An ice fisherman from Quebec spent two and a half hours reeling in a 244-pound halibut in the Saguenay Fjord, marking the largest Atlantic halibut ever caught in the region. Describing the challenge, Marc-André Galbrand, the president of the basin committee, Comité de bassin de la Baie des Ha! Ha! (CBBH), emphasized the fish’s difficulty to catch, requiring patience and physical endurance.
Measuring two meters in length, the halibut surpassed the previous record set last year when a 194-pound fish was caught in the same area by Alain Hamel in the L’Anse-Saint-Jean sector of the fjord. This catch was part of a scientific project in collaboration with the local Fjord Museum aimed at studying the species.
Although fishing for Atlantic halibut is prohibited in the Saguenay Fjord, participants in the project catch and tag the fish for research purposes. The fish are then brought to the museum for analysis, including examining the bones in the head to study migration patterns. The halibut caught this season will provide around 170 pounds of meat for the fishermen involved in the project.
Another fisherman, Jérôme Rousseau, also reeled in a large Atlantic halibut off the coast of Sainte-Rose-du-Nord on the Saguenay River this season, which he considers a trophy after years of participating in the scientific fishing program.
Following the record-breaking catch, the fishing of Atlantic Halibut in the fjord was temporarily suspended to avoid exceeding the quota. Out of the 35 halibut permitted for scientific fishing, 27 have been caught, with plans to authorize a small number of fishers through a lottery system for the remaining eight, similar to restricted zones for other species like salmon or moose.