Resources for fishing rig setups for certain species and conditions?

New to kayak fishing (awesome sport!) and well, ocean fishing in general. My prior experience in the big blue consists of going on charter boats and renting a rod and buying the boat's tackle setup for the day.

I'm finding that going from charter boats with helpful deckhands to trying to figure rigging setups yourself for certain species while on a kayak is quite a leap. Wondering if there's any websites out there (ideally with an emphasis on bay area waters) that can serve as a primer for rigging up for certain species. Right now, I've just been using rock fish dropper rigs with a piece of squid on the hook, hoping for anything really.

Looking for something like... what I should have on my pole for lingcod on sunny days, halibut on overcast days in a little rougher water, etc.

 

The Lost Anchovy has lots of good tutorials.

I take people out and show them different ways to run bait, but I only guide in Humboldt.

Good luck.   

Lots of good info on this board, on the internet, and just straight up talking to other fisherman around here.

But in all honesty, you learn the most from putting in the time and trying out what works. Keep a journal when you go out and catch fish....like what was the weather like, conditions, tides, water clarity, bait used, etc. You'll start noticing patterns

It is so much more involved than using gold lures on overcast days and silver on sunny days. Just know you’ll put in a hell of a lot of time and still never know why something worked or not on a certain day. Some recommendations would be to use the search on this forum, look up videos on YouTube specific to what you want to learn (kayak fishing for halibut in San Francisco Bay or kayak fishing for rockfish Mendocino coast), and then go to your local tackle shops and ask questions! You can buy pre-ties halibut rugs or shrimp flies and there are a ton of lures you can buy for lingcod. There’s not really a one size fits all set up and time and practice will really build your understanding more than anything. I recommend getting familiar with weather and swell forecasts. I use a combination of surf-forecast, windy, NOAA, and tides4fishing when deciding where to fish. Look up how to read swell reports if you aren’t sure what the numbers mean. The most important thing is to dress for immersion and wear a wetsuit and or dry suit with proper layers underneath before heading out on the salt. Learn the regulations for the water you are fishing. And have fun with it!! Look up self rescue practice videos and give it a try on a lake! There is a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips and you’ll have a blast researching I’m sure! 

It is so much more involved than using gold lures on overcast days and silver on sunny days. Just know you’ll put in a hell of a lot of time and still never know why something worked or not on a certain day. Some recommendations would be to use the search on this forum, look up videos on YouTube specific to what you want to learn (kayak fishing for halibut in San Francisco Bay or kayak fishing for rockfish Mendocino coast), and then go to your local tackle shops and ask questions! You can buy pre-ties halibut rugs or shrimp flies and there are a ton of lures you can buy for lingcod. There’s not really a one size fits all set up and time and practice will really build your understanding more than anything. I recommend getting familiar with weather and swell forecasts. I use a combination of surf-forecast, windy, NOAA, and tides4fishing when deciding where to fish. Look up how to read swell reports if you aren’t sure what the numbers mean. The most important thing is to dress for immersion and wear a wetsuit and or dry suit with proper layers underneath before heading out on the salt. Learn the regulations for the water you are fishing. And have fun with it!! Look up self rescue practice videos and give it a try on a lake! There is a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips and you’ll have a blast researching I’m sure!

Well that pretty much sums it up right there. Sometimes you gotta just find what works best for you. What techniques you enjoy employing. There are more than one way to skin a cat. Its always fun to experiment and learn something too

Just keep up on safety! fishing will come next

my two go to setups are a single dropper loop with my jighead/swimbait tied to the bottom.

and just a trolling setup with two circle hooks. I keep a sliding swivel on my line so if I want to switch to bottom bouncing/trolling I can just swap the leader and put on a weight.

okay my question.  Barbless fishing during Salmon season.

I’m a big time reef worker leadhead barbed swimbait under a single shrimp fly.  Caught a lot of ground fish.  So my favored area is of course HMB.  Single rod missions for salmon require a rig to jig up some lings or rocks using same.  I re-rig my WMA with barbless ought 6 octopus two hooks tied not slipped 3in apart.

Question how can I send that double barbless down in a reef?

If you are trolling you don’t need circle hooks for HMB area, you can use J hooks. If you are Drifting bait (mooching) then it’s a single barbless circle hook. If  using artificial lures (a swimbait) it needs to be single hooked and barbless.

So you can troll your 2 hook barbless wma apex, then switch to a barbless leadhead with swimbait, or barbless circle hook with bait.

Back to the original question. Everything eats anchovies! I try for a natural baitfish color, then maybe a dark color, and if all wale fails glow/bright green.

If it worked on big boat, it will work on kayak

This posted a while back has excellent information on various rigs.

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=85514.0