OP- Sat 4/18

Came to work today, and still have my mind on the bay. It's a rare treat to see the bay as nice as it was this weekend.
Maybe that is why there was over  a 75+ boats on working the bay. 

For all the Lurkers... Kayak Fishing is addictive as Crack! Say off the crack and stay on the Kayak!

With that said, trolled for 4 hours at OP for nada. Making my final lap and THEN....

Bam, Bam... ZZZZzzzzzzzzzZippp. Striper, halibut or Bat Ray???  Now... If I didn't see what it was, I would have enforced the golden Rule!

If you didn't see it.....
.....therefore.......
.....it was a batray.

Fortunately, after several runs, it did end up cooperating. Landing it gave me flashbacks of my Halibut that I lost last week IN the net! Call me paranoid, but I'm taking my time.

Measured to be 30 inches and 11 lbs.

Landed and game over. FYI, Halibut makes for good fish taco's. 

Keith N.

WTBreak it all down and a big Congrads on the 'Butt. That last lap-hailmary hook is the best hook of all!

Nice Keith!
Good seeing you again this weekend.  Hopefully Sunday won't be a wash to hit it again.

Tom

Congrat on the nice Hali.  Thanks for the 'taco" tip and the report.

Strong work!

nice job keith, but next time land it with the spinning reel combo.

Congrats on the halibut Noodleboy. Thanks for the report and pictures. BTW, what was your rig setup to catch that nice fish?

Jedmo

Jedo,

Simple three way bouncing rig w/ 6 ounce weight.  I had a white hoochie in front of a frozen herring. It's been working great at OP and ARW. This rig seems like the ticket for now...at least. The best time is right before the turn of the tide around 11:00-1:00pm. Find the bait and drift right next to them.

Keith Nguyen.

Thanks Keith.

Jedmo

Jedo,

Simple three way bouncing rig w/ 6 ounce weight.  I had a white hoochie in front of a frozen herring. It's been working great at OP and ARW. This rig seems like the ticket for now...at least. The best time is right before the turn of the tide around 11:00-1:00pm. Find the bait and drift right next to them.

Keith Nguyen.

hey Keith,
So how do you attach the hoochie and how far above the bait?  Never used em before.

surf hunter, for my trolling rigs i've been using two hoochies.

one of the hoochies is free to ride however it wants and normally slides down right on top of the herring.

the other one i hold in place with a small knot of mono, sort of like how you would rig a bobber stop.  (i use a separate piece of 8lb mono tied in sort of a uni knot, tighten and trim) that way its tight but you can still move it up and down as you feel.

Great report, Noodleboy - congrats.   

surf hunter, for my trolling rigs i've been using two hoochies.

one of the hoochies is free to ride however it wants and normally slides down right on top of the herring.

the other one i hold in place with a small knot of mono, sort of like how you would rig a bobber stop.  (i use a separate piece of 8lb mono tied in sort of a uni knot, tighten and trim) that way its tight but you can still move it up and down as you feel.

Thanks Ben, do you do the same on the drift? 

Ben is right.  There are lots of way to go about it.  I personally like to tie a swivel under the hoochie, so that it doesn't slide beyond a certain point and connect a frozen herring about 2 inches from the hoochie. Works for me, but to every man his own.


Keith

i usually use the lead hoochie on the drift but not the one on top of the hook.  some people like a hoochie covering the head of a live anchovy since then it would look like a swimming squid/chovy hybrid.

when i drifted live smelt last time I was at OP i was using both hoochies.  I dont think it really matters all that much, what is important is that you believe you can get bit no matter what you're using.