Halibut Fishing Alternatives

September 15, 2011

Question:  I fish out of Morro Bay for halibut but there’s no live bait available this year. Because of that, I’d like to try ball bouncing for halibut and am thinking about trolling a Rapalla fishing lure as bait. I have two Rapalla lures with three galvanized treble hooks attached to them. I know the limit is only two hooks for most ocean fishes. Can I use these lures as they are designed or do I have to cut a set of hooks off them to be legal? (Chris Jones)

Answer: There are no hook restrictions for halibut, so the lure you have described would be legal to use. However, according to our halibut program expert, Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Associate Marine Biologist Travis Tanaka, you should remove one of the treble hooks. There are two reasons for this. First, a hooked fish would be safer to handle because you wouldn’t have the additional hooks (not hooked in the fish) possibly hooking your clothing or skin. Second, short fish would be easier to release because again you wouldn’t have to worry about the additional hooks catching where you don’t want them to.
Tanaka says many anglers will also use a rig similar to that used for salmon, basically a hoochie/flasher trolled on the bottom. He’s also caught halibut drifting frozen anchovies.

We recommend a soft, knotless landing net. Sublegal-sized halibut landed with this type of net don’t fin split (damage their fins) and they will have a greater chance of survival when you release.

the two reasons read like substantially identical reason to me.
Govt . . . always doubling the justifications for increased taxes 

Even with lures with two trebles, I take off one for self-protection. 
  You can replace the removed hook with some wire (solder ?) if you think it will restore the action.   They will catch flatties.  If you buy cheap divers like I do, you'll probably have to replace the cheap trailing treble with a solid one.