I hope everyone has caught their one halibut for this year because DFO will announce later today that halibut closes Sept 5 for rec anglers despite the fact that millions of pounds of the Canadian TAC is still in the water.

With the freezer filled with springs, pinks, sockeye, prawns and crab who the heck has room for any halibut anyways. Besides the weather turns decidedly iffy on the westcoast in September anyways.

gladly trade a spring for a nice chicken....scamming bastards.....it's the principle...what's next?.........................hp

It's those semi commercial west coast guides taking 6 or more hali at a time (double that before they changed the limit) from Swiftsure and other off shore locations that fill the "sports" caught quota for halibut.
Guys like me who like to get a fresh hali in the spring and one in the fall in Haro or on Constance are the ones who feel cheated.
September halibut fishing has always been good off Victoria.
No Commercial early shutdown though. The news story said DFO were concerned about the health of the stock? I know, the commercial guys have not yet met their quota.
I'm golfing today....give fishing a break....yesterday got a 20 pound spring off Otter Point between about 30 pinks....ugh....I hate pinks! Went thru 4 packs of bait.

THE CHARTERS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM, IT'S THE UNFAIR ALLOCATION AND DFO THAT IS THE PROBLEM..... .holmes*

Wrong! I've said it before, but it appears some even amongst our ranks simply have to have the point driven across repeatedly to ingest it.

A Recreational Angler is a Recreational Angler regardless of whether he/she fishes with a guide or on their own. In both instances, funding must cover the expense. For a great many, the expense of purchasing a sea-worthy boat, outfitting that with the proper electronics, safety gear and fishing equipment, insurance, fuel, moorage and maintenance is simply beyond their means. It is simply not an inexpensive proposition. For those that fall into the category of not having such disposable income, going with a guide is the obvious route. And many still have to save for that in order to do so.

So, each has to outlay some coin. Each target the same fish - Note: The Guides simply provide a platform, they do NOT retain the fish, their clients do. Those same clients have every much right as You to keep their fish. They are absolutely NO different than you, as a boat owner in that right.

As Holmes and many others have noted, the problem is the complete lack of Fairness and twisted allocation policies that favor Big Business over both Recreational Anglers and actual Working Fisherman. Purporting Anything else is in grievous error.

Nog

Nog and Holmes have it exactly right! Big money brokers with their well paid lobbies, and governments that persist in imposing an unfair system that imposes private ownership of a public resource (contrary to both historic and current law) over the public owned resource - That is the problem.

The problem is the fisheries minister isn't getting any kickbacks from recreation license holders....that's what the lease program is all about....PHMA is a front for DFO to tax us on our right to EAT...................hp