Fairbanks anglers enjoy one halibut of a day
Published Thursday, July 3, 2008
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It was as if someone flipped a switch.
That’s the only explanation Dave Machacek has for what happened last Saturday as he and Fairbanks fishing partners, Troy Williams and Tyrel Bailey, enjoyed the finest day of halibut fishing they have ever had, all in the course of two hours.
After plying the waters of Prince William Sound for the better part of two days and coming up with only “a couple little ones,” as Machacek put it, the three Fairbanks fishermen hit the jackpot.
In the matter of two hours, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., they reeled in six halibut weighing between 100 and 160 pounds.
“Basically, all the fish were back to back, with little to no time to rest,” Machacek wrote in an e-mail. “At one point we were working two at once. We had them wrap lines around the engines, trim tabs and other hanging fish. Some how we recovered and got them all in the boat.”
The men were fishing on Machacek’s 26-foot boat, Just Right, which seemed to sum up their day.
“After 30 years of fishing Valdez, I've never caught that many big fish that fast,” Machacek said. “I have had a handful of other trips on this boat and charters where we had similar fish over a two-day period, but not in two hours.”
They lost a few other big fish as they were reeling them in, too, he said.
As it was, they ended up with more than 700 pounds of halibut, which took them awhile cut up.
“We were pretty whipped when we finally got to bed at 2 a.m.,” Machacek wrote.
The only thing that could have made it a better day was if Joe Sigmon, their close friend and former fishing partner who died in an airplane crash in September, had been there to enjoy it, said Machacek. The four men went fishing together on Prince William Sound every year.
But Machacek suspects Sigmon had something to do with their strike of good luck.
“Something like that is so unusual that you’ve got to wonder,” Machacek said.
To top it off, Machacek said he barely made it back to Valdez.
“I had two gallons of gas left when I got back to the dock,” he said. “I was sweating it.”
Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.
Community Discussion
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right on, glad you guys got some nice halibut, got the coordinates cause im heading down there in 2 hours? figured i would ask.
Joe Sigmon was my brother-in-law, and you couldn't have asked for a better, more caring, loving man in the world. He loved being a pilot and loved Alaska. I was there with my sister when he took his last breath and he is sorely missed. I guarantee he was there that day of fishing watching over his buddies and bringing them good luck, that was the kind of guy he was.
RIP Joe
Lindsey
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