Combat Fishing troops score on halibut
Fishing May 26, 2017 Lee Leschper
Despite threatening weather and bumpy seasons, Thursday’s Combat Fishing Tournament in Seward was a big success, on and off the water.
The annual tournament is a joint effort of the Alaska Armed Services YMCA and the charter industry in Seward. This year 235 junior enlisted men and women fished in the tournament, getting a shot at big halibut that most of them might never be able to catch otherwise.
Despite the weather and the early season, some captains able and willing to brave rough seas to get outside Resurrection Bay and to bigger halibut and the fishing soldiers reaped the rewards.
“It was rough, eight to ten foot seas,” Capt. Shaun Wood of Saltwater Safari said. “But we were able to get some good fish.”
Wood and tournament cofounder Bob Candopoulos were one of the boats that found good fish. The first halibut to hit their deck weighed 104 pounds on the boat, 98.4 back at the dock, good enough for second place. Another of their anglers caught another big flatfish that took third in the tournament.
This bounds well for Seward halibut fishing in the coming weeks, who need just favorable weather to get to what appear to be good numbers of big halibut.
