm thick. The sum of the parts was 245 kg, is not considered lost blood and fluids. The head alone weighted 34 kg. At least now we knew: we have caught on light tackle under difficult conditions, a record halibut.
It is currently regarded as the world's largest halibut caught by rod and reel.
Soure www.dintur.no
