There are plenty of weird fish lurking in waters around the world, but the halibut is up there as one of the stranger ones to swim among the depths. They are a flatfish, dark on one side and light on the other, because they spend most of their lives laying in wait on the bottom for their prey to happen past. They are a popular eating fish too. In this impressive video, Jeremy Wade is up in Alaska hoping to catch one of these odd fish. Unfortunately, the weather conditions are working against him for most of the trip. As a result, he arranges for a helicopter to pick him up and take him to a new area.
Once at his new spot, it does not take long for Wade to hook into a giant, and this halibut is not going to come quietly either. When Jeremy and his assistant finally get a rope on the fish, it's still got a lot of fight left as he tries to pose for a photo with it. Do you think you could do any better hanging on to such a big fish?
The fact that Wade says this fish "beat him up" is quite impressive when you consider Wade's long resume of extremely large fish catches that includes species like arapaima, sturgeon, wolf fish, and bull shark. This halibut was of a good size, but nowhere near the maximum size this species can reach. Halibut measuring more than seven feet and weighing more than 450 pounds have been caught in Alaska. Some of the larger specimens haven't officially qualified for the record books because the anglers often kill them to stop their thrashing before bringing them aboard, and sometimes with a firearm. Such actions are cause for immediate disqualification by the IGFA.
However, no one can deny they are a fascinating fish. Note how the halibut's eyes are both on the same side of its head. That is so its eye isn't in the mud when it is hiding near the bottom. While they may have the body of a bottom feeder, they sometimes come up and feed shallow too. Just chalk the halibut up as another of nature's wonders.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
