Using a HI Farmcata knife, just for the halibut.

Howard Wallace

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Red Flower and I went halibut fishing the other day. We caught a couple of little ones, as halibut go. We decided to steak them out instead of going the more traditional route of fillet. The chosen knife was the Farmcata, in large part because of the unique handle that will provide a solid grip even when covered with fish slime.

I used a thick old cutting board to absorb impact so I wouldn't chop up my picnic table.
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I had a carving knife in reserve for auxillary flesh cutting, but it turned out not to be needed. The farmcata did it all, going through both the thick flesh and the spine cleanly with no problems. Any little remaining connections of skin were easily taken care of with a quick slice of the farmcata knife.

Final report, the farmcata knife does an excellent job steaking out larger fish, and the handle shape provides good security for chopping even when covered with fish slime.
 

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Little, far as Halibut go but a lot of fine eating right there. Those are very nice. Darn nice little steaks too.

And of course a fine looking farm knife too, only thing lacking is no photo's of Red Flower??????
 
... only thing lacking is no photo's of Red Flower??????

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Here you go. She pulled this one up from 750'. It was touch and go for a while whether she would catch the fish or the fish would catch her. However, Red Flower is tenacious when it comes to foodstuff.
 
Awesome! Used mine to quarter a chicken the other day. As you say, just for the halibut (and for the handle of it...and I guess the heft of it - the knife gives it some good momentum and umph).
 
Dang! That Halibut if fit for Jehovah! I like everything about that picnic! Love that Farmcata. The other filet knife is pretty dang cool too!
 
Some fine looking fish there, going to be some tasty eating. Looks like the blade looks like it did a perfect job. Poor Red Flower that fish looks like its up to her waist. Enjoy your many meals.
 
Halibut has been one of my favorite fish since I moved to the NW and hubby and I did a fishing trip to Neah Bay. Full Freezer of the yummiest fish. Just about time to schedule another of those trips soon. Freezer looking empty need some Venison, Halibut, Salmon and Moose.
 
nice little halibut!

reminds me of the week end in the aleutians the captain of our coast guard cutter (WMEC-619 'Confidence') stopped & anchored in one of the island harbours, one of the crew went fishing off the stern. he caught something.

took 4 hours or so to get it to the surface. an eight foot 400lb. halibut. he couldn't, obviously, haul it onboard so the captain, who got involved earlier when the word spred of the epic battle on the stern, had one of the small boats lauched, they tried getting it into the boat, but it was too active. traditional billy club did not work (axe handle) so one of the boat crew was an armorer, so he had the armoury opened up & got his .44 mag out. took 4 shots to pacify it. the whole crew (about 60) ate halibut for a week. love halibut, delicious.
 
...reminds me of the week end in the aleutians the captain of our coast guard cutter (WMEC-619 'Confidence') stopped & anchored in one of the island harbours, one of the crew went fishing off the stern. he caught something.

took 4 hours or so to get it to the surface. an eight foot 400lb. halibut. he couldn't, obviously, haul it onboard so the captain, who got involved earlier when the word spred of the epic battle on the stern, had one of the small boats lauched, they tried getting it into the boat, but it was too active. traditional billy club did not work (axe handle) so one of the boat crew was an armorer, so he had the armoury opened up & got his .44 mag out. took 4 shots to pacify it. the whole crew (about 60) ate halibut for a week. love halibut, delicious.

That's why the Coast Guard should have khukuris, or at least farmcatas.
 
Can you imagine a cutter pulling alongside a vessel full of suspected drug thugs and every member of the crew with a nice WWII or similar on their belt? Man, what a pretty picture!
 
Pretty picture indeed.

In rereading this thread and partaking of the nice photos again I find myself happy that Red Flower is tenacious and caught the fish rather than the fish catching her. I can see it was probably a tough hard fought battle and probably a close thing.

Tenacious wins again. Some safety straps or perhaps a fighting chair might be a good future investment although I'm sure Mr. Wallace was close at hand to rescue if necessary and that too is a very good thing.
 
True Bawanna, Even these that are considered small for halibut put up a real fight. I had a guy we were fishing with slip in a bit of fish slime and once down, it was impossible for him to get up while fighting a moderate sized halibut. Took 2 of us to get the pole secured while he got up and got ready to continue the battle. I was tired just from helpng hold it while he got on his feet again. I think the size Red Flower caught is about all I would need to wrestle with for one heck of a work out.
 
You need to be tenacious, it's all about tenacious. I'm not as tenacious as I used to be but I'm wiry.
 
when i was in high school i lived in long island about a half mile from the great south bay where we'd catch flounder & fluke. they were like micro and mini halibut. the largest fluke i caught was about 5 lb. they fight more like a rock. the main difference is that rock moves around while you are trying to wear it out.
 
I was processing fish this morning with the farmcatta and it occurred to me I should update this post. The knife is still going strong 9 years after my initial post, even though the cutting board didn’t make it. It is still my go-to knife for steaking out larger fish, and it has been used for this purpose every year. It beats cleavers because the first chop rarely gets everything. The extra length of the farmcatta blade allows for a draw or push cut after the chop to sever any remaining bits connecting the two pieces.
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The wooden handle with protection against sliding forward or back also gives the farmcatta an edge over my other knives when doing slimy work.
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