Quebec fisherman reels in record-breaking 244-pound Atlantic halibut for science
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this alsoIt took a Quebec ice fisherman two and a half hours to pluck a 244-pound halibut found in the Saguenay Fjord on Saturday.
This proved to be the largest Atlantic halibut ever recorded in the region.
“It’s actually quite a tough fish to catch,” said Marc-André Galbrand, Chairman of the Basin Committee, Comité de Bassin de la Baie des Ha! Ha! (CBBH).
“YYou have to be really patient and then you have to go to the physio because your arms are killing you.”
At two meters long, the halibut is bigger than most fishermen, Galbrand said. This fish, caught by aLen Hamel beat the record set last year in the L’Anse-Saint-Jean sector of the fjord between Chicoutimi and Tadoussac, when the team caught a halibut weighing 194 pounds.
working with lGalbrand says the ice fishing at the Okal Fjord Museum was part of a scientific project aimed at gaining more information about the species.
Currently, Atlantic halibut fishing is illegal in South America.Aguene FjordBut part of the project involves fishermen catching, tagging and bringing the fish to the museum where they will be weighed and harvested. He says the head bones are analyzed and may also indicate the migration patterns of the species.
The bonus for project participants is a feast on meat. This week’s off the hook, gaElbrand suspects the remaining 170 pounds will be “very tasty fish.”
Jérôme Rousseau also caught a large Atlantic halibut off the coast of Sainte-Rose-du-Nord on the Saguenay River. In this weather. For them, it represents a kind of trophy after four years of participation in the scientific fishing program and more than 1,200 hours of fishing.
The halibut was brought to the Fjord Museum on Monday morning, where its head and stomach were removed for analysis.
The fisherman found the body of the fish, which he was planning to enjoy with his fishing companions.
“This is a huge team effort,” he said. “We’re starting to look at recipes.”
Water depth is an additional challenge
Galbrand considers this activity to be “the extreme sport of fishing”.
“You have to really know what you’re doing. And you also have to be careful because they have quite impressive teeth that are really sharp,” he said.
An additional challenge for fishermen is the depth of the water, Galbrand says. teams can fish Depth anywhere between 120 to 180 metres.
“So if you catch halibut at 500 feet, you have to bring it up slowly,” he said.
Halibut are very strong and have “a lot of gas,” Galbrand said, describing a kind of tug-of-war with the fish until “you tire it out.”
I am mineRS after the record breaking catch on SaturdayThe following day, scientific fishing of Atlantic halibut in the fjord was suspended to prevent its quota from being exceeded.
Of the 35 halibut authorized under the scientific fishing permit, 27 have been caught so far. For the remaining eight, CBBH is considering authorizing a small number of fishermen selected by lottery, “much like you see in restricted areas for salmon or moose,” Galbrandt said.
