catching halibut

[taggermike]

Halibut are a tough fish to figure out. They don't school, are often unaggresive biters, and can be found in a wide variety of depths and bottom structures. I've caught or speared them from 3 to 150 feet. Some things I have observed. They are ofter on sand or mud near hard bottom areas with eel grass or kelp. They do follow bait fish concentrations, especially grunion as they school up and migrate in to the surf to spawn. When the surf perch have thier babies in the spring I see halibut right up against the edges of the reefs. Naive little perch that stray away from the safety of the rocks do not last long. In the bays I try to target them on the edges of areas. Edge of structure, edge of eel grass or the edges of drop offs. At the channel edges they can be on the top, slope or bottom. Ive caught halis on chovies, dines, perch, smelt, grunion, macks, brown bait, and squid. Keep your bait on the bottom. I like sliding sinker rigs for shallower water and dropper loop for deeper. Be slow with halis, slow drift, slow bait movement, long wait before setting the hook, and slow steady winding on the fish with out any pumping of the rod. Mike