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Topic: Trolling plugs for butts  (Read 1344 times)

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I have a bunch of plugs (sp minnows, yo-zuri, lucky craft, rapala, etc) from my striper surf days. Has anyone ever tried trolling these successfully on the bottom off their yak for halibut? I'd like to try this out on my next outing.
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bmb

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I have a bunch of plugs (sp minnows, yo-zuri, lucky craft, rapala, etc) from my striper surf days. Has anyone ever tried trolling these successfully on the bottom off their yak for halibut? I'd like to try this out on my next outing.
yes, if you can get them to the right depth.  I don't love the treble hooks for halis though - lots of undersized ones recently and i feel it tears them up too much.  I prefer trolling swimbaits if I fish artificial.


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I have a bunch of plugs (sp minnows, yo-zuri, lucky craft, rapala, etc) from my striper surf days. Has anyone ever tried trolling these successfully on the bottom off their yak for halibut? I'd like to try this out on my next outing.
yes, if you can get them to the right depth.  I don't love the treble hooks for halis though - lots of undersized ones recently and i feel it tears them up too much.  I prefer trolling swimbaits if I fish artificial.

Thanks bmb. I'll probably send them down on a bottom bounce rig. I thought the treble hooks would increase hookup chances, no? Do you put a stinger or trap hook on your swimbaits?
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bmb

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  • Location: Livermoron
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I have a bunch of plugs (sp minnows, yo-zuri, lucky craft, rapala, etc) from my striper surf days. Has anyone ever tried trolling these successfully on the bottom off their yak for halibut? I'd like to try this out on my next outing.
yes, if you can get them to the right depth.  I don't love the treble hooks for halis though - lots of undersized ones recently and i feel it tears them up too much.  I prefer trolling swimbaits if I fish artificial.

Thanks bmb. I'll probably send them down on a bottom bounce rig. I thought the treble hooks would increase hookup chances, no? Do you put a stinger or trap hook on your swimbaits?
No I generally don't. I don't like tearing up the little guys and they're honestly a waste of time dealing with so I figure if the fish misses the hook on a swimbait it just ain't meant to be.  I actually prefer casting swimbaits vs trolling them, its more fun fishing them bass style.


NowhereMan

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I have a bunch of plugs (sp minnows, yo-zuri, lucky craft, rapala, etc) from my striper surf days. Has anyone ever tried trolling these successfully on the bottom off their yak for halibut? I'd like to try this out on my next outing.

Around Santa Cruz I've caught a couple on bomber plugs, but it does not seem like the most productive approach. Of course, you might get better results in a different location...
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I’d say run it on a 3-way swivel or spreader bar, the same way we troll hoochies or bait. But it will be easier in water shallower than 40ft. Because once you get deeper, it will be hard to maintain contact with the bottom and troll at the right speed. It you go too fast or too slow, most plugs will behave differently...not as effective. This isn’t as much of a problem when trolling bait or swimbaits etc.
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... it will be hard to maintain contact with the bottom and troll at the right speed. It you go too fast or too slow, most plugs will behave differently...not as effective. This isn’t as much of a problem when trolling bait or swimbaits etc.

Good point—definitely a lot more variables to deal with when trolling a plug for those finicky halibut. But if there are any marauding lingcod around, they’ll find it, no matter how badly fished!
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I used to get fish trolling super shallow water (<15ft.) from a surfboard. Can't remember exactly which plugs but some sort of deep diving walleye style minnow.

When salad was bad on the bottom, a super shallow running jerkbait style behind an ounce or two of lead on 3way to keep the plug out of the salad. Would set this one up so lead was on a 2-3 ft leader so plug was about a foot off the bottom.
Fewer missed fish with all the trebles but as mentioned, not so good unhooking short fish.

Agree with the others, from the kayak in a bit deeper water, better to bounce ball or use heavier swim bait setup. From the Kayak I've played with using stingers on the swimbait but can't seem to get it to run right so have stopped that strategy and just figure on missing a few or having a few tails bitten off.
Bait is best but i'm usually too lazy for that.


SteveS doesn't kayak anymore

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If you run shallow water plugs, floating with a small lip, off a bounce ball rig it works pretty darn good. There a re a few places here in marin where there are halibut and salmon smolts, so the rainbow trout patterns kill!


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If you run shallow water plugs, floating with a small lip, off a bounce ball rig it works pretty darn good. There a re a few places here in marin where there are halibut and salmon smolts, so the rainbow trout patterns kill!

This works very well at ARW too, only anchovy/herring pattern...


 

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