ARW 9/26

Met up with Eric B today to give the wall a shot. Met yakattack at the launch as well. Put in at a very respectable 10:45 under the watchful eye of a friendly and extremely bored DFG fish counter. Drifted down to the edge of Balena Bay and then slowly trolled all the way to the top of the rockwall in 16 feet of water. While I did manage to lose one popsicle to something, I'm betting it was a very aggressive rock. The dredger was parked in 'halibut city' and I wonder what that would do the inhabitants. Didn't wonder very long though, and headed back in at 2:00. Perfect conditions with almost no wind to speak of. Bright sunny day on the bay was definitely worth it. I'm not ready to write off halibut at the wall till next season yet. I get the feeling my bait was suspect. When I picked out the herring at the local bait shop, I can remember thinking to myself something that no woman has ever thought: "I think it's 2 inches too big." So be it. I'm sure there's a ling out there that can handle it. Cheers!

Thanks for the report gelbyak. The ticket for me at ARW was live smelt thanks to
Mr. sharky. I tried fresh dead chovies for a while and did not get a hit till I change
to live bait. First halibut on the kayak for me. That was awesome. I want to try
ARW again after BAMIV.

Jedmo

gelbyak,
My opinion is that with hali, bigger is better. A 19" underbutt will happily swallow a 8" smelt easily. Im always surprised when it happens. I think the bigger baits are just easier to see in the murky ghetto waters..............just my newbie opinion...........