Trollin for butts

I also use a jig ; leadhead or metal when I drift bait for halibut .

Do you troll with the current or against the current? 

I do both, but keep in mind that the best halibut tides are the flatter tides with the least amount of current. If there is significant current I'll either stay home or drift live bait.

I can agree in seeing that it is possible to troll both ways on only small tides with little or no wind current.  And that once the current or wind starts to come through drifting is the way to go for you need to conserve energy for the paddle back to shore.


I like the ideas about the jigs, swimbaits, or any other lure on the bottom dropper line to work contact with the bottom.  Just don't want to discovery getting snags on uncharted waters.           

The big o' jig works well when you are in sandy bottoms, but you can get a lot of junk on it later in the year and/or on shallow waters.

The only diffrence on my rig is I use a slider (like for sturgeon - i was gonna say mooching but pretty soon no one wll know what that is) instead of the 3-way.


There are times when trolling out fishes live bait...just ask CHuckE 

When you guys are drifting shiners, do you  nose hook em like an anchovy?  I have never used them before, all my halibut fishing has been casting swimbaits and cranks from shore.

i hook 'em thru the nostrils...

i hook 'em thru the nostrils...

Cool, that is how i always hooked larger sardines. 

Do you troll with the current or against the current? 

Very good question. Since 90% of the fishing I do is trolling w/ the downrigger I've put in a lot of "research" on the subject. Hopefully my experience will be helpful.

While you can catch going against the tide/current the chances are dramatically lower. Here's why, predator fish are facing up current waiting for small injured or weak fish to snap up while they float by. The predator fish in these habitats are always looking for ways to conserve energy and they use much less energy facing up current. If you go against the current your bait will come from behind the fish and most likely startle it or it'll go by too fast to notice.

When I downrig I find my fav. point, dropoff, depression, etc. where fish will congregate, drop my gear, and troll with the current. Once I am passed the structure being targeted I bring up all my gear, pedal back to the starting point, and give it another drive by with the current. If there's no action I'll go to the next spot. One thing to remember is to get your speed right so your lure/bait gets the right action. If the current is 2mph you're gonna need to pedal/paddle at least another 2mph to get the action right. So your total speed will be 4mph which seems WAY too fast but in reality it's just 2mph.

A great thing about using this strategy is that it's a lot more effective use of your time. You'll target a certain area and work it. If no fish,on to the next spot. It really keeps you from trolling on for hours aimlessly. 

Z

When you guys are drifting shiners, do you  nose hook em like an anchovy?  I have never used them before, all my halibut fishing has been casting swimbaits and cranks from shore.

I hook mine up through the top of the roof of their mouth. I've just had a better hook-up rate that way and it's what I'm confident with.

If you hook 'em through both of their jaws you can pin their mouths shut and suffocate them.

i like to hook most baitfish through the side of their jaw. keeps their mouth closed enough that it doesnt drag their mouth open and not enough to suffocate them.

Well, that sucked, threw the net for 1.5 hours at OP for nothing.  Guess i'll be drifting dead bait and swimbaits, then trolling with plugs.

I like to fish for hali on slack tide, in current and against current. If I start drifting fast in current I like to slow myself down by paddling against it. In live bait presentation I just use a sliding leader rigon a 4oz banana/torpedo sinker. My perfect speed is .05 to 1 mph. With live bait you do not need the faster presentation because the lively bait will flutter around so much that a predator fishes latteral line will detect it.

Live bait worked out well for me me last year at ARW. I limited out 6 times in a row with fish ranging in the 25" to 32". Keeping the smallest fish.

2mph or faster is for the guys trolling RKS rigs or the hoochie rigs bounce balling.

I can't wait to target Bean Hollow for some Socal size halis. In the Malibu/Santa Monica area we would catch halis in the 38" to 48" using live greenbacks or swimbaits.