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Halibut
Season Begins with a Bang & Bust
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| Like
most years, my first trip of the season for halibut was
to Neah Bay Washington. Planning for the trip had
already revealed several factors. First and foremost,
according to the commercial halibut longliners in the
area, the halibut were still deep. And, the weather
looked as though it might kick up and prevent most boats
from leaving the harbor. |
| Armed
with this information, I headed to Neah Bay equipped to
fish deep, really deep. My two fishing partners would
have electric reels while I'd have my standard Shimano
TLD 15. They also brought an assortment of 4 and 5-pound
weights, which explains the electric reels. Many
recreational anglers deem the electric reels not
sporting -- I too was among that crowd. But after
realizing the depths (300 to 900-feet) and amount of
weights we'd be fishing, my attitude switched to a
"maybe" they're okay. |
| When
May 1st dawned a new day and signaled the start of
Washington's halibut season the wind did kick up as
predicted, leaving most boats tied to the dock. May 2nd
most charter boats did go offshore and fill one-fish
limits. My arrival came at a good time, on May 3rd, just
in time for the weather to pause and provide at least
fishable conditions. One of our three got food poisoning
at the local cafe, and therefore couldn't fish at all.
That left me with one of the two electric reels to try.
Considering the fact that the wind and current were
working against us, they soon became a welcome piece of
equipment. My fishing partner for the day, Dave F.
headed to a couple of spots on the inside waters, not
far from Tatoosh Island. |
| Our
terminal tackle for the day consisted of my new Hi-vis
spreader bar and artificial worm on one rig and a
custom-tied halibut.net Double Whammy gangion. Click
here for pictures of halibut tackle. First drop of
the day sent our gear to just over 900-feet, an abyss I
certainly wouldn't want to challenge without the aid of
the electrics. Mind you, I'm not advocating the purchase
of these aids, just stating the obvious, I'm not all that
willing to crank up five pounds of lead from 900-feet,
especially without fish attached. I'm no dummy, when
something will help me catch fish...I'm there! Anyway,
twice down and twice up produced nothing, not even a
nibble. This prompted us to move closer in with the
hopes of finding bigger fish, but fewer of them. |
| At
this point I should explain that the best of the best
halibut spots out of Neah Bay are offshore as much as 40
miles or more. These honey holes consistently produce
one halibut after another, but they are usually in the
same size range. Judging by the charter results from the
first two days, the average size of the Neah Bay
offshore halibut was off by about 5-pounds from last
year's weights. Neah Bay, like many other halibut holes
up and down the coast has halibut beds that produce fish
day after day. These holes usually contain 9 to 12 year
old fish that weigh somewhere between 15 to 30-pounds. When you find one 25-pounder you've found a whole
"class" of them. These fish are typically from
the same year class and school together. As they grow
and get caught or die from predation, they begin to move
in smaller groups or as "rogues." |
| This
is why we moved inside, looking for bigger fish, but
fewer of them. Again, Neah Bay, like many other spots
along the halibut's range, offers many places where
anglers can clean up on small fish or eek out one or two
nice fish. In this case, the inside waters of Neah Bay
are known to produce fewer but bigger fish. Our choice
to fish inside stemmed from the inability to reach the mother lode of smaller halibut
in a timely manner and our desire to
try out the new tackle. To make a long story short, our
day's efforts yielded one nice fish, a fat 45-pounder.
During our drift I saw no other fish taken. Our
45-pounder hammered the Mr. Goodbar spreader bar and the
artificial worm. |
| The
new Hi-vis spreader bar gives halibut a bigger surface
area for them to see, thus helping them find your bait
or lure. Recent research shows that fish see
ultraviolet. In fact, scientists have declared that fish
are the only animals on earth capable of seeing both
infrared and ultra violet rays. The
Norwalk Aquarium Society recently asked this fact as
their monthly trivia question. Here's what it means to
anglers. When we buy lures we can choose lures that
are or aren't ultraviolet or we can choose
glow-in-the-dark. The difference between the ultraviolet
and glow-in-the-dark can be argued, but here's my take
on the subject. The glow-in-the-dark lures work great
but you do need to keep them charged by either lighting
them with a light source (naturally with the sun, or an
old camera strobe) or you will not benefit from their
full effects. Ultraviolet, on the other hand, will
reflect the available light which allows the fish to see
it. |
| What
light you ask? At 400-feet is there light? No and yes.
For us the answer is no. For fish the answer is a
resounding YES! Ultraviolet rays, the very same rays
that cause cancer from over exposure, penetrate to great
depths in an otherwise dark ocean. When you put
something that's ultraviolet down there it illuminates
and the fish see it, much like a freshly charged
glow-in-the-dark lure. A recent TV documentary showed a
diver with an ultraviolet spotlight shinning it on the
bottom. Using nothing but a standard light source common
to divers the scene was a stark contrast of gray and
blacks. Using the ultraviolet light source suddenly
revealed a wide spectrum of colors from red, purple and
yellow. Using the light, they said, duplicates what the
fish see.
Personal
research using mini underwater lights, the Trophy Torch,
has also proved to be an effective way of attracting
halibut. Combined with the ultraviolet, glow-in-the-dark
and even standard colored lures/baits, the underwater
light has proven itself by continually bringing the fish
to the bait or lure quicker. The object of the pursuit
is to catch fish. Using these methods helps us to catch
fish quicker, therefore allowing us to pick and choose
and make better use of our precious time on the water.
Without any light source the angler must rely on scent
or action.
Scent
is self explanatory. Fish will hone in on a scent trail.
But, many anglers don't follow the most important rule
when using bait. Always use fresh bait if you want to
catch bigger fish. The same holds true for crab. Use
stinky, rotten bait and you'll catch smaller fish or no
fish. A new product, not yet on the halibut.net pages,
is the Halibut Caller. Alaskan's know this product well.
A commercial halibut longliner developed the scent and
delivery system after years of testing scents and their
effectiveness. What he now uses works very well. These
scent tubes clip on to your line, near the hook, and have
a wick that sends the scent into the water for 4 to
6-hours depending on water temperature. Soon I'll have
them available for the water below Alaska, where a
special mixture is needed because of warmer waters. Keep
watching for this new product.
Along
with using scent anglers should remember to use baits or
lures that are dynamic, not static. Dynamic is moving,
static does not. A static bait will work fine if you
have a good scent to attract the halibut. A dynamic
bait, whether it's artificial or actual bait will help
to attract more halibut. How? Eyes, again, are a
critical factor here. So is the lateral line that shows
us where to fillet the halibut. The lateral line hosts
thousands of tiny receptors that "feel"
vibration caused by sound and surrounding water
movement. A good example of this can be made by
remembering what a school of baitfish on the surface
looks like. A constantly moving, vibrating mass of excitement.
This really drives fish into a feeding frenzy and draws
them closer too. That's why I suggest occasionally
pounding the bottom with the spreader bar, dragging
bottom or bouncing jigs off bottom. This produces sound
waves that travel far greater distances underwater than
in air.
All
of these factors will help you to catch more halibut.
Apply them to other fish too. I hope you all catch lots
of fish this month. Thursday I'm heading to Kodiak
Island to fish with a top guide, Jeff Peterson. Click
here for his homepage.
Halibut reports...what's
hot right now.
Prince William Sound is
red hot. Contact
Orca Adventure Lodge.
Ucluelet British
Columbia. Contact
Island West Resort.
Neah Bay improving,
should be hot within a couple of weeks. Contact
TommyCod Charters.
Victoria has been
producing some really nice fish. Read
the reports here.
These are the hotspots I
know of. If you'd like to add yours please go to the
halibut.net fishing reports page. Click
Here....
As we continue our
pursuit to find more out about fish and specifically
halibut, you'll read about it here. |
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Bonus!
Purchase $50.00 or more
from www.halibut.net
tackle store receive a free
Trophy TorchTM
valued at $9.95.
Immediately after
ordering you must e-mail
me this code. #1-6-2001 This offer only good until
June 1st.
|
 Click
Here For Halibut Fishing Reports |
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e-mail@halibut.net |
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