Northbay Halibut Report

Red Fish

Senior Member
#1
It’s been a slow season overall from the shore.
I believe it to be from the unusual weather we experienced this season that threw off the bite. One ☝️ big piece of evidence in this was a short, all most nonexistent herring season. There was enough spawn however to present some juvenile herring now just big enough for a small live bait presentation (which I caught my fish on).
Started fishing late today at about 5pm. Arrived and was barely able to make bait. I got 1 American Shad and a few small herring. The Shad was consumed by the crabs.
I made a double 3-way rig (which is basically a high/low surf leader). I did 3’ on the drop and 1’ on the hook lines. 3 more feet and a two-ounce torpedo weight. Casted out just a few feet to keep the bait up off the bottom and away from crabs. Baited with two herring hooked parallel to the nose, I got a nice pull out of line right after sunset. I lifted my old bottom-of-the-line, green Lamiglas casting rod paired with Avet SX and gave a light firm swing upward as I applied pressure to pull the Hayabusa #2 light circle hook with enough pressure to set the hook and keep tension on it as the rod doubled over for the short fight that ensued and the 24” was landed.
You can see what happened to the hook in the picture below .
I was the only one I saw that caught anything (other than baitfish that weren’t really around).
Synopsis: this late in the season there aren’t too many fish around from shore but there are one or two perhaps. There were good numbers a couple months ago for some fishing near the Gate and Alameda from shore. We’ll see what happens in the next two months! 04BD288E-E8A9-41AC-BB4F-AA6DC88F7639.jpeg 3C289D4A-4239-429A-A666-B9A9FAA08387.jpeg
 
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I

ILYA

Guest
#2
Good job! It is looks like Hayabusa hook too soft... Couple questions:
1. What rig have you used for herring - sabiki or baited hook?
2. If I understood right the distance between hook with herrings and bottom was about 4-5feet. Is it not too high for Halibut? Usually it is the bottom dweller.
Thank you
 
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Skyhook

Active Member
#4
Great report! And congrats on a nice fish. You mentioned the shoreline season has been a little slow. That also seems to have beeen true for shoreline locations along the SF side of the Bay. Places, such as Crissy Field produced a some good fish last year. But this year the place was dead. That's not to say there weren't fish landed. But things were definitely a little "off" this year.

I'm also curious about the reason you use circle hooks. Are they the standard hooks you use for halibut? Or do you choose to use circles when fishing smaller baits?
 
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Red Fish

Senior Member
#5
Good job! It is looks like Hayabusa hook too soft... Couple questions:
1. What rig have you used for herring - sabiki or baited hook?
2. If I understood right the distance between hook with herrings and bottom was about 4-5feet. Is it not too high for Halibut? Usually it is the bottom dweller.
Thank you
1. Sabiki
2. Maybe 2’off the bottom if the line stayed somewhat straight. Weight drop 3’ and hook drop 1’ (so when hookline hangs, about 2’). Halibut will swim up a little. You have to keep the bait away from crabs or they will get your live bait.
 

Red Fish

Senior Member
#6
Congrats on hali!
Regarding hooks - when I'm going for the nice fish I switched completely to owners hooks
I usually use Owner Mutu light circle but the hooks haven’t been available at stores like they used to be (perhaps I will order some online). The Hayabusa are available at Big 5 and they have worked pretty well (first time this has happened). At least with the pressure the hook curled inward and didn’t straighten outward.
 

Red Fish

Senior Member
#7
Great report! And congrats on a nice fish. You mentioned the shoreline season has been a little slow. That also seems to be have true for shoreline locations along the SF side of the Bay. Places, such as Crissy Field, produced a some good fish last year. But this year the place was dead. That's not to say there weren't fish landed. But things were definitely a little "off" this year.

I'm also curious about the reason you use circle hooks. Are they the standard hooks you use for halibut? Or do you choose to use circles when fishing smaller baits?
I’ve used a bunch of different hooks over the years for halibut. A friend I made on this board, StripedSideChaser and I were fishing on my ho r Pier Berkeley Pier over 10 years ago and he caught a limit of 3 and I caught 0 on his birthday June 24. I had been missing some bites. He had been mentioning how good he thought circle hooks were. After that day I started using like Owner Mutu size 4, sometimes 1/0. What I have liked about them is that fish have hooked themselves in the rod holder many times with the drag set a couple pounds.
I also you an octopus with a stinger (treble hook) sometime. Also, I will set the hook (and leave the reel in free spool) on a circle too as I did yesterday.
 
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ILYA

Guest
#8
1. Sabiki
2. Maybe 2’off the bottom if the line stayed somewhat straight. Weight drop 3’ and hook drop 1’ (so when hookline hangs, about 2’). Halibut will swim up a little. You have to keep the bait away from crabs or they will get your live bait.
Thank you! I mistakenly added "3 more feet and a two-ounce torpedo weight" and got 6' minus 1'. my fault. I am usually using same length for hook line and weight - If bait alive, it swimming and avoiding crabs. Will experiment with yours length.
Thanks again
 
#10
I did real good at alameda (4+ years in the making) throwing swimbait within 2 week period in April-May after that it’s was all down hill.......now I’m focusing on salmon