Went fishing last week out of Gustavus, Alaska, at the mouth of Glacier Bay, 48 miles northwest of Juneau.  Went out with Captain Josh on the STRIKER, 28' X 10' beam aluminum sportfisherman.   As luck would have it, the weather forecast was not good.  It was blowing at least 15-20 knots when we left the dock,and was supposed to increase in the afternoon, but it looked like we would get most of the day in.  We went out into Icy Strait and the captain anchored up in about 200'.  Not good conditions, wind against tide, but after a short while we had a hit.  Although they usually take 4 people, I was paired up with another couple, Ed and Tina from Utah, that had the boat booked for the whole week.  Unfortunately, Tina,who was on the 3rd day of a seasickness patch was seasick pretty much from the start. Ed told me to take the first fish, since I never caught a Halibut. 
It was a " practice" fish, about 15 Lbs(looked like a big Fluke).  We then caught a few more 15 - 25 lb fish before the action stopped.  The tackle was  30-50 lb standup gear with Shimano TLD20's and similar size Avets(the Avets were much easier to reel), a 12/0 circle hook(like Barry uses for Stripers) and a pound of lead.  A big chunk of bait is put on, and dropped to the bottom.  
We then moved to another spot, but that was empty. By 10 AM it was blowing real good, so the captain figured if we were going to get beat up, we might as well go to a spot that usually produced, but it was totally unprotected from the wind and about 240' deep .  Ed was letting me reel up most of the "practice fish"(in reality he was saving himself for the hoped for bigger fish, while I wore myself out.)
Then two rods went off simultaneously, Ed went for the Avet reel, leaving the Shimano for me.  As soon as I picked up the rod the fish began peeling line off the reel, even though the drag was almost locked down.  The captain said "this is a big fish".  Ed's fish came up pretty quickly, and was about 30 lbs.  It was now a struggle to stand up because we were 45 degrees to the anchor line.   I finally was able to gain some line, but twice the fish took it back.   Finally after about 35-40 minutes I had it up to the top.  It was huge.  The captain now had to go out on the outboard backet, in the rolling seas, grap the leader with one hand and with the other put a mini-shotgun on the fish's head and blow its brains out(otherwise, if it were brought into the boat green it would hurt someboby or cause major damage)  I told him to please be careful and don't shoot the leader, and which way was back in case he fell over into the 43 degree water.
 We dragged the fish into the boat, and since Ed was now on the verge of getting seasick, we agreed to go
home.  When we reached the dock at 1 PM, it was blowing 30 Knots.
The fish weighed 125 lbs and was 5-1/2' long.( Iwish I knew how to post photos on this website) 
Although Halibut this size are not that uncommon, everybody at the Gustavus Inn where I was staying with my
wife knew of my catch before I got back.
 It was a heck of an experience, I caught my 2 permitted fish, one real big one, and was back at the dock at
1 PM.   The entire time whales were surfacing and blowing water all around us, and I almost lost one Halibut to a 1000 lb Sealion that ripped the tail half off before he was persuaded to let go. 
 Now I have to figure out where to put 65 lbs of Halibut filets.