Halibut Trap

[Streak]

I fished the bay yesterday along with a number of fellows in our tubes and pontoons.
Things could have become quite exciting had we spotted a shark with all of our legs dangling in the water!!!

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by grey zone

It's difficult to trap hook a live fin bait. The trap hook usually comes out of the bait or your bait dies.

This is true when you hook the bait in the belly, that's why I always hook it on the top right behind the dorsal fin. As far as bait life goes I don't leave my bait on long enough to see it die, I change my bait when I no longer see the tip of my rod moving/shaking. However, when it comes to anchovies and squid your response is true, their life span is extremely short but again.....change it often and you'll be OK.

Originally Posted by grey zone

Here's some tips. Use a treble hook rather than a single and nose hook your bait as you normally would. Mustad 3X strong in sizes 4 and 2 work for most sardines. I like Mustads because they have good barbs!

I tried this a few times and got the same results, the problem is that if the fish doesn't swallow the entire bait you end up with the same results: raked bait. If I'm going to use a single hook I would go with a single circle hook instead.

[grey zone]

About everything you said is backward, fin bait has a very short life span when trap hooked and a live squid does very well. When you hook a big halibut you will know what I'm talking about, they dont mess around.

[Fiskadoro]

There is no one right way, but there many ways to catch halibut. Traps work, and there are times that you can only catch butts with a trap, just like there are also times you can only catch them on a single hook.

The idea that only small fish rake baits and drop them is totally absurd. I've seen eight inch mackerel with bite marks from thirty pound plus halibut where they grabbed it for an instant the dropped it making a huge V with what looked like icepick holes in the bait. If you fish them enough you can tell just by the teeth marks how big they are.

Here's a quote from an old kayak report of mine from back in 2006:

"Halibut... you ever have a day when they keep picking up and dropping the baits....well that's how the butt fishing was. Hit after hit, rake after rake, but all with dropped baits. I took off my traps and let them run hoping for a deeper set but no matter how far I let them go they just would not eat the bait. Finally after about three hours of steady action/non/action I got pi$$ed off, put my traps back on and started fishing two rods both in gear. Half a dozen rakes later one stuck, and it was a good one. Big head shakes right off, several good long runs, so after about fifteen minutes I knew he was a good fish. I also figured that it was probably barely hooked so I resisted tightening the drag and waited it out. I tell you there were several times I was tempted to tighten up when he was slowly slipping off drag. Finally it came up still swimming not hanging. A very clean bright fish no mud..."

That's a classic trap hook scenario. That fish was pushing thirty and out of twenty or more raked baits it was the only halibut I caught. What I did not say is I think that fish hit three times before I hooked her because I got raked hard twice in exactly the same spot before she hung. I just kept working it till I stuck her.

Afterwords I told a few friends about that bite and there were only three fish caught in the next few days there that I heard about but they were all over 19 pounds. Everyone said the same thing: tons of raked baits. So don't try to tell me big fish don't rake and drop baits it's utter BS.

It's all simple mechanics. Halibut are ambush feeders, they come up off the bottom and usually grab the bait sideways with the baits head outside their mouth, then lie back down on the sand, turn the bait and swallow it head first. Every once in a while a big fish with just engulf the bait whole but that is not the norm. When your letting them run your really waiting for them to lie back down on the sand. If they hold on to it long enough to turn the bait you can get them with a single hook, but if the do not hold on long enough or don't turn the bait you can not hook them with a nose hooked bait.

Often halibut are in a kind of finicky mood where they grab the bait and almost instantly spit it back out, it's almost impossible to get those fish with a single hook.

Know what an assist hook is? Like one of these:

OK I tie my trap hooks like assist hooks but with trebles and doubled twenty pound power pro green spectra. The hooks I use are small super sharp stainless trebles. I hook the bait behind the anal fin underneath it, and they last more then long enough to get bit that way. Twenty pound spectra is about as thin as fine thread, it offers almost no resistance to the swimming bait, and can hardly be seen against the bait by the halibut I'm targeting. It can't get cut by thier teeth and it's almost impossible for them to break with the drag I use.

When I fish traps 90% of the time I keep the reel in gear with a light drag. I'm not waiting for them to turn and swallow the bait, I'm trying to hook them right when they first grab it sideways, before they even have a chance to spit it. All I need is one of those thread like double strands of spectra to catch on one of their teeth. What happens is if they catch a strand of spectra and then pull away, they then pull that treble right into the side of their mouth and they are hooked even if it was never in their mouth.

I'm not saying it's an ideal hookeset, and it's not as strong as hooking them with a big single inside the mouth. In order for it to work you have to run a light drag, and be easy on the fish but it definitely works. Their teeth can not cut spectra so you don't have bite offs, and the pulled hook ratio is not bad if you fish light enough gear. I use maybe six to eight feet of 15lbs fluorocarbon with twenty pound spectra mainline, and I fish it with a very light drag. With the spectra's lack of stretch and the small sharp trebles you hook a lot of fish without having to wait for them to swallow the bait.

I've caught a lot of halibut, I've also got some good friends that fish halibut almost exclusively: guys like Robert (Locals Only) that have had IGFA records for halibut. I would say that half of my halibut over ten pounds have been caught with trap rigged baits, and I'd also say from my experience fishing with guys that are in general much better halibut fisherman then I am, that there are days when you simply can't catch them without running trap hooks.


Just saying...


It's not either or... I'd say a smart angler has many tools in the toolbox.

[Billy V]

TRIG

Trap Rig in Gear.

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

This is true when you hook the bait in the belly, that's why I always hook it on the top right behind the dorsal fin....I tried this a few times and got the same results, the problem is that if the fish doesn't swallow the entire bait you end up with the same results: raked bait. If I'm going to use a single hook I would go with a single circle hook instead.

This is all sound advice. If the fish never turns the bait, or get's it's head in it's mouth doesn't matter what kind of hook you have in it's nose.

You hook it in the abdominal or anal cavity your just killing your bait. You can hook it in the meat on top or behind the anal cavity and then the bait lasts.

Circles work but you need to fish light line and completely let them swallow the bait. I have a friend who only fishes circles for butts but only when there is no drift at all the idea being any fish you get will swallow the hook before you even see it's on.

One thing I'll add is squid works great with a trap, and lives fine till something trashes it. The deal is everything from a blacksmith on up tries to eat it so it's usually worried to death by junk fish. I like to rig squid so it stays off the bottom. If you rig squid on a long leader like a sardine they litterally will lie down and try to camo themselves agaist the sand.

Jim

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by Billy V

TRIG

Trap Rig in Gear.

Right ON!

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by grey zone

When you hook a big halibut you will know what I'm talking about, they dont mess around.

......yeah, someday I hope to find out what it feels like. For now I'll just keep catching the little ones like the ones posted down below.

All joking aside......I'm going to give the single hook and trap hook rigs a try this coming weekend. I'll fish one rod with a single circle hook and the other with a circle hook and a trap hook, can't wait to see what the results are

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[GregAndrew]

The truth is that there is not one best way to rig for Halibut, there are only circumstantially best ways. All you need to do to prove this is check out a half dozen articles, from respected Halibut fishermen, to see how different their approaches can be. What is "best" for you will be based on what works for you and the way you prefer to fish for them.

[bellcon]

Originally Posted by GregAndrew

The truth is that there is not one best way to rig for Halibut, there are only circumstantially best ways. All you need to do to prove this is check out a half dozen articles, from respected Halibut fishermen, to see how different their approaches can be. What is "best" for you will be based on what works for you and the way you prefer to fish for them.

Is there such a thing as "respected halibut fishermen"?

[lbsurf2ca]

Originally Posted by bellcon

Is there such a thing as "respected halibut fishermen"?

This guy is pretty good....as you pointed out in this thread. One of my all time favorite post on this form. I could not stop laughing out loud while ready that.

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...khorse+halibut

[GregAndrew]

Originally Posted by bellcon

Is there such a thing as "respected halibut fishermen"?

You are right, maybe I should have said infamous or reputed?

[Willy]

Great thread!

Lots of good advice here.

Jim Day, I can't tell you how many threads you have chimed in on that I have taken away good knowledge. Rigging, technique, fabricating, magging reels...you pick it. I greatly appreciate your contributions.

Just an anecdote...2 weeks ago my buddy was bringing in a trap rig, up from the bottom, and it got nailed by a strong yellow tail.
He gave it a good fight, but the fish finally broke off, after nearly spooling the smaller halibut setup three different times (we could see the metal on the spool).

Sigh, just when you decide to do a light rig to tease the butts, they get an uninvited guest.
Load up the setup for that random chance, and the butts may never take a look at the heavier rigging.

Ain't that fishin'?

Tight lines,

Willy

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by Willy

Jim Day, I can't tell you how many threads you have chimed in on that I have taken away good knowledge. Rigging, technique, fabricating, magging reels...you pick it. I greatly appreciate your contributions.

Thanks man I really appreciate that. I just try to share what I can.

Got a PM about how to rig traps with spectra, It's super simple, just a loop, I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.

Jim

[SquidJig]

Great thread. Thanks Jim, George and everyone else for sharing your expertise.

I guess there's more to fishing than dumb luck.