ARW Sunday 6/30 - SLOW!

Went out to the rockwall for the early morning high tide on Sunday.  Hit the water at about 5:30.  I went out to that hole straight out from the flagpole that some others were recommending.  Drifted shiner perch on a halibut rig with 3oz weight but no hits.  Caught a little sand shark and nothing else.  Maybe I'm in the wrong place, using the wrong bait/rig, drifting too fast/not fast enough?  Would love some advice on how to hook into halibut or striper out here.  Fished that deep hole in front of the wall a week ago and didn't get anything.  I've gotten some good advice from folks around the docks but nothing has produced any hits.  What depths do these fish typically hold?  I've been told 6-8 ft for stripers and 8-12 for halibut.  For some reason I thought I'd heard 30ft+ for halibut.  I drifted a good range of depths from 6-40ft.  I know there's no silver bullet and I can accept the fact that is' fishing and not catching.  But there must be something I could do better to hook some fish.  Below is my track (love the Navionics app on my iPhone!) and a few photos.  Really pretty sunrise, one pissed off little sand shark, and a sea lion regulating it's body temp.  I didn't know that was what it was doing at the time.  I thought the critter was dying and was glad to see him swim off when he noticed me.

Thanks for the Halibut scouting report and pictures skunkmaster.   There's nothing wrong with you rig,  it's just another slow day.   Just put in your time and you'll catch them.

So that was you coming in as we were going out.  Sorry I didn't stop to chat...  was intent on getting out before it got too windy.

I'm not the one to ask about halibut but I will say the chances of hooking up go up dramatically when birds are crashing bait and the water is clearer.

Is there a rule of thumb for how much line to let out when drifting?  Like do you want to have the bait dragging at a certain pitch?  I'm probably over thinking it but thought I'd ask!

There was a guy on a green hobie (I think) with a face mask (wasn't that windy yet) fishing the deep water off the rockwall.  Should have stopped to chat but I don't approach ninjas.  He went in half hour before I did.  There was a couple heading out with fly rods when I got to the dock.

The wind sucks at the rockwall.  I think there are limited times where the conditions are good enough there to catch fish.  I thought I'd have good luck with such an early morning high tide.  Maybe the wind and incoming tide was drifting me too fast.  Are there any fans of the drift anchors out there? 

Thanks for posting the report

For halibut you generally want your bait to be just off the bottom.  When trolling or drifting you want your weight to be "bouncing", hence the term "bottom bouncing for buts".   My preferred method is a slow troll, and a weight/line diameter/line out combination that results in a gentle, slow, rhythmic pumping of the rod tip.  I think rod tip action makes a difference also (not too stiff).  Basically I have had good luck when the weight sticks, the rod tip goes down like you might have a fish on, then the tip finally pulls the weight out and you get a smooth bounce and the weight is planted again.

The factors mentioned: craft speed, amount of line out, weight size, and line diameter will all affect the angle that the line makes as it goes down to the bottom.  Lower speed, less line, heavier weight, and smaller diameter all result in a steeper angle.  With the right angle and the right rod you will get a nice bounce.

I suggest you google a video of a halibut feeding, you can see how they hide in the bottom material (change colors too), and they just rear up and slam any suspecting fish that got too close.

I know of at least 4 halis that were caught in the area you worked.  If they are there its' quite possible they will bite.  I use frozen anchovies, but a lot of guys use shiners.  Dont worry about drifting to fast as most of the boats which troll the wall do anywhere from 1.5 to 2 mph.  I usually use between 1 - 2 ounces on my hali rig, just enough to keep bouncing the bottom.  My son caught a hali when it came out of the water to attack his anchovy (8' of water - he lifted his pole and pulled his line to check his bait and the hali suprised him, caught it, about 8#. and I have caught them in the big opening in 35' of water.  They can be anywhere.

There are many ways to catch halibut. What you were doing will definitely work if the fish are there.

I usually just use big hammer swim baits. 4-6", white, chartreuse, or any of the silvery or white baitfish like colors they have. 1-3 oz lead head, depending on the drift/wind. Here's how I do it:

Cast, feel it hit bottom, pause, couple cranks, feel bottom, couple cranks, feel bottom... Whole time your rod tip stays down. Your not jigging up and down, just using the reel to move the bait a couple/few feet at a time. Halibut are very quick to spit out a swimbait right after they grab it. By keeping the rod tip down, you are always ready to set the hook as soon as you feel the bite, without having to reel up any slack. I learned a lot about catching halibut from this article. It works.

http://www.getbentsportfishing.com/helpful/tips-and-tricks/inshore-halibut-swimbait-fishing/

Thanks for all the tips everyone.  Now I can at least feel productive on the water trying new methods.  My girlfriend has been giving me a hard time about using live bait so I'd like to at least tell her I'm going to try some artificial options.

Great report and photos. And awesome tips on the rest of the thread. I'm going to try and head out to ARW in the next few weeks and will be trying for some swimbait action.

They are super picky and selective eaters.

They are super picky and selective eaters.

That POV is as terrifying as it is awesome

They didn't seem too picky in that video! 

Very cool! Those are pacific halibut in the video. Different animal entirely.

I would t really say California halibut are that picky, you just have to find them. They are picky once they mouth a bait, though. If it doesn't feel right they will spit it out quick.

I would t really say California halibut are that picky, you just have to find them

That was my point, my bad for not putting a smiley.  I think they will eat anything that moves if they are around and hungry.  Bucktail jigs don't look like much but they are the old standby.