Way back in 2018, I got the idea to build a boat big enough to go out on the ocean with so that we could fish for halibut on it. We had most years that we had gone up to Alaska gone out on a charter to fish for halibut, which cost $300 per person. So I researched different kinds of boats, the difficulty of building various types, Alaska, halibut fishing, and available plans and instructions on building. After many hours of reading, researching, and even going for rides in some different styles of boats, I decided on a 26-foot ocean-going dory, the kind that many commercial fishermen off of the coast of Oregon use and also sport fishing charters use out of Pacific City. I bought the plans and materials, and I built it in four months in what used to be the church shop before it was remodeled and converted into a storage building. I made it and recruited some friends to help me, and we pulled it to Alaska, driving 60 hours non-stop to get it there. I took it out three times in the next three weeks and caught nothing. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t know how to fish for halibut. I got discouraged with the halibut fishing thing, called myself an idiot for coming up with such a stupid idea, and pulled the boat back home. It has been here for the last five years. That was an expensive experiment, gas is expensive in Canada, and I felt like a dummy and a failure. The most I have done with it here is to fish on the Colombia for Shad twice. The motor was unreliable and small, so I bought a Mercury 135 hp motor and had it rebuilt. It is a very reliable and robust motor for a magnificent boat. I have been planning to fish in the ocean here and do a bunch of crabbing out of it.

A couple of years ago, I was up at the Portland Sportsman’s Show, which I go to every year, and I saw a booth advertising guided halibut fishing out of a drift boat near where I fish in Alaska. I looked at all of his pictures and watched all of his videos. I was intrigued because they didn’t even use a motor; the guide rowed it out into the ocean and fished for halibut. I thought, “That is crazy!” so I booked a trip; in fact, I booked two trips and went out in the ocean fishing with him the following summer when I was up there on our annual salmon fishing adventure. It was great; it was terrific; in fact, it was awesome. I thought, WOW, I went out in a drift boat one-quarter mile from shore in 20 feet of water with this guide and caught halibut. So two years ago, I built an 18 ft drift boat up at Tim’s place in Soldotna, Alaska. Last year I built a trailer for it, and I also met a fellow that some long-time friends of mine who live in Alaska recommended that I get together with. I connected with him by cell phone and drove to his house, and talked with him for hours about fishing for halibut out of a drift boat. He was about my age, and he took his drift boat out in the ocean with his old wife, fishing for Halibut all the time and almost always limited out. So this year, I took my drift boat out six times, following all the guidelines my new friend gave me, and we caught lots of halibut; it was a blast.

All the time we were fishing in my relatively small 18 ft drift boat with a little 2.3 hp motor on it, I thought this would be so much more comfortable out of my dory. My dory is 26 feet long; you can stand up in it, you can walk around in it, and you can get four to six people in it. My dory was built for this; it would be amazing, no, it would be awesome!

So, I will pull my dory back o Alaska again next year and leave it up there. We are going to build a house for it, and we are going to catch lots and lots of halibut out of it. I am going to become an expert at catching halibut in Cook Inlet.

I love catching sockeye salmon, but there are those slow days, and now we can catch halibut on those days. I love fishing for Halibut so much; it will have to be a really hot day fishing for salmon to pull me off of the ocean.

I am stoked about my new plan, I will be looking for people to help drive next year, so if you have always wanted to go to Tim’s Place, “Funny River Fellowship Lodge – Where the Tug is the Drug”, but couldn’t afford the airfare, this could be your chance.

In the Colombia river fishing for Shad