Halibut fishing - everything for your trip to Norway

Probably the most impressive fish that can be caught in the North Atlantic and partly in the North Sea is halibut. The fish, also known as white halibut, is, contrary to what the name suggests, not a flounder, but a plaice. With regular catch weights of around 100 kilograms when fishing with a handheld device, it is hardly surprising that the halibut with its violent drills is a popular target fish for sport anglers.

The halibut is a flatfish in which both eyes are on the right side of the body and that side is turned up. The dark color of the upper side adapts well to the sea floor, the white underside of older animals is inconspicuous from below when the halibut steals in the open water. Halibut is found mainly in northern Norway, on plateaus near sloping edges and in sandy gullies with currents. There they dig into the firm sandy bottom and wait for prey to swim by, or they wander around in the mean water. Halibut is therefore easy to fish from the boat, either by taking advantage of the drift and pulling in the line with stops in between, or by trolling.

The diet of halibut consists largely of fish such as cod, haddock and coalfish, as well as crabs and sand eels. Depending on this, the choice of bait usually falls on whole bait fish Marine system or Rubber fish am jigkopf. For both variants, an additional "fear triplet" that is hooked into the bait is recommended. This reduces the number of missed bites. But also on one Pilker every now and then you can bring in a halibut, especially if the treble is still equipped with scraps of fish.

Experienced deep sea anglers know that halibut show a special biting behavior. They bite rather timidly and often nibble on the bait before they really snap. You should therefore not start the game too early. Instead of yanking the rod up at the first sign of a bite, move the bait just a little harder to imitate a frightened fish. That could irritate the halibut to bite.

When fighting with a halibut, the best material is a must! Not only the heavy weight of some specimens requires a strong and stable cord Ruth, Due to the unusually strong caudal fin, a halibut can develop great powers. If you have brought this flatfish to the surface, the fight is not yet won: usually the fish then makes its way to the bottom again and pulls a lot again Schnur from. When the halibut is finally exhausted, it is brought on board either with a flying gaff or a harpoon. But you should also be careful here, although a wild halibut can usually be soothed with a cloth over the eyes.

The halibut has been classified as an endangered species. This is mainly due to the heavy fishing in connection with late sexual maturity, which is only reached when the body is around 135cm long. In Norway, a minimum size of 80cm is currently set. Resetting a halibut is usually not a problem as long as the fish has not been injured.

Have you ever caught a halibut or similar flatfish? Show us your catch in the comments and describe how you outsmarted it!