LuckyCraft420
09-16-2013, 03:43 PM
I havent taken the time to sit down and type up a fishing report in a long time... After Kens (skunked4life) persistent requests, and finally having some free time on my hands, here we are.
About 2 months ago I went float tubing in open ocean with a friend, and got hooked on it right away. I caught my first WSB of the year, a few bass, trophy size smelt, and a short halibut. There was an obvious advantage fishing out farther than you can usually cast from shore, with what seemed to be a wider variety of fish.
I immediately wanted to buy my own float tube, but as usual it got thrown on the back burner for other activities. A month goes by and Josh tells me about a killer halibut bite they had in the same area. We made plans to go the following week on our days off work. In the mean time, I find an almost new float tube on CL for a great deal, and picked it for the trip.
The morning of. Josh, Matt and I get to the location and in the water by 8am. Fairly warm and very clear. We paddled out past the buoy, and it didnt take long to realize the lizard fish had heavy invaded this stretch of the beach. After paddling around and bouncing lures off the bottom we moved closer into shore, and the halibut bite started. Between the 3 of us we caught 30+ halibut (lots of 18-20'ers) in 3.5 hours, 2 were legals. We realized the halibut were spawning when we pulled the males out of the water to unhook them (I want to keep this G rated for kids, lets just say it was obvious). This was the day I learned how a halibut can actually put up a great fight!!! Ive caught my fair share of halibut from the surf and shores of the harbors, and the fights were all relatively the small. A few head shakes, and dragging it in while it hugs the bottom... Catching a 20+ inch halibut from a float tube is easily my new addiction. When you set the hook on them, and pull them up towards the surfaces, they take off running. I had the drag set TIGHT on the bait caster, and my 24.5" legal peeled drag on 4 different runs. My brand new (this was the first time fishing with it) Shimano clarus 9' casting rod was over half way bent over into the water. Great feeling to see the new rod getting broken in the right away. The funny part of these bigger halibut, was how softly they would bite the plastics. You wouldnt feel the bites at all. We'd be drifting around bouncing the lures off the bottom, and we knew the lure was in the fishes mouth when we felt the light tension has we lifted the rod's. The only rods that got slammed were my buddies using live lizard fish.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx221/nim_ken/IMG_0990.jpg (http://s758.photobucket.com/user/nim_ken/media/IMG_0990.jpg.html)
I made another trip back there a week later with a different friend to find the bigger model halibuts had moved on. I still ended up catching a 19.5" butt, and 8 other pancakes in about 4 hours. Still had a good day.
-Ken
42582425834259542596425974259842599426004260142602 4260342604
About 2 months ago I went float tubing in open ocean with a friend, and got hooked on it right away. I caught my first WSB of the year, a few bass, trophy size smelt, and a short halibut. There was an obvious advantage fishing out farther than you can usually cast from shore, with what seemed to be a wider variety of fish.
I immediately wanted to buy my own float tube, but as usual it got thrown on the back burner for other activities. A month goes by and Josh tells me about a killer halibut bite they had in the same area. We made plans to go the following week on our days off work. In the mean time, I find an almost new float tube on CL for a great deal, and picked it for the trip.
The morning of. Josh, Matt and I get to the location and in the water by 8am. Fairly warm and very clear. We paddled out past the buoy, and it didnt take long to realize the lizard fish had heavy invaded this stretch of the beach. After paddling around and bouncing lures off the bottom we moved closer into shore, and the halibut bite started. Between the 3 of us we caught 30+ halibut (lots of 18-20'ers) in 3.5 hours, 2 were legals. We realized the halibut were spawning when we pulled the males out of the water to unhook them (I want to keep this G rated for kids, lets just say it was obvious). This was the day I learned how a halibut can actually put up a great fight!!! Ive caught my fair share of halibut from the surf and shores of the harbors, and the fights were all relatively the small. A few head shakes, and dragging it in while it hugs the bottom... Catching a 20+ inch halibut from a float tube is easily my new addiction. When you set the hook on them, and pull them up towards the surfaces, they take off running. I had the drag set TIGHT on the bait caster, and my 24.5" legal peeled drag on 4 different runs. My brand new (this was the first time fishing with it) Shimano clarus 9' casting rod was over half way bent over into the water. Great feeling to see the new rod getting broken in the right away. The funny part of these bigger halibut, was how softly they would bite the plastics. You wouldnt feel the bites at all. We'd be drifting around bouncing the lures off the bottom, and we knew the lure was in the fishes mouth when we felt the light tension has we lifted the rod's. The only rods that got slammed were my buddies using live lizard fish.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx221/nim_ken/IMG_0990.jpg (http://s758.photobucket.com/user/nim_ken/media/IMG_0990.jpg.html)
I made another trip back there a week later with a different friend to find the bigger model halibuts had moved on. I still ended up catching a 19.5" butt, and 8 other pancakes in about 4 hours. Still had a good day.
-Ken
42582425834259542596425974259842599426004260142602 4260342604