San Diego Bay 8/15 Got butt kicked by a big butt

[Dail14]

Launched at tidelands and made the long paddle to the bait barge. On the way over I decided to troll a kastmaster and rapala shad rap to see if anything wanted to play on the surface and managed a few macks on the crankbait. I also caught a lizardfish on the kastmaster which kind of surprised me as I thought they were bottom dwellers. However what really caught me by surprise was that after I cast the kastmaster back out I instantly hooked up to my first ever halibut. Unfortunately he was about the size of a small pancake but its still a first and I took it as a sign of good things to come. I got to the barge and picked up some sardines that were in pretty good condition and decided to drift from there for some larger butts. Pretty quickly I hooked up to a good sandbass that came in a hair under five pounds. He went on the stringer and I sent another dine back down. For the next couple hours I got some interest from halibuts as I got constantly raked baits.I couldn't figure out why I could not get a hookup until I let a dine swim around the yak for a second and discovered that the hooks were getting buried in the sides of the bait. I started collar hooking and that changed things big time. At around noon my clicker starts to slowly go off. I hook up and a short fight later netted my first barely legal halibut who also went on the stringe. I sent another dine down and within two minutes I hook up to another much larger but. After about six minutes get him to the surface and my jaw dropped, This thing was bigger than the front hatch on my stealth12. I reach for my gameclip so its ready and managed to knock it into the water. I then go through the motions of what i have read online and go for the gaff shot. I got him in the gills and it held still until I attempted to get it on board at which point it went absolutely beserk. It almost capsized me and then proceeded to try to drag my gaff to the bottom with me holding on. I let the gaff come out thinking I have a good hookset and can bring it back up. However it goes two feet and . I had reeled in my swivel into the rod guide without realizing and the line broke there. After that I made the paddle back to the launch completely exhausted from the fight with the giant. Final fish count was two macks, 1 lizard, 1 sandbass and 3 halibut that I got my hands on with two landed. All in all a good day fishing and managed to break my hali cherry. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle large halibut like that when alone with no game clip? Once I lost the clip I had no clue how I could secure that thing. O well it really did not get to that point. Next time Im just going to powder its skull once in range.

[ful-rac]

not preparing is preparing to fail..

Have all your gear in order, and have a plan on how you are going to land your next halibut. Hopefully you take it as a learning experience. Now you know what not to do next time.

We all lose fish from time to time I know I have...sometimes you can do everything right and still end up losing the fish...and sometimes you can do everything wrong and still come away with it...so don't be too hard on yourself as long as you learn from the experience you come away a better fisherman.

[Baja_Traveler]

Consider it a learning opportunity and better luck next time. You've still caught and lost more halibut than I have...

But the first question in my mind is: Why in He!! would you launch at Tidelands with the intention of paddling what - something like 5 miles back to the bait barge? Whats wrong with Shelter Island?

[alanw]

I have a small float on my game clip just incase I drop it while it's not leashed to the yak.

[Dail14]

Originally Posted by Baja_Traveler

Consider it a learning opportunity and better luck next time. You've still caught and lost more halibut than I have...

But the first question in my mind is: Why in He!! would you launch at Tidelands with the intention of paddling what - something like 5 miles back to the bait barge? Whats wrong with Shelter Island?

I launched at Tidelands because I had read that at that time the tide was going out and made it easier to paddle to the barge and and the tide came back in while I was drifting so i got one continuous long drift back to the launch. It worked out pretty well but in the future I will be launching from shelter.

[kauaiboy04]

good stuff man! too bad on the lost landing. learning a lot from everyone, hopefully i can get on some too!

[todd one]

I hook the sardines in the mouth and out one nostril. I'm with Baja.

[todd one]

That was good advise from everyone. Regardless of the tide, I'm still not understanding the Tidelands launch.

[GregAndrew]

Either tether your game clip before you launch or have a quick clip, on your leash, you can easily operate with one hand to attach it before you get the Halibut to the surface. Without a game clip you can try a piece of stiff rope, but watch out for those jaws. A Boga grip can work for fish up to about 10#s (30") but will probably not work for larger fish. You can typically slide belly gaffed Halibut up onto your kayak if you keep most of the weight on the gaff. If you have a big hatch, you could try to slide it right in. Short of that, I would try to double gaff the fish (after the first gaff shot, turn the gaff down to get another bite). Then bring it on board and beat the hell out of it while pinning it with a leg or two.

[GregAndrew]

Actually, I kinda like the tide idea. Drifting with the current/tide (same thing in the bay) is the best way to fish for Halibut. And a great idea for finding spots in a large area of water that you may not be familiar with.

[Dail14]

Thanks for all the advice guys. The whole idea of covering that distance was to find areas with good amounts of fish as this was my first halibut trip. All in all the trip was successful since I don't think I have read many reports of people getting more than one or two butts. I did manage to find at least one good spot for future return trips. And when I was hooking the sardines in the mouth like was said above I couldn't get the hookup. I ended up collar hooking and then put a trap hook in their back. It was really hard to not set the hook immediately when the clicker started to click.

[oneyedeer]

Or jus use a smaller hook

[got2fishsd]

I used to work on the sport boats and a few of the old timers taught me how to gaff a halibut.

Stick them in the soft belly meat. They typically are still on the gaff even out of the water until you set them onto something then they go crazy.

Hope this helps someone.

[Patrick.walker5326]

Were you fly lining the sardine, have a slip sinker on, or using a dropper loop to target those halibut? Thanks.

[Dail14]

Originally Posted by Patrick.walker5326

Were you fly lining the sardine, have a slip sinker on, or using a dropper loop to target those halibut? Thanks.

I was using a sliding trap rig. I would be amazed at someone if they managed a legal hali on a fly lined bait.

[Patrick.walker5326]

Thanks for the info.

Why is it that you would be amazed with a legal Hali on a fly line?

[taggermike]

Except for maybe sharks, Halibut are about the most anxiety inducing fish to gaff that we have around here. Some times they just lay there, get gaffed, and go in the hatch with out a flip, other times you get what you got. A captain I really respect, Capt Ron Baker, said to always gaff em deep in the guts. Don't rush your gaff shot. Keep their heads in the water and try to lay them out. They are very difficult to gaff when they are hanging vertically. Make your first gaff shot count cause they will go ape and bolt for the bottom if you blow it. when they're on the gaff put your rod in the holder with a light drag or free spool with clicker on. If the freaks and gets off you still have a chance to recover it. With the fish on the gaff and now 2 hands free is the time to use your clip. In your case, clip less, things can get more interesting. Maybe drag it straight in to the hatch, but it's about impossible to get the hatch open holding the fish. Some thing that has worked for me is to pull the fish across your shins, swing your legs over the fish, lean our weight forward, and try to pin the fish down with your legs. This is not ideal but it's what I got. Or just keep your game clip attached to a leash. You'll get em next time. Mike

[Aaron&Julie]

Game clips are expensive, you need to have it secured to your 'yak. We use a quick clip on one end secured to the 'yak, about 5' of bungee, then the game clip on the other end. Good cable ties help ensure any knots you use stay in place. You can get any length or thickness you want in a bungee cord where we picked up ours at UFO: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ufo-upholste...fabric%20store We also bought plenty of length of bungee, and added hooks to secure our rods in the crates behind our seats.

Additionally we always bring along a nylon rope type stringer, the type with the long pointy metal tip to go thru the gills, and a ring on the other end. When you feed your game clip thru the 1st fish's gills, let it chill for a minute or two (or beat it into submission), then transfer it to the rope stringer. That way you have no interference when that big fish comes along to use your game clip to slide it into his gills while he's still in the water.
This method worked extremely well one morning when we both nailed 2 WSB each, all 4 about 40lbs or more a piece. If we hadn't transfered the 1st ones to the rope stringer, it would have been nearly impossible to slide the game clip into the 2nd ones with a 40 lb white already dangling on the clip. Food for thought.
Those nylon rope stringers are very cheap and worth having on hand.

[Dail14]

Originally Posted by Aaron&Julie

Game clips are expensive, you need to have it secured to your 'yak. We use a quick clip on one end secured to the 'yak, about 5' of bungee, then the game clip on the other end. Good cable ties help ensure any knots you use stay in place. You can get any length or thickness you want in a bungee cord where we picked up ours at UFO: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ufo-upholste...fabric%20store We also bought plenty of length of bungee, and added hooks to secure our rods in the crates behind our seats.

Additionally we always bring along a nylon rope type stringer, the type with the long pointy metal tip to go thru the gills, and a ring on the other end. When you feed your game clip thru the 1st fish's gills, let it chill for a minute or two (or beat it into submission), then transfer it to the rope stringer. That way you have no interference when that big fish comes along to use your game clip to slide it into his gills while he's still in the water.
This method worked extremely well one morning when we both nailed 2 WSB each, all 4 about 40lbs or more a piece. If we hadn't transfered the 1st ones to the rope stringer, it would have been nearly impossible to slide the game clip into the 2nd ones with a 40 lb white already dangling on the clip. Food for thought.
Those nylon rope stringers are very cheap and worth having on hand.

That is exactly what I had done with the butt I managed to keep.

[Aaron&Julie]

Then it sounds like your problem and downfall was not having the game clip attached to the 'yak, so it seems.