| JeffB |
12-29-2012 12:53 PM |
I know that bay Tourny posted up that the fish must be 14". I talked to a DFG the other day at Dana Landing boat launch and he said it would at the new yr.
Drifting for halibut in the bay is easy and effective. You can go with live bait or artificials. It's like $15 for a kayak scoop at the barges in MB and SDB. I prefer artificials. I like going with a big lead head and a 5"-6" swim bait. Just simply drifting with the current, try keeping the front of the kayak facing the current causing you to drift backwards. The heavier the bait, the better thud you will get once you bounce it off the bottom. I like to make a nice long cast, constantly keeping my bait moving by bouncing on the bottom. One benefit to the heavier bait is it is easier to feel the bottom everytime you hit it. You can really tell it is putting off a nice vibration on the bottom each time it hits. Then once the baits start to go under your yak, repeat the process. This works well with sandbass as well. The bait barge area is good for halibut in San Diego Bay. It's a huge mud flat bottom about 40-45' depending on the tide. On the North Island side of the bay produces some nice halibut. Both ends of shelter island on a high to low tide transition in the early morning or late evening produces nice halibut. There are shallow shoals right there.mthe big fish move up on them during that time to feed on all of bait fish that are getting dragged out of the marinas.
Or you can do like a lot of guys and just drag the bottom with swim baits or live bait. A good rig for the bay for live bait is a reverse dropper loop. Every now and then I do something somewhat similar. I will make a bounce ball rig. I take a three way swivel, medium size flasher, and a medium diving crank bait and troll it. It is a rig that has produced a lot of fish for me. I usually only fish it when I fish solo. It's a perfect rig to use when trying to locate fish in the bay. Key thing is to go with the current, helps keep your line down and keep the weight on the bottom the best as possible. I use either a ball or torpedo weight, I get the same results with both, 4oz-8oz for the bay.
This time of year though is the perfect time to catch big sandbass with out having to go out and fighting the elements of the ocean. Stay inside and hit the big bay. The water has dropped in temp nice and all the big sand bass are moving in. Grant it sandbass are in the bay year round, but the big ones come in for the winter. I call them drifters, bc they come for the season. Best way to tell them a part is that all the bay stayers have dirty nicotine stained bellies vs the drifters have nice clean white bellies with a lot more color to them. They are usually a little more healthy. Also if you ever clean them, you will find worms in the bay stayers vs nice clean meat in the drifters. Whatever you do though, don't be afraid to throw big baits. I tell all my buddies all the time. They are so used to fishing for bay bass that they go small. Big to them is a 3/4oz head w/ 4" swim bait, that's tiny. You will catch fish, but little guys. Not saying you won't catch a big one, bc my biggest halibut, about 35lbs, came on a 3" grub in MB. Just bigger baits catch bigger fish period.
Well I hope this helps you out a little. These are just a couple techniques that produce good quality fish for me this time of yr, and halibut yr round. I think I had close to 45-50 legal halibut this yr, only kept maybe 15-20. I'm no pro, but I defiantly know how to catch fish in the bays. Good luck to you. Hit me up if you ever wanna get a line wet.
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