Downrigger for SF Bay Halibut

A bounce ball works perfectly fine for me but I wanted to give my downrigger a try.

Since the Bay is just a mud bottom where I fish, there isn't much risk in loosing any lead. I also have never used a flasher since frozen bait by itself catches me fish, but I wanted to give that a try.

For those who have tried this, any tips on the downrigger and flasher set up? For example, height off the bottom, set back, or leader length?

one of my buddies swears by this on his boat. He runs the same 18" drop from his weight to the leader (using a clip) and has about 4 to 6 feet of line behind the clip.  He doesn't drag just sets things up so they occasionally tap the bottom.

one of my buddies swears by this on his boat. He runs the same 18" drop from his weight to the leader (using a clip) and has about 4 to 6 feet of line behind the clip.  He doesn't drag just sets things up so they occasionally tap the bottom.

I've been thinking about doing almost exactly this. Run about 5' of setback behind the clip, and place the weight about 1-2' above the bottom. 

Seems like a good way to troll against current without needing a ton of weight on the line.  Could probably let me get away with using a lighter rod.

The biggest hang up I can see is netting/gaffing a big halibut with the DR line in the way, or at least how my kayak is setup anyway. I've only caught trout with my makeshift DR setup, and they are easy enough to muscle to right where you need it.

For those who have tried this, any tips on the downrigger and flasher set up? For example, height off the bottom, set back, or leader length?

I use a herring dodger pretty much every time I try for halibut. I usually run about 3' of line from the swivel to the dodger, then about 12-18" from the dodger to the bait. A shorter length between the dodger and the bait will give the bait more movement, but sometimes the fish don't want that. 

My preferred method is drifting/trolling live bait. Smelt and sometimes other bait fish are easy to catch in the bay with a sabiki. I just troll it along behind me on my way to the fishing grounds, and usually pick up a few on the way.  I use a floating bait container to keep them fresh.

I was thinking only a couple feet of set back would be needed. I've seen some discussions online around having 50ft of set back while running a shallow. Maybe there is something I am missing for those other situations.

And for getting a fish tangled in the downrigger line. I'm excited to see how well I can multitask cranking up the downrigger while fighting a Halibut. At least it's only about 15 crankes to the surface. It could be good practice for Salmon season if that ever opens.

It sounds fun for an experiment.  It may be quite a technical zoo for such shallow water.  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it kinda thinkin’ on my end.  Flasher is for dirty water imho.  The bay isn’t necessarily hi viz so the flasher might trigger a follow then a slam down and a shaky head adventure.  Just hatin’ all the bling.  I have so much dormant bling…

I don't think you'd need too much set back, halibut are not weight/line shy.

One theory behind the bounce ball is that the bouncing disturbs the bottom and causes the halibut to be more interested, I'm not convinced that's the case.  I've always felt that halibut, when hungry, will just smack anything that goes by them that they can see.

Sounds like a decent idea in areas of the bay that are flat.  I'd definitely put a snubber on that downrigger line and keep a close eye on the depth.

I think cranking up the downrigger line would be pretty easy as halibut are very predictable up until they hit the surface. (unlike salmon which feel like a bucking bronco + barbless)

Or you could also just keep pedaling forward and keep the halibut behind you away from the downrigger line.  That's what I did with salmon.

I’ve done this some in the Santa Cruz area, mostly during salmon season. I’ve never tried it in the SF Bay, so I don’t know if any of this is relevant…

In SC, there are lots of potential snags, so I try to keep the DR ball at least a couple feet off the bottom. To get the hoochie down further, I use a heavy dodger (made from copper pipe), and let out a little more line—like 6-8’ from ball to dodger, as compared to about 4’ for bounce-ball.

I’ve caught some, but my impression is that it may be slightly less effective, as compared to a bounce ball. In spite of that, I like it for a couple of reasons:

1) I can attach a camera to the DR and film while fishing.
2) When I do hookup, I get to fight the fish, not the fish and a huge weight.

2) When I do hookup, I get to fight the fish, not the fish and a huge weight.

That's my number one reason for trying this!

I was thinking only a couple feet of set back would be needed. I've seen some discussions online around having 50ft of set back while running a shallow. Maybe there is something I am missing for those other situations.

For halibut, trolling tight to the bottom, I wouldn't do more than about 5-10ft' of setback.  More setback would introduce more opportunity to collect slime/mud/vegetation on your bait. 

For mid-column trolling for trout, in 40ft+ of water, I usually use somewhere between 25 - 50ft of setback, depending on depth and water clarity.  Shallow or tainted/dirty water gets a shorter setback for me. 

2) When I do hookup, I get to fight the fish, not the fish and a huge weight.

This is the main reason why I am considering trying this, and to stick with a relatively light rod.

It sounds fun for an experiment.  It may be quite a technical zoo for such shallow water.  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it kinda thinkin’ on my end.  Flasher is for dirty water imho.  The bay isn’t necessarily hi viz so the flasher might trigger a follow then a slam down and a shaky head adventure.  Just hatin’ all the bling.  I have so much dormant bling…

This is why I use a dodger most days in the bay, sometimes even with live bait.  Sometimes they don't like it though - haven't sorted out the why part of that yet. 

Looking forward to crushing some halibut in the bay soon!  Anyone have/hear any reports yet?  Should be kicking off soon. 

This is more gear with little reward weights work fine … I still remember a massive salmon I lost at Linda mar when my line got tangled with my dr. 8 oz-10 oz weight sf bay is shallow

This is more gear with little reward weights work fine … I still remember a massive salmon I lost at Linda mar when my line got tangled with my dr. 8 oz-10 oz weight sf bay is shallow

That salmon was huge...I hate it when that happens...