Barn Door Baits

10/09/2025

10/03/2025

10/02/2025

Our last 12” tail sold yesterday. Thank you Kodiak for the great season! And thank you Big Rays for being a supportive business partner from day one and for carrying our gear. We look forward to 2026- everything will be bigger and better. Fish on!

08/05/2025

Sounds good to me.

05/13/2025

We took the boat out this weekend to test some new gear! Currently working on an octopus jig. The halibut were biting!

04/19/2025

Can you believe this 186-pound halibut was caught from a kayak?

Sometimes it takes a team to catch a fish. Ask Jay Hicks, the angler who recently caught a 186-pound halibut off Kodiak Island, Alaska. You may not see his name listed beside “halibut” in the official record books, but Hicks loves to tell the story of his unofficial kayak world record catch.

At the time of this story, Hicks, a 32-year-old Navy Seebee, had only lived in Alaska a few months. He borrowed a rod and lure and bought a 14-foot Hobie Pro Angler.

Hicks was jigging a yellow-and-white Savage Gear Sand Eel, called the Magic Banana, in 80 feet of water when the barn door hit.

Another member of the group, Kodiak police officer Jeff Woods, was fishing with Hicks for the first time. They were getting ready to call it a day when Woods saw Hicks’ kayak zip past leaving a ripple of whitewater in its wake.

While Hicks is a relative newbie, Woods is one of Kodiak’s most experienced kayak anglers. He quickly realized the big fish was pulling the angler towards the open bay. Woods jumped into action, rafting up with Hicks to slow the fish’s escape.

With a man-sized fish on the line, Hicks held on until he was able to get the giant, brown flat fish to the surface. Woods jabbed it with a harpoon.

That sent the halibut on another tear dragging the float under the surface. After Hicks brought the fish up again, Woods hit it with a second dart. The fish didn’t slow, pulling two buoys and both anglers across the water.

Continue reading: https://bit.ly/4j206Ug

✍️: Dan Wassmann
📷: Courtesy Jay Hicks