ARW

Went to the ARW today.  Arrive at 6  and didn’t hit the water due to heavy chop and wind.  Finally got on the water around 7:45 when the wind died down and the water was like glass.  Fished till 12 when the heavy winds started again.  Only got one shaker and a couple of weak pulls.  Oh well maybe next time. 

thank you for the report

Thanks for the update, hope you have better luck next time.  I'm hoping to get out to the wall next week.

Ron

I went out to ARW on 7/4, the parking lot was empty presumably for the holiday but maybe it's just because it was a weekday. There was a light breeze, nothing too bad to fight against but I wanted to try my new drift sock (read: Ikea bag) to see how that would work. I'm still dialing in my setup so I decided to stay close and drift in front of the flag pole. (A rough map is attached. Does this count as spot burning? It seems like this spot might be the most burnt spot in the bay.) There were a few kayakers and a PB working the area already.

I was being super lazy and this was an equipment test anyway so I was on the water at 11. My first pass produced nothing, so I went back up, deployed the sock and tried again. Everyone else had moved elsewhere by this point. I was fast jigging a 3/4 oz hair raiser tipped with a 4 inch gulp nemesis. Above it was a 5/0 bucktail teaser hook (https://htlureco.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fsingle-bucktail-teaser-closed-eye) tipped with a 4 inch curly tail grub (https://www.amazon.com/RUNCL-Anchor-Box-Swimbaits-Fishing/dp/B07KR62PN7/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=runcl+curly+tail&qid=1562307563&s=gateway&sr=8-3).

Right around the drop, I got hit pretty hard. My new fluoro leader held up this time, and after a big fight I pulled up my first keeper halibut ever, 26 inches. I netted it and began the long nightmare of trying to string that thing up while juggling all my gear from a sit-inside kayak. After that, I made two more short drifts before the fans turned on around 1. The sock helped some but the current was up too, I was moving too fast. It was a pretty nasty paddle back to the boat ramp from the flagpole.

Lessons:
I'm still sold on this hair raiser/gulp setup. This was my first keeper, but I haven't skunked yet at ARW over 4 trips since switching to this, and on my kayak it's just much easier to manage. The ikea bag drift sock is also brilliant. If the only thing it does is keep me facing into the wind, it's already worth the $1.39. My only concern is that it adds a tangle hazard to the deck. I need to think on how to minimize that.

The only piece of gear I'm switching out is my stringer. It was one of those needle-and-rope types. I wasn't really expecting to catch anything so I hadn't set it up before going out. Trying to set it up one-handed while the other had the fish in the net was a harrowing experience.

Questions:
From most of the posts I've read and my first few halibut, once they're hooked they come up like wet doormats with an occasional headshake until you get to the surface. This one was clearly not having any of my bullshit today. This is my second fish that hit hard, made several big runs, and fought till the bitter end. Any ideas what causes one behavior over the other?

I liked the drift sock for slowing down the wind component of the drift, but what do you use to slow (but not stop) the current component? Some sort of ineffective anchor maybe?

Congrats on getting one. Just every hali that I have caught all fought differently. There is no rhyme or reason on how they act. Get one of the game clips for keeping your fish, they are great for hooking up the fish   I have a short tether and a clip already attached to my kayak when I head out. The only way to compensate for the current is to paddle or peddle against it.

Nice job, .Did the fish eat the top or the bottom hook?
In my experience i have noted when trolling and the boat keeps moving most of the time they will coast right on up to the top.  When drifting about 1/2 the time they come up easy. If you knock them with the net/gaff ,100% of the time they fight.  Size of the fish doesn't seem to matter.