Fixing Northernboys Halli woes.

1) Live bait.
1A) Limber stick.
2) Live bait knot, knot name, "Perfection", if you do not know it, check it out.
3) Lighten up your leader line. I run the same stuff on my spool as my leader material. 17Lb, red Cajun. This stuff is,thin, tough, limp,and invisible.
4) Hook size- match the bait. No old school, thick ass,chrome plated, large hooks. Try some thin Gamagatsue's no bigger than yourthumb nail, approx 1/2 In. square.
5) Use a 3 way leader, with between 3-4 feet from 3 way too hook. Go 6-8 in. from sinker too swivel.
Stick with a 2 Oz weight. Use a torpedo shape to minimize spinach collection on your weight.
6) If your "click" on your Halli real is stiff, in other words if it takes a lot of pressure to make it go, don't use it. Try and drag your bait around 20 feet from your boat.
7) Keep your drag so loose that anything more than the weight of your baited rig will cause it to let out line.
As you drift, once you notice your tip loading up more than the pre checked weight of your bait and rig, strip off line without pulling in on your bait, lightly put your thumb on the spool, and click on freespool, strip more line. Wait for line to go tight again, and strip off a few more yards. If you have a fish on, you will notice line stripping off faster than your drift would allow. You have some choices now, I would strip off another 6 yards, and watch it go, then increase the tention on the spool with my thumb to test the resistance, if I load up I click my drag back on and let it pull while I gradually increase the drag so that it still has give but my tip is halfway loaded. I tend not to pull my rod up until well after I am sure I have as good a hook set as I am going to get. From there, if the bait is swallowed, or the hook has drilled it's self nicely somewhere, as long as you keep tension, and take it slow, your Halli woes will be in your rear view window.
P.S., no reaching with the net or gaff. Give yourself room, if you are already stretched out, you are in a weak position to react to the nearly inevitable, crazy ass moves, these fish tend to make near the yak.  

hey man, thanks for the tips. I'm gonna go a lot simpler next time. I've caught plenty of Hallies off boats, I just haven't had any luck on the yak. I blame voodoo to be honest. Or Somali pirates.

Good tips Dave. Thanks for posting it and helping someone like me.

Jedmo

hey man, thanks for the tips. I'm gonna go a lot simpler next time. I've caught plenty of Hallies off boats, I just haven't had any luck on the yak. I blame voodoo to be honest. Or Somali pirates.

somali pirates performing voodoo.  Or too much juice causing a massive hookset that rips the hook out of their mouths

hey man, thanks for the tips. I'm gonna go a lot simpler next time. I've caught plenty of Hallies off boats, I just haven't had any luck on the yak. I blame voodoo to be honest. Or Somali pirates.

somali pirates performing voodoo.  Or too much juice causing a massive hookset that rips the hook out of their mouths

I might have to make another BALCO trip; my arms are STILL aching 3 days after the trip. I am weak.

Holy crap, giving it all up just like that!  That post is pure gold, Dave.

Very well explained Dave! That's pretty much my MO. i have 2 slightly different suggestions.

1. Ive recently gone to Owner Mutu Light Circle hooks. I feel they are a tad lighter than the Gamakatsu Light Live Bait and better hookup ratio and position when using the "no strike/load up method". The Gamakatsu just seemed to stick precariously in the lip too often, while the Owners seem to sit nicely in the corner.

2. I agonized over this one for some time as I like to keep things simple as possible. Instead of a 3 way swivel I use a small  black Sea Striker slider (remove oversized snap) above a barrel swivel, also with 6 to 8 inch of line to the weight. It seems the fish can swim off a distance, settle down and swallow the bait without feeling the weight of the sinker. this rig doesn't seem to tangle/twist/snag seaweed any more than a simple 3 way.



If you don't use the clicker/freespool/strip method then neither of these suggestions is really gonna help much.

Neither Dave, Duane or myself use stingers, except for possibly on the very largest of baits (10"+ smelt). It just messes up the presentation because the bait doesn't swim well at all. Trebles are especially bad for presentation and they pick up lot of seaweed, which really blows it. If you strip line like Dave wrote, you should get the hook in its mouth. Sure, you may miss a few fish that would have stuck on a stinger, but you should entice many more bites with a lively presentation.

There are many ways to skin a cat and I often consider myself to be more lucky than skilled.

This info is just plain great! I have yet to get anything other then two rock fish on my yak, ive only had it out two trips, but none the less, only two fish and no halis.

This info is just plain great! I have yet to get anything other then two rock fish on my yak, ive only had it out two trips, but none the less, only two fish and no halis.

Come by at paradise you might get one 

Thanks, Dave and Sharky, for some very helpful pointers on your methods. I hope to try them out tomorrow at ARW.

Do you have any pointers on feeling the difference between a bite and the sinker hitting the bottom or snagging a weed? Or do you just do the line-feeding business a whole lot of times through the day?

Thanks again, for sharing.

 finaegelin,
You should be able to tell when its just the 2 ounce sinker bouncing, as it should be all the time.
You'll pick this up quickly, and it shouldn't take out line with the clicker on, in freespool with 2 oz.
It shouldn't snag that often, but yes, go through the drill every time it does take out line. to minimize snags and tangles, stick to the no more than 20ft from the boat rule.
 The smaller the angle of the dangle, the less tangle (and snags), because the reel is pulling it up from the bottom as opposed to into the snag. Dave says 20ft from the boat, but i try and keep it 4' to 15' (depending on depth)
This is a far more active method than simply putting it in gear and waiting for something to climb on, but far more effective. 

Ahhh! the dangle angle tangle! I feel a song coming on...

Thanks, Sharky.

I tend to agree with the majority of posts here.

However, I have noticed a lot more hook-ups since increasing my weight size from "as light as will hold" to a straight 6 ounces no matter how slow the drift is. Maybe it's because the heavier weight causes a lot more "commotion" on the ground, maybe it's just coincidence.

I also use small hooks (size 1 or 1/0 live bait hooks), use a 2' leader of fairly light line (14lb Berkely Vanish), and use the least amount of angle on the line as possible.