Santa Cruz August Halibut Aug. 21, 09'

The halibut: The halibut are out there. Look at the capi report for Monday and Tuesday this week!!!! I was fishing on both of those days and lost 3 or 4 and landed one 26 inch @ 8lbs on Monday. Unfortunately i got color on two other halibuts that day and the one one I landed was the smallest. One i had three quarters of in the net before she swam backwards and popped the hook loose tangled in my net as she went free. Neat trick. She was a pretty 28 inch around 10 lb fish with the starry pattern on her back. The biggest felt and looked like 12-15 lbs and 30 inches. That bad boy wouldn't come up to the surface and put up a hell of a fight and broke my line on my stinger hook at the knot. Big time bummer. That one was my fault poorly tied knot and poorly played the fish. One second I'm fighting this great fish having a blast and i think its in the bag, the next .... nothing. On Tuesday I went out with a vengeance and a little practice. On Tuesday I ended up getting color on a shaker before he popped off; I landed a 27'' @ 8.5 lbs ; Caught and released a 21 inch; and I landed another 26 inch @8lbs.

Sounds good right?? Well it was fun while it lasted. Yesterday I went out and hit up the same spots and then some and got nothing. I missed one big bite unfortunately and from the looks of the sardine it was in a good size halibuts mouth up to its neck. The line on my stinger hook had too much slack so I didn't get a good set. I felt the Fish swim toward me and started reeling to keep the line tight but he got away after a 5 second battle. Still learning. But not nearly the wide open action from Monday and Tuesday at all.

Wind: The wind has picked up yesterday and today(Friday Aug. 21st) significantly after 12pm as compared to Monday and Tuesday while early morning conditions have been glassy as a lake. Fishing in a kayak after 12pm yesterday was like running on a treadmill.

Live bait: If you don't have live bait then you're pretty much S.O.L. when it comes to getting halibut and there is bait out there everywhere right now. It's worth it to pick through the sardines for the smallest ones too. Sure you can fish dead bait and hope to get lucky or you can fish live bait on a halibut rig and hope to not get unlucky. The only real exception is some people are good at fishing with fish traps for them but that is so much work and we are already paddling every where.

Any way i think its worth the hunt right now.

Terrific report, love the style!  Keep them coming.

Unfortunately I won't be getting out anytime soon.

Michael

Bam:

      Did you go East or West and, how deep? I need
to pickup a Bait Bucket over at FW! I was going to
fish with Dead Squid.
                                                Thanks fro the Intel
                                                E

Awesome detailed report, congrats on the ones you landed and the sneaky guys hooked but became unbuttoned. I think you're right on about getting out there early and taking advantage of the glass, the heavier winds suck sometimes. A kayak anglers enemy I'm curious as well which direction you paddled and how deep were you fishing if you don't mind sharing

great report, thanks cameron

Nice detailed report.

I'd say welcome to the board, but it looks like you've been here for awhile.

I was fishing shallow in 15 ft on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday i got the bite in 40 ft . I was south of the harbor but that is as specific as i will get. They are out there so if you got a honey hole hit it up, if not you gotta find your own. Best of luck.

Nice flatties! I know how good those guys are.Yum.

Nice work and great report.  Love the wet fish pics with the accompanying Anchor Steam.   

Many, including myself have called santa cruz a berumuda triangle of fish.  They all vanish.  Not this year.  Oh yeah!  Congrats.

yea that acnhor steam looks frosty!

Very nice work...nothing better and nice choice on the beer.

Cool pair of hali there Bambora. Thanks for the report.

Jedmo

  Great report. Plenty of bait still in front of harbor as of Fri. 21. I fished dead sardines for nada at Natural Bridges. Had a fish trap scratched at Mitchells. Caught a 27" last week on a dead sardine by the light house.
         I hate towing  a bait tube around. After reading your report, given  my poor hali showing this year,  I'll have to reconsider.
       Are you setting the hook immediately or letting them have a minute or so to swallow the bait?

I just got a new Abu Garcia 7 bait caster combo. Apparently the reel is a dumbed down version of an ambassador series reel. I can open the spool and turn the clicker on so it doesn't free spool line unless a little pressure is applied.It also has good drag. It is perfect for live bait; both fly lining or trolling a halibut rig. I leave that open and wait to here the clicking, the spool engages as soon as i start reeling so i just engage the spool set the hook. Halibut have a habit of taping before they commit to a full strike and change there mind if they feel resistance on the test taps so this reel has helped me fool them more often. I also ALWAYS use a treble stinger hook.