Duluth native catches huge Alaska halibut while fishing from kayak

SEWARD, Alaska — David Rokser was pedaling his fishing kayak final week, trolling as he went alongside, hoping to catch a salmon or perhaps a rockfish.

The Duluth native was on Resurrection Bay within the North Pacific Ocean, off Seward, Alaska, the place he’s spending the summer season at a mission that caters to service provider mariners.

“I hoped for a salmon, however they actually weren’t going in any respect. … So I believed I’d attempt off the mouth of a river, perhaps for a rockfish or one thing,’’ Rokser stated.

First he tagged right into a 40-pound skate, a kind of Alaskan model of a stingray, which was fairly thrilling by itself. “It was solely the second time I had the kayak out fishing,” Rokser stated.

Then he tied on a 6-ounce blue and silver Diamond Assault jig, hoping to tag into one thing down deep, simply off a shelf in over 100 ft of water.

The jig by no means hit backside.

“The fish didn’t hit laborious, however the jig simply stopped. I set the hook and it didn’t budge. It was useless weight,” Rokser stated.

That’s when Rokser’s epic battle on sea started. It might final for greater than 2.5 hours. “I didn’t know what sort of fish I had on. For the primary hour, it actually didn’t transfer a lot in any respect. … I had the rod butt tucked below my arm and the rod resting on my leg,” he stated.

The fish, no matter it was, was towing the kayak with Rokser in it. He’d find yourself greater than half-mile from the place the battle began. “After some time, I began making some progress. My entire kayak would transfer every time he did a head shake,” Rokser stated.

Throughout the battle, Rokser used his cellphone and known as a good friend, recording the water and chatting.

“I nonetheless didn’t know what it was. … It was solely when it got here up alongside the kayak that I may see it was a halibut,” Rokser siad. “When it appeared out of the gloom it scared the crap out of me once I noticed how huge it was.”

Keep in mind, Rokser had been fishing for salmon — silver cohos or perhaps a humpback pink — with medium-heavy deal with and a reel spooled with 20-pound check monofilament line. Halibut gear is usually stiff as a brush deal with, with wire line of 100-pound check or extra.

Rokser realized he was solely 100 yards off shore, so he back-pedaled his Hobie Mirage Outback kayak to the closest seaside, jumped out in waist-deep water and ultimately landed the fish on the rocks. He thought of releasing it, however the fish regarded spent past any reviving. So he bonked it on the top and used a gaff hook to pull it up. Then he puzzled how he’d get the monster dwelling.

“I had a cooler, nevertheless it wasn’t almost sufficiently big for this fish,” Rokser stated with fun. “So I used a few little bungies I had and strapped it to the again of the kayak. … I used to be a couple of half-mile from the automobile at that time.”

The fish measured 63 inches lengthy. Charts estimated the burden at 127 kilos, “however the locals who noticed it thought it was slightly heavier than that,” Rokser stated. He acquired some large fillets off the fish — what many individuals contemplate top-of-the-line tasting on the planet.

That’s a giant fish for a 72-inch-tall man to catch out of a 12-foot kayak. It was the most important fish he’d ever caught and his first halibut ever. His arms have been nonetheless quivering the following day.

“My entire physique aches nonetheless,” he stated.

The summer season in Seward has been chilly and windy, Rokser famous, and he hasn’t had many probabilities to get the kayak out on the ocean. However Aug. 10, the day he caught the halibut, was within the mid-60s and calm. “I used to be out kayaking in a T-shirt. That’s fairly uncommon up right here,” he stated.

Rokser, 29, an intensive care unit nurse practitioner, stated he moved to Alaska for the summer season after working by means of the grueling COVID-19 pandemic. “I wanted a psychological break and Alaska sounded good,” he stated.

He hopes to get out extra usually within the kayak by means of October, when he’ll go away Alaska, presumably for a stint in Africa. However he’s not prone to neglect his Alaskan kayak battle with a halibut.

“It was an ideal day,” he stated. “I had whales spouting close to me. It was simply a tremendous expertise. … You’re feeling very small in nature if you find yourself in a kayak in ice-cold Pacific water, alone, surrounded by mountains, whales spouting and breaching round you … and also you’re hooked right into a 100-plus-pound fish.”