Valdez Halibut Derby
Two tales from a previous year of the Valdez Halibut Derby.
by Marcus Weiner
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
—Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.
When it comes to two halibut anglers and their outing last year in Valdez, we could stop with “It was the best of times.” Since I’ve always loved this Dickens opening and it works with the title of the article, I brought it along for the ride. And so begins the tale of two derbies, and the tale of two Daves. [emember_protected custom_msg=’This content is available for subscribers only.’]
Part 1: Orion Charters and Joe Prax
We depart the Valdez small boat harbor in late June 2003 on Orion Charter’s 28-foot Alumaweld Offshore. Dave Wiley will captain us into the Gulf of Alaska to fish for halibut, rockfish, and lingcod. Joining us are Joe Prax, owner of the Prospector in Fairbanks and Valdez, Dave’s dad Russ Wiley, Fish Alaska operations manager Wayne Norris, and a friend of mine named Carlton Firoved. On the ride out, we all buy derby tickets with the outside chance that one of us will land a prize-winning fish.
It is a true bluebird day, with little wind, clear skies, and glassy calm water. I almost feel out of sorts upon entering the gulf and seeing only endless miles of flat water—my last impression of eight-foot angry waves crashing on us from all angles makes this glorious day seem like a hallucination. We are intent on finding big-fish locations, and soon Hinchinbrook and Montague islands fade farther into the rear view mirror, finally disappearing altogether.
Immediately upon reaching Dave’s destination we begin to catch fish. Russ and Carlton are both into big halibut, and after a 20-minute battle, there are two big fish on board—at the scales later, Russ’s fish is 184 pounds and Carl’s is 160. Wayne lands a nice halibut next, this one nearing 120 pounds. The group lands some rockfish and a few lingcod, and then Joe hooks and begins to play the first halibut of his life. It’s clearly a very big fish, but Joe plays it smoothly and slowly and he is able to bring the big fish to the surface in about 15 minutes. The boat is cleared of any other lines in the water, so Joe has complete freedom to work his way around the boat as the halibut takes him where it will.
Upon hitting the surface, it is clear that this is a large ‘but. With one thrust of the harpoon, Capt. Wiley has solidly lodged the breakaway head into the fish, and we are all doused in a saltwater spray as the fish thrashes about. I grab the harpoon rope with Dave to help steady the big fish, and the boat comes together to wrestle the leviathan aboard. It measures 83 inches. Realizing that this is a derby contender, we quickly get our lines back into the water and within the next hour limit on halibut. Six fish exceed 100 pounds. Dave wets a coat and a roll of paper towels and drapes it on Joe’s monster to help prevent it from dehydrating on the 3 H-hour ride back to port.
At the dock, we are greeted by a representative of the Valdez derby and get an official weight on the fish of 251.0 pounds. Amazingly, Joe’s first ever halibut now leads the 2003 Valdez halibut derby. Two months later, the fish had not been surpassed, and the lucky angler’s first halibut brings in $15,000.
Part 2: Reel Pleasure Charters and Karen Dullen
Fast-forward to the end of August on the charter boat No Excuses, piloted by Captain Dave Bruss. Dave has fished the Valdez area waters for a long time and is recognized as one of those skippers, like Dave Wiley, that finds big halibut. The two Dave’s are the only two charter captains in Valdez to boat halibut over 300 pounds.
A repeat group of clients had been trying to fish with Dave, but had been weathered out earlier in the season. Dave’s usual day off was Sunday, but because weather gets more unpredictable and generally nastier later in the season, when the weather was nice on Saturday, he decided to fish the group Sunday. The anglers had chartered for Monday, so both parties agreed to go overnight on August 24-25, 2003.
The five women anglers are all Alaskans, with Karen Dullen hailing from Fairbanks, and Laura Saxe, Bonnie Woods, Ramona Mooney, and Donna McGee all from Valdez. This is a group of experienced anglers with Ramona taking 3rd place in the 2002 derby with a 249-pound fish. There was an experienced skipper as well, as Bruss has been the captain for 16 top three derby finishers and five number ones since 1990.
Early on the morning of the 25th, Karen hooks a large fish. Upon playing it to the boat, it is evident that it is well over 200 pounds. After subduing the colossus, it is brought aboard to a host of other big fish. Other noteworthy fish from the trip is a halibut of 218 pounds and a lingcod of 67 pounds. The boat was so loaded that that the swim step was partially submerged. Back at port, the combination of the load of fish and the people that came to see the catch almost sunk the dock!
When placed on the scale, the massive halibut weighed 250.8 pounds. That’s right, .2 pounds is all that separated first from second place! Nonetheless, the happy angler landed the fish of a lifetime, had a lot of halibut to eat (Karen’s other fish of the day was 188 pounds), and was $5,000 richer.
Epilogue:
There is something especially satisfying in winning a prize in any contest. For the angler like me who can’t put a rod down long enough to mow the grass or clean the kitchen, winning a prize while fishing is akin to Nirvana. Join me in throwing your hat into the ring and buy a derby ticket for any of the widespread derbies across the Great Land. And who knows, perhaps 2004 will be your year.
Marcus Weiner is a publisher of Fish Alaska magazine. He can be reached at info@fishalaskamagazine.com [/emember_protected] [emember_protected scope=”not_logged_in_users_only”]
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