i usually fish for bass and other things but not halibuts.i wanted to start fishing for halibut.i have a 17ft cc and am comfortable make trips over to the islands.Anybody have any tips:where to go (GPS spots),bait,and

In So. Cal. they bite better during "big" tide swings.Our tidal swings are much less drastic.The movement gets 'em more active.

Minus tides are hard to fish here because of the huge current, makes stayin down deep hard, but it doesn't stop me.
I love to fish deep up to about 550ft deep

thanks guys ill use all of this for this weekend!

bobmoise,
You are a gentleman and a scholar!

Looks like we have guys from all over the coast here, here is how I like to catch my halibuts during the "off" season before the WCVI slaughter begins:

For California Halibut, I have no clue, I'm in BC and target Pacific Hali's.

For Pacific Halis:

1) Find yourself some structure. A nice, sloping gravel bank. The earlier in the season, the shallower, but you really can't go wrong.

2) Drift or anchor. I prefer to anchor. DO NOT just chuck an anchor over the bow of your boat, it's a one-way ticket to swimming in a hurry. Rig up an "anchor buddy", that is, a sliding float to attach your anchor to. I use a 400 ft rode, this does me in pretty much any water I want to fish. I have a large float with a steel hoop attached to it. Through this, I run a rope to my 15 pound Lewmar anchor (Works best for me), with 50 ft of 3/8" chain. About 40 feet from the boat end, I tie a piece of re-bar on the rope, so that the float will stop 40 feet from the boat, I then attach the "boat" end of the rode to a rope I have rigged from amidships (I call it my slider line), along to the bow. What this does is allows you to attach the anchor to the boat, but be able to un-hook quickly by un-tying the slider line from the back of the boat, allowing you to drift with your fish. When it comes time to pull the anchor, simply drive the boat upstream at around 15-20KTS, and it will pull the anchor right back up to your float, where it will sit there waiting for you.

Personally, when I target larger halibut, I park myself on some gravel bed with big, fresh bait, and wait for them. Anything you hit (I live in Victoria, and fish the Straits of Juan De Fuca in the spring), will usually be over 40 pounds.

When I have a boatload of guests during the summer (June-Sept), I will drift over
some of the fishier grounds further offshore, I get many small fish, but rarely anything over 40. You trade size for quantity.

For bait, I can't beat cut-plug herring. If gear restrictions allow, tie up a rig that lets you have two of the biggest herring you can find slowly rolling one in front of the other. Put two lines out the side, a big smelly mackeral is a good second lure. A lot of guys swear by octopus, I fish herring more, and get more on it. The, out the back, is where the fishiest line goes. If you need 2 pounds to get down on the sides, you put 1.5 pounds on the back. Drop it down, with a shorter leader between your spreader bar and bait, and let it hit the bottom. Then, let out around 5 feet of line, and slowly jig your rod up. Do this every minute, and your bait will slowly move further behind the boat. This is usually my most productive line, as it will bonk any hali's that are following your scent trail in the nose. An no, don't bother with torches, glow paint, E-Chips, Black boxes, etc, these have caught more fishermen then fish. However ,Berkeley Gulps and Power Grubs are so damn productive in the summer while drifting, I think they should be illegal.

Do not be afraid of shallower bumps! Remember, 90% of all life in the sea lives in the top 60 feet of the ocean! You will stand a better chance of getting that big trophy fish a little shallowere where there is more grub to keep her around, a 140 pound fish will eat like a 140 pound dog, they need the food! Big, fresh bait is what you want, cut the tail off one of them to release a nice scent trail out of the spinal cord. Pacific Makeral is a good bait here as well.

If anyone wants more details on the anchor setup, post to this thread.

last chance...
I prefer to drift, I pay alot of attention to tides and how and what bottom type I am fishing. I fish the humps with sand or gravel bottoms.
I would love to catch the big one, however due to the costs of the trip I want put fish in the boat so I target certain areas, which tend to be deeper.

Most of the big Hali I have seen caught in the strait have been shallow. I have seen 100lb butts caught as shallow as 30ft in near the beach.

When I do anchor, I use an EZ-Marine retrieve system...you can see some of my system in these pics.. 300ft of braid with 10ft of chain rode



As you know Halibut are bucket mouths...here guys use around 8lb live yellowtail for butts. The bigger the bait, the bigger the butt....
fresh bait is the best, octi,squid,hog herring...ect.

hey guys some good info here. Some of what I read that I agree with is that you don't need to fish deep and that you do want some current. good tide movement brings on the feed. the halibut will stay on the downstream side of any hump or point and let the bait come to them. I never fish them anchored unless I am with people that need to stop for lunch or we anchor up for the night. I only use bait when I anchor, I do much better with 10" plastics and enough weight to fish straight down. Drifting cuts down the weight, and I like looking for them. I never fish more that 150' anymore.

Aways thats my $.02

I fish them off rocks and i use the c-rig with a live smelt (make em) and or if you want lures Crocodiles work i have seen ppl catch em on rapalas and also Drop shotting you get alot of bass that way to but both are good (Flash Trixx)
Oh Yea the tide and the bait MADDERS ALOT!