Tyler Dullum of Reno, Nev., caught the first left-handed halibut of the 2016 season on Tuesday, Aug. 23. Dullum was fishing with Captain Bryan Bondioli on the Ashtikan from Captain B’s Alaskan C’s Adventures. In Bondioli’s 24 years of fishing, he has only seen about three lefty halibut out of the approximately 600,000 halibut in total over his career, he told the Homer Halibut Jackpot Derby Shack. Left-handed halibut win their angler a $100 prize, according to the 2016 Homer Halibut Jackpot Derby brochure. Halibut are usually right-handed with both eyes on the right side. “Leftys” are rare, approximately one in 200,000 halibut.
The current derby leader is still Austin Nelson of North Pole with the 252.2-pound halibut caught on Aug. 16. (For more fishing news, see page 8.)