Flatties

So I live down in Santa Cruz and have heard that some halibut are being hooked.  I was thinking of making an exploritory run out to the fishing grounds and seeing if I can get lucky.  This will be my first halibut trip and I'm not sure what settle to run with.  Tackle bait etc.  Any info would be great as well as company. 
Hotplate

Last I heard, whole squid were the bait, fished on a 'trap' hook rig with a sliding sinker.

I've caught them on such bait, but since I fish lures more often I caught my last few on either a 'bounce ball' type of rig with a white hoochie being the tempting morsel, or on a standard sardine type of 6" swimbait.

Have you checked out SCAllen's article on the main page?  Great info there, caught my first Hali in SC straight out from the harbor in 30fow using his technique.

I've taken a handful of flatties in the capitola and SC area on my yak by just dropping a 4" white scampi on the outskirts of kelp beds.  I found that if you flutter the jig over the bottom rather than do hard jigs, you'll get more hits. 

Thanks for the info guys.  When I get out I will let you know how bad it went.  I mean how good

Here is another great article on halibut fishing courtesy of  craig / ravensblack!   

http://claveynews.blogspot.com/