Do people troll for Halibut with hardbaits and swimbaits?

Hi all - Do people troll for Halibut with hardbaits and swimbaits?

It seems like most people troll with frozen bait, or do hoochies with a dodger. But hardbaits and swimbaits can have good action. I was curious why this doesn't seem as popular? Or is it pretty common?

Best,
Stewart

There are all kinds of reports throughout the site with this type of info. Get your favorite beverage, get comfortable and do some searches of the threads, I find it to be a lot of fun.

I've had success trolling a trap rig with a 6" white Gulp! swimming mullet and I've also had success trolling a jerkbait on a bounce ball rig.  I very very rarely bring bait with me and drag a Gulp! while looking for bait to get on the sabiki.

I've had good luck trolling salmon gear for halibut, barbless hooks and all. Never had one shake off and it makes for super easy releases of shakers.

I recall a real OG won the ARW once trolling a tripple jointed rapala with two hooks, totally works

Thanks all. I find myself always thinking about (obsessing about?) different techniques, most of which are probably too complicated, or wouldn't work, or just aren't worth the effort. Using swimbaits and hardbaits is pretty straightforward, so I'll give it a shot. Plus I bought all these cool crankbaits and jerkbaits I want to try out, among other things.

swimbaits no hardbaits yes. early season halibut stuff. trolling with weight lucky craft fm110, calissa, sp minnow. without weight p line predator minnow deep diver

swimbaits no hardbaits yes. early season halibut stuff. trolling with weight lucky craft fm110, calissa, sp minnow. without weight p line predator minnow deep diver

Thanks! For my benefit, why do you think it works better for early season, vs in season or late season? And what do you use for the latter two?

Not sure if it counts as trolling, but barely creeping around with a high-low dropshot rig dragging the bottom works fabulously for me to catch rockfish/lings/halibuts. Hooks baited with Gulp 5-inch swimming mullet and just a bit of extra line out as you go to stay on bottom. Works so well I often wonder why I bother with squid or the sabiki.

 Love the tip to use a trap rig with 6-inch Gulps since I have some but feel like I don’t get the same consistently good hookups with the bigger swim baits sometimes.