Kingfisher Charters specializes in halibut, although the fleet will target whatever the passengers want, including the increasingly popular lingcod and several species of salmon.
Legendary San Diego long-range skipper and trophy-hunter Bill Poole came here a few years ago to catch a giant halibut. He left with a 341-pounder.
Recently, one of Bone's skippers had a group of four anglers catch four halibut, each estimated to weigh 300 pounds or more. They released all four, an admirable gesture considering it is these large females, which lay 2 million to 3 million eggs a year, that keep the resource healthy.
The ideal size, for those wanting to bring home some halibut fillets--and anglers generally bring home an obscene amount--are fish in the 70- to 150-pound range.
Even those can be dangerous, and Bone's skippers are instructed to treat any large halibut carefully.
The skipper will try to keep the fish just beneath the surface, because otherwise it will go berserk; slip a large shark hook through its jaw, stun the fish with a sharp blow to the head, slip a lasso around its tail and quickly tie the rope off on a cleat and slit the halibut's throat.
"And then you know that thing's not going anywhere," Bone says.
All this had Big Halibut Don intimidated at first.
"I remember my first trip with clients," he says. "They were four nice enough guys, but I could tell right away that they didn't really know what they were doing, and I was a little nervous because I didn't want to be responsible for losing any of the fish we got to the boat.
"But they were serious about wanting to catch halibut, and I remember thinking, 'Oh, I hope we don't get any real big ones today.' Well, sure enough, we get one up to the boat that goes about 250 pounds.
"I slammed a shark hook into its mouth and then went a little crazy. I took the gaff hook [which doubles as a club] and just started beating the hell out of the fish in the water. I'm swinging away using every cuss word in the book. I must have used 50 different cuss words. And then I realized what I was doing, looked up and saw everyone looking at me, and I look back at them and go, 'Uh, oh.'
"But we got the halibut."
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Other boats from Bone's fleet have gathered around Big Halibut Don's, and it isn't long before the rod tips start twitching.
The clients begin cranking up listless rockfish called yelloweyes, which don't put up much of a fight but are prized for their tender, white flesh.
