Halibut Trap

[lowprofile]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

DAMMIT!!!!

You beat me to it!

its only common sense...

[taggermike]

I used trap hooks for a while but after landing only more shorts halibut and gut hooking some sand bass I stopped using them. I also feel that the bait, any bait, will swim better and live longer with out that second hook in the tail. Now I use a light wire circle matched to size the bait. When I worked for the Hubbs institute we taggedsome halibut with acustic tags and released them in to Mission Bay. We had several automated listening probes on the bottom to tell us where the halis went in the bay. We had one fish that started in the back bay near Vacation Village. It barely moved for a few days and then on one out going night tide it completely left the bay and out the mouth. They do move. Mike

[grey zone]

It's difficult to trap hook a live fin bait. The trap hook usually comes out of the bait or your bait dies. Here's some tips. Use a treble hook rather than a single and nose hook your bait as you normally would. Mustad 3X strong in sizes 4 and 2 work for most sardines. I like Mustads because they have good barbs! Fish with your reel in gear, my rod holder out fishes me hands down. Someone mentioned using a Palomar knot and putting the trap hook on the tag end, that rig is deadly with live squid but doesn't work well with live fin bait.

[tunaseeker]

On another note I was listening to Lets Talk Hookup with gues Ron Baker. He had some great hali tips. He too is adamat against the trap as all you get are shorts and you may kill them. So I hit up San Diego Bay today, no trap and got some live bait. Got raked 8 times and then I hooked up. Seemed to have some pull so I tried to wear it out. On the way up snap goes the leader....Damm. I pull the rig up 8' or so and see a clean cut. The all of a sudden a freaking huge threasher shark comes up to the yak, he hits the boat and rolls over tail come out of the water and hits my arm. He goes under the yak and runs into the fins of the hobie drive. This gal was pissed. I thought about trying to gaff her but quickily realized I was in over my head and watched her swim away. Who knew threashers in SD Bay? No keepers but what a beautiful day!

[Streak]

I fished the bay yesterday along with a number of fellows in our tubes and pontoons.
Things could have become quite exciting had we spotted a shark with all of our legs dangling in the water!!!

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by grey zone

It's difficult to trap hook a live fin bait. The trap hook usually comes out of the bait or your bait dies.

This is true when you hook the bait in the belly, that's why I always hook it on the top right behind the dorsal fin. As far as bait life goes I don't leave my bait on long enough to see it die, I change my bait when I no longer see the tip of my rod moving/shaking. However, when it comes to anchovies and squid your response is true, their life span is extremely short but again.....change it often and you'll be OK.

Originally Posted by grey zone

Here's some tips. Use a treble hook rather than a single and nose hook your bait as you normally would. Mustad 3X strong in sizes 4 and 2 work for most sardines. I like Mustads because they have good barbs!

I tried this a few times and got the same results, the problem is that if the fish doesn't swallow the entire bait you end up with the same results: raked bait. If I'm going to use a single hook I would go with a single circle hook instead.

[grey zone]

About everything you said is backward, fin bait has a very short life span when trap hooked and a live squid does very well. When you hook a big halibut you will know what I'm talking about, they dont mess around.

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by grey zone

When you hook a big halibut you will know what I'm talking about, they dont mess around.

......yeah, someday I hope to find out what it feels like. For now I'll just keep catching the little ones like the ones posted down below.

All joking aside......I'm going to give the single hook and trap hook rigs a try this coming weekend. I'll fish one rod with a single circle hook and the other with a circle hook and a trap hook, can't wait to see what the results are

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[GregAndrew]

The truth is that there is not one best way to rig for Halibut, there are only circumstantially best ways. All you need to do to prove this is check out a half dozen articles, from respected Halibut fishermen, to see how different their approaches can be. What is "best" for you will be based on what works for you and the way you prefer to fish for them.

[bellcon]

Originally Posted by GregAndrew

The truth is that there is not one best way to rig for Halibut, there are only circumstantially best ways. All you need to do to prove this is check out a half dozen articles, from respected Halibut fishermen, to see how different their approaches can be. What is "best" for you will be based on what works for you and the way you prefer to fish for them.

Is there such a thing as "respected halibut fishermen"?

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

This is true when you hook the bait in the belly, that's why I always hook it on the top right behind the dorsal fin....I tried this a few times and got the same results, the problem is that if the fish doesn't swallow the entire bait you end up with the same results: raked bait. If I'm going to use a single hook I would go with a single circle hook instead.

This is all sound advice. If the fish never turns the bait, or get's it's head in it's mouth doesn't matter what kind of hook you have in it's nose.

You hook it in the abdominal or anal cavity your just killing your bait. You can hook it in the meat on top or behind the anal cavity and then the bait lasts.

Circles work but you need to fish light line and completely let them swallow the bait. I have a friend who only fishes circles for butts but only when there is no drift at all the idea being any fish you get will swallow the hook before you even see it's on.

One thing I'll add is squid works great with a trap, and lives fine till something trashes it. The deal is everything from a blacksmith on up tries to eat it so it's usually worried to death by junk fish. I like to rig squid so it stays off the bottom. If you rig squid on a long leader like a sardine they litterally will lie down and try to camo themselves agaist the sand.

Jim