Onshore Halibut

[gdr_11]

I noticed that there is rarely any posts from folks who fish for halibut from boats using either soow trolling over sandy bottom or live bait drifting or jigging around underwater structure. I am primarily a Northern California fisherman but I enjoy reading the posts here. It just struck me as odd that almost 100% of the halibut posts are surf fishing other than the odd pier or party boat report.

Are the methods I mentioned not used in SoCal

[MonsterGuppy]

Bounce Balling (using a heavy lead round weight) with a 3 foot leader, drifting a live bait or a piece of squid drifting over sandy flats are all used. But most dont post about it since halibut are much sought after and no one wants their spots burned.

[capoisok]

grew up using twin hook setups for flatties
nose and tail

when it was legal i ran trammel nets

had lots of success inside from san clemente pier to salt creek especially from beach road to doheny
the river jetty's to bolsa chica was also a live zone

now you need to make sure your south of the sanctuary exclusion zone

other than that winter smelt runs would get them snapping

the biomass really hasn't improved since conservation laws were enacted in 94
can't say why and neither can the fish and game

so it's not very feasible for a cattle boat to target them

but for a small boat or number of anglers there are

lots of fish to scratch out

white sea bass fishing is a complete success story do to private conservation efforts

don't know why halibut never came back

[gdr_11]

Bounce Balling (using a heavy lead round weight) with a 3 foot leader, drifting a live bait or a piece of squid drifting over sandy flats are all used. But most dont post about it since halibut are much sought after and no one wants their spots burned.

That makes sense. In SF Bay, that’s also the #1 method using live anchovies when available and frozen when not. I prefer to lengthen the leader to 4’, add a small rotating flasher and use a good minnow lure like the Lucky Craft, replacing the trebles with Siwash hooks. The consistent lure action is better than a dead bait and just as effective as live.