4/9 halibut

After 3 months of sitting in the driveway, I finally slid the boat back in the water. Fired right up, bait pump worked, but she was stuck to the bunks. After a few minutes of soaking the spider webs, she broke free and in the pond we went.

The plan was to fish halibut outside the bay, down by the Del. Once again the weatherman missed the call on the wind, not a breath of wind until 11am.

Without any wind to move us along, we moved back in the bay and worked the bait barge area with the outgoing tide. In an hour while waiting for the wind we boated five shorts and one keeper that was just over 24".

When the wind did come up we moved back outside for one more short. Once again I broke the golden rule "never leave fish to find fish".

Mike

Oh, I forgot to mention, Padres suck, anyone want to buy some season tickets. The wife was ready to leave in the first inning on Saturday.

Starting rotation is horrific once you get beyond Peavy. Such a bummer, last place again!

If things don't turn around, the tickets will make good gag gift at the spring BBQ.

Mike

Mike,

WE saw you today inside off Harbor Island, then you passed us on your way down to the bridge, you sure didn't stay down that way long! We were in our 18' bayrunner off the seaplane ramp, I tried to hail you on 72 but I'm pretty sure our skiff radio is toast. I caught a 26" late in the afternoon and we had 9 shorts for the day along with 10 or so bass and a gazillion lizards. Mid day went out to Zuniga to check and see if you were on your secret spot but didn't see the orange silhouette. Dead 58.5 water @ Zuniga; 61.5 - 64 back where we caught the fish. Some pretty nice barries off the NAS Coronado pier chasing our raked baits up from the bottom, had one 5 or 6 that was probably legal up to the side of the boat.

I've got $1600 in a new Furuno GP7000 GPS/FF combo we tried out today; plotter is great but no bottom picture above 8 nts, f'n aluminum skiffs!

Hey Mike:

How about sharing a little Halibut help for a Northern member. Just finished fishing the Marina Del Rey Derby, lots of big fish landed. Me, nothing but shorts. How do rig up for Halibut? Tried a few different ways, would like to stick to one I know catches fish.

Thanks Mike
Mac Attack

Jeff

That are off the sea plane ramp will keep you busy. Lots of shorts with a few 10 pounders mixed in. I was going to fish that area, but the wind and tide were fighting each other by the time we pulled in. The farther we went in the bay, the more crossed up the drift got. That's when we move out to the bait barge and found the wind and time moving in the same direction.

Mac Attack

Here's a few photos of the gear I use. I tie everything up with #20 mono and fish with 3 to 3.5 pounds of drag. I don't like to put to much pressure on the fish, as most are just hanging by one barb of the #6 or #8 treble hook.

Start out with a #2 bait hook and snell the #20 down the shank with 8-10 of line hanging below the hook. I place the treble 4 or 5 inches below the bait hook. I use a simple overhand knot to make the look the treble hangs in. make some up different lengths for different bait sizes.

In front of the bait hook you need 40-45" of line and a swivel. This will be you main rig, swivel, 45" of line, #2 bait hook and a small 3X strong treble hook 4 or 5 inches back. The treble must be on a loop so it will swing free and let the bait swim natural.

You weight will have it's own line to hang from. Start with another small swivel and 16" of like on it. Tie a loop in the end of the line that hangs off the swivel. The loop need to be 2 or 3 inches so you can hang a torpedo weight from the loop. The loop lets you change weights without re-tieing. 3 ounces in a light drift and as much as 10 in the late afternoons will keep you on the bottom.

Now to put the whole thing together. Take the line from the rod and run it throught the eye of the swivel for the weight holding line, then tie it to the swivel of the hook rig. The weight line will slide up and down the line from the rod.

that should get you started.

Mike

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Mike,

Do you prefer nickel over bronze hooks?

I use what Squid Co has on the shelf. Mustad #3561E in the 50 pack, size 6 or 8. Never tried the bronze hooks.

Mike

Thanks Mike:

I'll give it a shot. I was trying something similar. Can't wait to try it.


Mike
Mac Attack:)