everything’s bigger in alaska
PhoTo: howaRd mCKim
Battle with
the Beast
everything’s bigger in Alaska. Take Ket-
chikan Kayak Fishing guide howard Mc-
Kim, a mountain of a man. Before scoring
a 400-pound salmon shark sleigh ride
last year, he matched up with another
sort of nigh-inconceivable whopper.
while fishing with salmon bellies
across the Tongass narrows in 2003,
he hooked a monster. “i could hardly
gain an inch on the sheer weight of this
thing,” McKim said. An hour later, a huge
shadowy form emerged beneath his ‘yak,
far too big and dangerous to land solo.
no problem; the burly frontiersman sim-
ply towed the beast two hours up-cur-
rent, finally beaching his behemoth on a
nearby island. it pegged the scale at 183
pounds. That’s a lot of fish sticks!
Creature
Features
The west’s largest species of flatfish
come in a couple of delicious flavors. The
smaller California halibut ranges from
washington all the way down to southern
Baja. The average kayak catch weighs in
at 8 to 10 pounds. Anything over 30 is a
serious fish. They max out at 70 pounds.
The mighty Pacific halibut is another
story. Most common from san Francisco
north to Alaska, some of these “barn
doors” reach a quarter ton. hearty north-
erners go after the “chickens”—manage-
able and tasty 20- to 30-pounders.
www.kayakanglermag.com
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