ARW Report 6/22

Summary:

• Plenty of halibut shakers at the rock wall
• The John Skinner fluke jigging technique seems to work for California halibut
• Don't use fluorocarbon line from Decathlon

Details:
My boat is a skin-on-frame baidarka so I have to use slightly different tactics from most of the folks on the board. I'm limited in the ability to move from the cockpit, so the only storage I have is a single crate strapped just in front of the cockpit, making live bait a difficult proposition. Instead, I used John Skinner's fluke setup, a 3/4 oz bucktail tipped with gulp and a teaser about a foot above. I drift this parallel to slopes and drop-offs with a fast vertical jigging motion.

I got a late start, launching at around 815. Water clarity was great for the bay which was flat as glass. Low tide would be at 1030. Paddled over to the flagpole and missed a strike on the first drift. The third drift saw an undersized hali (my first ever) at 18 inches around 930 in 7 FOW. It took me a while to figure out how to set up the drift, that spot seems to send you a few different directions if you're not careful. I landed a second halibut about 15 minutes later, this one 21 inches. After dropping two more, one due to a broken leader, I tried the hole midway up the wall where I lost something big to leader failure. I was off the water by 11.

Lessons:
The main takeaway is not to use the fluoro leader material from Decathlon. I've had repeated failures from it, I had to throw it away the second I got home. The other is that east coast fluke tactics seem to work pretty well in the bay, although applying them directly is a challenge as our waterways are structured differently. I had more action in three hours on Saturday than I've ever had in my life so I'm sold. It's pretty great to not have to deal with live bait. Or even dead bait.

Were they hitting the top one or the bottom?
Were you using a dropper loop, or 3 way for the top hook?
I am asking because the dropper loop knot makes the line weaker. I only use it on 25# test and larger test line.
 If we all get away from using treble hooks ,these short fish might survive to next year. Thanks for the report.

Bucktails and a gulp saltwater grub will catch just about everything that swims. I frequently use that setup for rockfish, lingcod, halibut, and stripers. For a teaser I like to use a vmc spinshot dropshot hook tipped with a smaller gulp grub. Thanks for the report and I’m glad you found so good fishing action!

The leader was 25 lb test fluoro, I thought it would be beefy enough to handle a dropper loop. But one rig had a teaser tied on with a Palomar and that fell apart.

The ones I brought to the surface were all on the teaser, and one of the rigs I lost, the teaser broke off but the bucktail was fine.

I hear you about the trebles, I just use wide mouth J hooks. It's too much of a hassle if you have to let the fish go.

Use heavy mono and not floro for dropper loop leaders. Learned the same when I broke off a fish with a dropper loop made from 30# floro from seagaur. Floro is just too stiff and has no give for dropper loops.

Also try a swimbait with a lead head instead of the bucktail. I'll go with a big hammer 5 or 7" and anywhere from a 1,2,3 oz head depending on conditions.