Hali non-yak

OK, I know not another PB report but I have some usefull Intel. I wanted to hit the Brickyard in San Pablo bay for some hot Oct. Striper action but based on yesterdays windy weather I decided to leave the yak at home and tough it out in the PB. Driving down highway 101 through Novato it looked like the right choice, very windy. I  pulled into Loch Lomond about 0800 and found the bay was GLASS. Perfect yak conditions, oh well next time. I was all set for some striper action when that little voice in my head said "go for some Hali at Paradise". Hali in OCT. thats crazy!!, soooo off I went to Paradise. 10 minuets into our first drift my buddy lands a 24 inch butt. by no means big but good dinner size. His next drop down he hooks a big one but it comes off as the fish approaches the net. An hour goes by and we both miss several fish, the give line and count to 10 just wasn't working today. We head up to the pump house to troll for striper's and within five minuets my broken back Rebel gets slammed. The fish comes to net and its a BUTT. 26 inches, now I have dinner. Long story short we caught a few small Striper's on the troll and on grass shrimp (LOTS of bait stealing sharks). We finished up back at Paradise and both LOST another Butt. The halibut were all hooked drifting frozen Anchovies in Approx. 20 Ft. of water. There are still LOTS of butts out there. Go get them.

Good luck, Matt

Thanks ,

 I was thinking of drifting Berkeley, heard good reports there too,

 were you using flashers or just dragging 3 way with no flasher? ....... Danglin

No flasher, just a three way. The tides have been small and the water was very clear south of the bridge. A side note, since I stopped using live shiners and went to frozen anchovies I have seen a dramatic increase in hookups. Go figure.

Good luck, Matt

Thanks for the intel Capt. Matt  Keep 'em coming 

YES!

Thanks for the intel!

Butts in oct?....way to go with your FELLINGS!  it paid off NICE
Thnks fer da pics&port Matt.

went to frozen anchovies I have seen a dramatic increase in hookups. Go figure.

Me too do you thread'em?

I don't know if it's just this year, or they have always been there around this time and we gave up on em too early... This year has had a lot of marginal and under sized halis showing. I got a feeling the next couple seasons might be awsome as these fish mature. I'll take a tastey hali over a striper any day. Way to Go!!

Dear Abby,

I just hate the fact that we can only fish with one rod for Halibut in Bay....yet, we can fish with multiple rods in the ocean  Is it because there a less Halibut in the Bay and need more protection for over-harvesting?

dazed and confused 

went to frozen anchovies I have seen a dramatic increase in hookups. Go figure.

Me too do you thread'em?

No, I have not tried threading them but I sometimes use 1/4 rubber bands to keep  the hooks in place and keep the anchovies gills from flaring open. I also agree that next year could be a banner year for butts in the bays based on the big numbers of undersized fish landed. This year was supposed to to be a BIG year for Salmon and we all know how that turned out (ouch). For what its worth, the LORD OF THE SEA (everyone favorite bait man) told me that some party boats have been getting limits of halibut for the last couple of weeks. This weekends morning tide looks OK (not great) for Halibut but the wind is supposed to fill in by then.

Matt