Imagine hooking under the ice a fish so heavy and large that not only does it take four hours to wrangle in, but the hole in the ice also needs to be widened just to fit the fish through. That's exactly what happened to a group of Quebec anglers last week when they connected with a giant, 109-pound halibut in the Saguenay Fjord.
The whopper of a halibut caught by Mathieu and Remi Aubin on January 21 is the first one pulled in as part of a scientific project in the Saguenay Fjord this winter. In a series of videos uploaded to Facebook, the two anglers are documented in the grueling process of fighting, landing, and weighing the fish.
"What to say after 24 hours...honestly I'm still speechless," Mathieu wrote in a Facebook post. "Living this moment with Rémi Aubin touches me enormously. When I was younger, only a few years old, he took me with him to different bodies of water, [including] of course the majestic fjord. He not only passed on this passion to me, but more importantly, these values!... We all have hard days and having a role model like him at a young age makes me the person I am today. Wishing everyone [to] live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment !!"
There are very few locations in North America where anglers can fish for, and keep, Atlantic halibut. Quebec's Saguenay Fjord, where there is a special season during winter months, is one of those places. Other spots include Alaskan waters along the U.S. West Coast and along Maine off the East Coast, during its season.
Photograph by Mathieu Aubin
The Saguenay Fjord is a unique location where a large freshwater river coexists with salt water as the Riviére Saguenay meets the St. Lawrence River and forms a narrow, deep inlet in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The river's fresh water flows atop the gulf's salty water and freezes solid. It's a popular spot for hearty ice anglers. Anglers have caught huge Atlantic halibut while fishing for other species. However, before 2022, all halibut had to be released. Now, under a special license that must be approved through a committee, anglers can keep halibut over 85 centimeters (33.46 inches), with the condition that those fish are to be studied by scientists who are currently researching the halibut that inhabit the fjord.
"Studies suggest that the populations of some groundfish species in the Saguenay Fjord are 'sink populations,' which means they are isolated from those of the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence," scientists write. "In the case of Atlantic halibut, this issue has been little studied ... and the data collected during the project will help advance knowledge of the species." Mathieu and Aubin have certainly done their part to help—and lived life to the fullest on the ice.
READ MORE: Watch: Jeremy Wade Tangles with a Halibut on "River Monsters"
