over 200 Pacific halibut in Alaska. My biggest was 81 pounds if I remember correctly. I’ ve caught a 70, a few from 45 to 60 and a whole bunch from 15 to 40 pounds.

Now a lot of my friends that have spent way less time than me fishing Alaska have true 100 plus pound barn doors. And Steve’ s clients have caught a big number of 200 plus pounders and several over 300!

Why haven’ t I caught a halibut over 100? Maybe I stink? Or maybe luck plays a factor?

I think both are true. It takes luck to have a big halibut pick off your bait, but contrary to what you might have heard it requires some technique.

When fishing with Steve, halibut are caught two ways, with bait inside the Cook Inlet and on big jigs / swimbaits outside the inlet. The jig halibut are caught incidentally while targeting lingcod so I’ ll touch on jigging in a bit when I talk about lingcod fishing.

When bait fishing for halibut you’ ll be working, water ranging from 60 to 300 feet deep with a modified sliding sinker rig. You’ ll be using from 2 to 4 pounds of weight. The leaders are made of strong cord and are tipped with two size 16 / 0 circle hooks. The main bait used is chunked herring, but occasionally Steve will mix salmon heads into his spread if he thinks really big fish are around.

Tides are huge in the Cook Inlet so the period of time around a tide change is really the only time you can effectively fish for halibut, especially in deep water areas where the larger fish are often found.

Typically, you get to the grounds as the tide is slowing down but still running pretty strong. After anchoring the boat the rods are baited and each angler lowers his rig to the bottom as instructed. Once your gear is on the bottom, you’ ve got to pump your weight and bait off the bottom every 30 seconds or so. This helps attract the halibut and discourages trash fish from messing with you bait. The first few dozen times you pump the weight up it’ s pretty easy, but then as you can imagine it gets tougher.

Now, you might think,“ Okay so what if I hook a trash fish?”

Well that trash fish may be a 200 skate that YOU’ VE got to reel in against the current … better to diligently pump the rod no matter how tired your arms feel … Okay, you’ re pumping away, before long a halibut is going to come knocking

and you’ ll feel a firm TAP, TAP, TAP … The proper approach is to immediately get into a position where you can start reeling WITHOUT lifting the rod tip or giving the fish any slack. With a circle hook, it’ s the reel that pulls the hook into the corner of the halibut’ s mouth.

If all goes well the fish will continue to bite. When the tugs get very hard and steady you start reeling and its fish on. This sounds simple but in reality, timing is everything. If Steve is watching the bite he’ ll tell when to start reeling. If not, you’ ll figure it out, but you’ ll miss plenty of fish.

When you hook a halibut large or small, the key to landing them is to fight them as gently as possible. That means steady pressure that is achieved by a steady grind on the reel. Do not pump the rod tip or rest the rod on the rail of the boat as both of these mistakes will cause you to lose fish. If the halibut gets any slack there is a good chance that it will flip its head and toss the hook easy as pie …

As you fish you’ ll note that the tide is starting to slow down. This marks the beginning of the golden hour of halibut fishing. Of course, at this point, your arms are tired from pumping your weight up and down and fighting several“ shaker” size halibut.

You can’ t allow fatigue either physical or mental to affect your technique at this crucial time because it’ s during the slack tide period when really big halibut bite the best.

Accounting for the time it takes to fight fish or just to crank up and check your bait, you might have time to play out 4 or 5 bites when the tide is slack so it’ s crucial to bring your A Game to the table.

I’ ve seen heroes crowned during the slack water period when big fish came over the rail, but I’ ve seen a lot of hearts broken too, when big fish were lost due to a lapse in technique.

Remember that when the tide is slack there isn’ t any current, that’ s good and bad. On one hand, you don’ t have to fight the fish and the current, but on the downside current helps keep hooked halibut pinned on the hook.

When the current is slow or non-existent it is ultra-critical to keep the line tight at all times when fighting your fish, pumping the rod and creating slack or stopping reeling because of fatigue are the two best ways to lose the fish of your dreams!

Lingcod

An angler fishing with Steve caught the current world record lingcod a few years ago. When working the coastal islands on the edge of the gulf 35 to 50 pound lings are common and fish from 60 to 70 pounds are caught every year. My current personal best was a 61-pound monster!

Steve hooks his lingcod on huge white Kalyn Grubs rigged on one pound jig heads.

If you’ ve fished for lingcod in California and particularly if you are a good California lingcod stick, you’ ve got to forget much of what you hold as gospel when fishing with Steve. Yeah let that sink in … When it comes to Alaska lingcod fishing, using a California approach is going to hurt you!

In California, we like bottom contact. In Alaska, the current moves so quickly that you want to avoid bottom contact as much as possible because with a quick drift you’ ll snag up super quick and Steve hates losing jigs. Not because they are expensive, but because in the wilds of Alaska it’ s hard to resupply. You can’ t just call time out and run over to Sportsman’ s Warehouse … LOL.

The proper approach is to pitch the jig up drift( you may make the cast or Steve might cast the lure and then hand you the rod) and spool it to the bottom. As soon as the bait hits the rocks you want to crank it up and swim it 10 to 12 feet ABOVE the rocks. If you feel it tick the bottom, reel … The bottom is very craggy lava and its very snaggy.

Okay, you’ re fishing and staying out of the snags. You’ ve got to keep yourself in a body position that allows you to set the hook and reel very quickly.

Sometimes the bites are savage and the fish are easy to hook. Most of the time the bites are signaled by a light fast tug and you’ ve got only a second to set the hook and get the slack out of the line before the fish spits the bait or shakes the hook.

When jigging you’ ll see guys set the hook and then hesitate to see if they’ ve hooked up. Often times they have, but that hesitation allows the fish to headshake and toss the hook.

Lesson learned … Set the hook on any taps, ticks or strange activity and immediately reel and keep on reeling until you are 100 % sure that you missed ….

When you set the hook at the lingcod grounds it might be a big ling, but it could be a halibut or a huge yelloweye rockfish.

The lingcod grounds are about a 70-mile run from the boat launch. This in itself means that you’ ll only have a few hours at most to actually fish, which is plenty provided you execute!

My mindset is always that I’ m not going to leave anything on the table. I’ m not going to miss or lose a big fish …. Sometimes I don’ t, sometimes I do ….

Silver Salmon

Silver salmon fishing in the Cook Inlet or beyond is a blast, but it’ s a feast or famine proposition most of the time. If the salmon are there the action is lights out fast. If the salmon aren’ t there, they aren’ t there. Last year we got into a big school of salmon blitzing bait on the surface and put 18 fish in the box from about 5 to 14 pounds in 20 minutes!

Steve targets salmon in two basic ways. If they are tearing up bait he tosses 2 to 4-ounce P-Line Laser Minnow jigs at them on steelhead weight gear. This is as fun as it gets!

You toss your jig out 20 to 40 feet and let it fall on a semi-tight line. Generally, a silver will zip up and smash it. If not once it reaches a vertical position you jig it up and down with a short brisk stroke, letting a bit of slack develop as the jig falls. The bites are hard … Set, reel, land the salmon and repeat!

If the salmon are too scattered for jigging, Steve will rig up the jigging rods with 1 to 2-ounce Banana sinkers and slow troll with small rigged herring. This approach requires little technique from you. You just put your bait at the instructed distance back, put the rod in the holder and wait for the bite …

Gear When you visit Captain Steve’ s you don’ t need to bring any fishing gear. Steve runs top notch Cousins rods and Accurate 2 speed reels and his gear is dialed in for the kind of fishing he does.

While the lodge has a big selection of raingear for guests to use, I advise you to bring your own rubber boots and Grundens bibs and rain jacket. In addition, you’ ll want a waterproof daypack, like the ones offered by Grundens for your personal gear.

Be sure to bring a camera and a video camera if you have one. Beyond that you’ ll need sunglasses, layered clothing, fleece is great, thick socks to wear inside your boots, a knit beanie style hat and a ball cap.

Bring some comfortable clothes to wear back at the lodge while you tell lies to your buddies about the fish you’ ve caught ….

Finally, don’ t forget your motion sickness pills or patches and use them. Nobody wants to travel all the way to Alaska only to be handicapped by seasickness.

Big Rainbows German Browns with Cliff Spediacci of

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Cliff and his wife Shirley are full time residents of Eagle Lake and, weather permitting, are available through November to get you on the fish.

Having fished California lakes and reservoirs for over 40 years Cliff & Shirley are eager to share their passion and knowledge with you.

Licensed, bonded and insured, Hook & Ladder Guide Service offers professionally guided Eagle Lake trout fishing trips on beautiful Eagle Lake and german browns, rainbow trout and landlocked king salmon on Lake Almanor. When you book a trip with Hook and Ladder Guide Service, you will be fishing in a 2013, 23 ft. Duckworth Pacific Navigator boat powered by a 225 H. P. Honda outboard, Minnkota electric motor with ipilot, 4 Scotty electric downriggers, Lowrance Electronics with GPS and VHF radio. The boat has full cover and for cold weather there is even a heater.

For more information about Cliff and Hook & Ladder Guide Service, check them out online at www. hookandladderguideservice. com.