A Large Halibut Turns the Scales in His Favor

At first, Jeff Butler thought it was a shark. Then he thought it was a ray. Then he could plainly see it was a halibut----a halibut big enough to ride all the way to Alaska.

“I figured right away he was 25 to 30 pounds, somewhere in there, and I figured if it didn’t win the tournament for me, it’d be right there,” Butler said Sunday, describing his tournament-winning catch of a 27-pound halibut at the weekend Marina del Rey Anglers Halibut Derby.

Butler, a snack-food salesman for a vending machine company, caught his fish at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and the catch held up all weekend, right to the 5 p.m. weigh-in deadline. He held off the best efforts of a record 1,489 other fishermen who competed in the two-day event on the wind-chopped waters of Santa Monica Bay.

Butler won a week’s trip for two at a halibut lodge, Whaler’s Cove, in Angoon, Alaska--worth around $3,400. But he may not go. At least, that’s what he said Sunday as he stood at the weigh-in dock, nervously looking at his watch and studying arriving boats, hoping he wouldn’t see anyone carrying around a halibut that looked bigger than 27 pounds.

“I’ll probably sell my trip to Alaska,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of offers already. I have no interest in fishing in Alaska. I don’t like to fly, actually, I enjoy fishing so much in Santa Monica Bay, I’d just as soon spend my whole summer fishing here.”

Butler, from Van Nuys, won by a comfortable margin--by exactly two pounds over runner-up John Jackson of Arleta, who caught a flattie that weighed an even 25 pounds. The first six fish in the tournament weighed more than 20 pounds.

Butler’s fish weighed exactly 27 pounds and was 41 3/8 inches long. The tournament record is the fish that won the first tournament, in 1975. That one weighed in at 32 pounds 8 ounces.

The real numbers news in this tournament, however, was the number of fishermen, not the poundage of the halibut. The number of entrants, 1,490, more than doubled last year’s field of 705. Never had so many gathered together in celebration of a fish so ugly yet so delicious.

There were 620 boats, compared to 325 a year ago. The tournament, sponsored by the Marina del Rey Anglers Club to raise money (entry fee: $25) for youth clubs in the Santa Monica area, is now drawing halibut fishermen from distant points such as Moss Landing, Calif., Mesa, Ariz., and Davis, Calif.

And just wait until next year, said one tournament official, Joe Palazzolo.

“We’re going to have 2,500 people in this tournament next year,” he said. “The interest is just fantastic.”

Unofficial results for the top 10 were tabulated Sunday evening. However, Palazzolo said, some aerial reconnaissance photos must be studied before the results become official.

“We heard about some spearfishermen at the Channel Islands concentrating on halibut,” Palazzolo said. “We sent a photographer on a plane over there to photograph all boats in the area. God help the fisherman who weighed in a fish here if we later learn he was on one of those boats.”

The unofficial top 10, as of early Sunday evening:

1. Jeff Butler, Van Nuys 27-0

2. John Jackson, Arleta 25-0

3. Steve Strong, Venice 24-4

4. Dan Christy, Glendale 24-0

5. Mike Dammann, Tustin 20-12

6. Brad Evans, Manhattan Beach 20-8

7. George Van Zant, Long Beach 20-3

8. Wayne Johnson, Glendale 19-14

9. Dave Henry, Montrose 19-3

10. John Kearney, Redondo Beach 18-14

Butler was fishing aboard the 32-foot “Elly 2,,” operated by charter sportfishing skipper Tony Winica. Butler also fished with a friend, Ed McClure, who had chartered the boat.

“We were about two miles off El Segundo, over about 60 feet of water,” Butler said.

“We were right over a spot where Tony had caught seven legals (22 inches), including two 25-pounders, two weeks ago. I had three live anchovies on a size 2 hook and I was using 20-pound test line. At first, when I set the hook, it didn’t move at all, but I knew it was a fish of some kind because I knew it was a muddy bottom. I knew I wasn’t hung up on a rock.

“I got it halfway up and it started running off the stern, so I figured it might be a shark. Then it started going back and forth across the stern, and now I’m thinking it’s a big ray. But when I worked him close enough to see it was a halibut, I knew immediately it was the biggest halibut I’d ever caught, and I’ve fished Santa Monica Bay for 16 years.”

That was Saturday morning. On Saturday afternoon, Butler weighed in his fish. It remained No. 1 on the leader board all day Sunday. Butler didn’t even fish Sunday, figuring the odds he had of topping his own catch were no better than those any of the 1,489 other fishermen.

More than 600 fish were weighed in during the tournament.

Sunday on the weigh-in dock was a parade of pretenders. Dozens of fishermen came to the scale, lugging 16-, 18-, 20-, 22- and 24-pound halibut. Butler paced about, studying his watch, wondering if 5 p.m. would ever arrive.

Farney Brown of Marina del Rey won last year’s tournament with a 28-4 catch (and won $500), but didn’t come close this time. He weighed in an 8-10 Sunday.

Mike Dammann of Tustin weighed in a fish that went 20-12. He caught it just off the Venice Pier, with an anchovy at 60 feet.

Dan Christy of Glendale, also fishing near the Venice Pier, caught a big one with a queenfish in 60 feet of water. The scale’s needle went to 24 pounds. Close.

. . . and Butler looked at his watch again.