West Coast Now
Nanoose Bay resident Margot Mallicoat has always wanted to catch a halibut in Winter Harbour. For three years, she has been travelling up to the remote western Island location on fishing trips to do just that.
After six days on her latest trip this June without a single bite, she was “feeling a bit cursed.”
“And I was a bit heartbroken. It was the last day, and I thought, well, I’m just going to put a line down by the dock,” she told CHEK News.
“When offshore isn’t an option, try hanging a line off the dock. You never know what might happen.”
Margot Mallicoat
Caught on Camera
As you can see in this Youtube video she uploaded, Mallicoat caught more than she bargained for. In fact, it was her lucky day because she hooked a 40-inch, 44-pound halibut.
“I don’t think it’s legal. It’s too big!” she exclaims in the video, peering over the boat’s edge with her golden retriever. “I’m not kidding! Look at this thing!” she yells as her cameraman laughs at Mallicoat’s mixture of shock and glee.
“At today’s prices of Halibut, she’s rich! Good job!”
David King on Facebook
The catch is so unusual because halibut are usually caught in deeper waters, not on a docked boat next to land.
“When offshore isn’t an option, try hanging a line off the dock. You never know what might happen,” she wrote in the Youtube video description.
Just for the Halibut
Fishing conditions also happened to be ideal.
“We had a beautiful spring season in our area, as we were blessed with unseasonably nice weather and extremely cooperative fish!” wrote Greg Vance of The Outpost marina in his latest Winter Harbour Fishing Report. “Most vessels report the hali and ling fishing to be very good, which for our area is almost an expectation.”
Facebook users were quick to chime in with their congrats for Mallicoat: “At today’s prices of Halibut, she’s rich! Good job!” wrote David King.
“She cast just for the halibut 😉” cracked user Jamie Holmes.
