Trolling for Buts

Hey kayakers,
got a newbie hali question for you guys.... I generally like to troll a little for halibut with a 2 hook sliding rig so the bait does a nice slow roll. My sister lost an enormous hali from a yak last year because we bought the store tied rigs from Mel Cottons and the knot unraveled, so this year I will be tying my own. As far as the hooks, does anyone have a suggestion? I have tons of those red Gamakatsu octopus hooks and was wondering if those would work. What about circle hooks, would those work?Any size recomendations? I know drifting with live bait is usually preferable, but drifting in one spot for more than 15 minutes makes me sleepy!

Hey, I use the Gamakatsus, they work fine. I match the hook size to the bait size. If I'm trolling the bait, I'd go a bit bigger than maybe needed. I think the fish react so quickly in taking a troll-bait that they aren't bothered by the hook size. I also go plenty heavy with the leader when trolling, lighter leader if clear water and live bait. I like the lighter leader with the live bait cuz it allows the bait to be alive. I tie my own 2 hook fixed leaders. I don't trust the sliding hook.
Are you fishing Humboldt Bay? I plan on hitting that in July sometime.

I reccomend the fixed hok rather than sliding as well......

just tie a variety of lengths to match yoour possible baits.

Good luck!!

Allen

Thanks guys, yeah i usually use a sliding hook rig because i never know what size bait Im going to use... how is the difficulty for tying a fixed hook rig? any links? Oh, and I wont be up to humboldt until august so the halis up north will have to wait a while

First tie in your top hook just like tying an egg loop snell for steelhead fishing and leave a long tag end for the second hook. I pre tie em with an extra long tag and then tie on my second hook after I see what size my average bait is.