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bassassassin
06-18-2009, 11:07 PM
does anybody know wat the best beach is in orange county to get on some good halibut in the surf??? maybe off jerkbaits?? also wat are some good artificial lures to use for surf fishing for halibut and croaker or any other fish that will give a good fight off the sand?

tacklejunkie
06-19-2009, 06:34 AM
These lures own!
http://www.luckycraft.com/luckycrafthome/Products/saltwater/swflashminnow110sp.htm
Wingnut and Sinjin Kim's reports convinced me to buy several. It's not often that they don't work! Just retrieve it straight in!
Try bass pro shop or fisherman's access or similar specialty shops. The freshwater version works great too but you gotta change the hooks out.

Dropshot some flukes too! Baitfish colors.
You'll see baitfish shortly and learn what to match!
Grunion, anchovy, smelt, macks.. etc.

Big hammers and similar leadheads with swim bodies.

Halibut aren't too picky. When they're on, you can get them on bass worms.

Cangler
06-19-2009, 08:21 AM
Dont discount Crocs and KM's , but live dines are best , especially from
a jetty

bsp
06-19-2009, 10:29 AM
TJ pretty much hit the nail on the head. Flash Minnow 110s are the way to go for chasing halibut from the surf. There are a lot of other jerkbaits out there for more specific conditions, but the best all around jerkbait is the Flash Minnow 110. Metallic Sardine is a great all around color, but if you can't find it buy one Aurora Black and use a sharpie to put black dots on the side. There are a lot of other colors that work too like Aurora Mackerel and MS MJ American Shad. Just go with some shiny baitfish pattern.

Plastics are your standard bass plastics. Zoom Flukes, Zoom Super Flukes, , Basstrix Fat Minnows and Flasthtrixs, and Saltwater Gulp! Jerkshads and Minnows/Baitfish all catch halibut. Use a 3/0 or 4/0 offset hook for texas rigging and a size 1 or 2 straight shank for threading it on, just like in freshwater bass fishing. 3/8oz or 5/8oz weight depending on conditions. Again, use baitfish colors. The White Ice pattern is very popular at the moment, but a lot of other patterns work too.

5/8oz Krocadile spoons work too, but I haven't had as much luck with them as on the Flash Minnow. Plus I have some sinking jerkbaits if I ever need to get really deep, but that is not too common. Halibut will come very far off the bottom to take a swipe at a Flash Minnow, so don't be worried if you are fishing 6ft of water with the Flash Minnow that dives to 2 or 3ft.

Fish the hardbaits on 12lb line and dropshot with 10lb or 8lb line. I use Seaguar InvisX now for hardbaits and dropshotting and it is an awesome halibut line. It is very strong and abrasion resistant, plus it casts well. The downside is the price, but it lasts a long time. A good alternative is P-Line CXX. I used that before I used Seaguar and it is also a great line. It just has a lot of line memory and has to be replaced more often. Still, for the price you can't really complain.

As for beaches, go out and explore! There are a lot of beaches in Orange County and they all will hold halibut if conditions are right. Huntington Beach is a good place to start looking for halibut, and once you find some there you can use the information to figure out other beaches that halibut like. Generally halibut like areas with low waves, so try looking near rip tides, troughs, and holes along the beach. Or, just find an area where there are no waves like in Newport Harbor.

Good luck and let me know if I can help you out anymore!

bassassassin
06-19-2009, 03:14 PM
thanks for all the info guys, me and my buddy have been wanting to do it because it seems a lot like freshwater bass fishing maybe we could meet some of you guys out there sometime

bsp
06-19-2009, 03:35 PM
No problem.

Just to clarify, all those plastics are meant to be used while dropshotting. You can use 3in Big Hammer swimbaits for halibut too, but I only use them when I can't dropshot and I want a finesse presentation.

BIGRED KILLA
06-19-2009, 03:54 PM
Dont discount Crocs and KM's , but live dines are best , especially from
a jetty


Don't forget Mr. Smelt halis number one bat fish and stronger then mr. dine.




Bigred

bassassassin
06-19-2009, 04:04 PM
i dont use any bait, just artificial lures, you feel like you earned the fish more when using lures