North bay Halibut 4/27

Red Fish

Red Fish

Senior Member
#1
#1
87A73FF0-932C-4E75-B6F0-49B8F9E10AFD.jpeg I frequented a spot where I usually see the “Happy Wanderer.” Usually, I am arriving around the time he is leaving.
So, I went to this after work spot yesterday because the weather was so favorable (after that bit of rain we had last Sunday).
The fishing is starting to pick up in this area finally despite not having an active herring spawn this winter.
The Eastbay was definitely a better area closer to the Bay Bridge to start spring off (and still is profitable for anglers).
This Northbay spot is a little closer to where I am and I am starting to see all the familiar faces starting to show up.
It’s not red hot, boiling but the bite is heating up and the baitfish, American Shad, smelt, anchovies, and shiners are pushing in with greater numbers.
The crabs are pretty thick so I am using rigs to elevate the bait.
*I used a “Snookie Rig,” which is basically a hi/lo tied of my leader line of 20# Big Game monofilament with two dropper loops.
*I attached to drops of a foot with a surgeons loop to the leader and a perfect loop to the hook.
*A number 2 Hayabusa light circle hook on both drops.
*Live anchovies that Gabe and his lady passed on to me when they left.
*GDude Special UPSAC 10’ slow action/noodling rod with an old Spirex4000 runner with 30# PP

Fish actually inhaled both hooks and took off running here and there as Jose, 1 of the few left, assisted skillfully with landing. About 8pm/27”
 
Last edited:
Red Fish

Red Fish

Senior Member
#8
#8
scaryfish said:
Outstanding! Much respect for the bay fishing skills of you and the aforementioned wanderer and song guy. Thanks for sharing. Fish are caught in the water, not on the internet!! Any tips on casting live bait?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yeah, casting bait, make sure not to cast the bait too hard if you are on a pier or it can fly off. If you are on a pier, most times you can drop straight down because the halibut are ambushing bait around the structure of the pier. Letting your line down straight (or out a few yards) does a few things in your favor. 1. Keeps your line more perpendicular to the pier thus keeping the angle of your line up. 2. This helps tremendously when crabs are ravenous, ever-present, and chewing up all your live bait. Yes, crabs can catch live bait if it is too low to the bottom and can't swim away. 3. If you cast out far, the chances of catching bat rays increases tremendously ( and they will hit live bait; especially if it starts swimming slower.).


If you do cast far, make sure you have: 1: your bait up off the bottom with a longer length of leader line on A. a 3-way of 3 or four feet B. If you use a three-way swivel rig, use that 3 to four feet on the weight drop and half of that length on the hook drop C. Use a trolley where you cast the weight out far first and then slide down your bait on a snap-swivel with the direction of the current and hooked in the nose so that the baitfish will swim down. D. The California Halibut Rig where you have a weight at the bottom and your hook line perpendicular to the mainline sliding on a plastic slider or a bead on the top and bottom. It's like the packaged rigs by "Black Belt" etc. only there is no swivel stop at the top so the bait can swim freely away from crabs! Same can work from shore too. E. Would be the rig above which is a hand-tied, dropper-loop, surf-rig out of mono where you can adjust the length to 1. keep two live baits enough apart where they don't tangle 2. enough room on the lower hook to the weight to make it high enough to ditch the crabs,

One last note: if you were to try to launch a live bait out, you might hook in a more solid part of the baitfish than the nose, like the back behind the dorsal fin. Also, you could hook somewhere near the head and the tail if you want to use a 2-hook rig to have more support for a long-cast.


I don't really cast my live bait, I pitch it and many times with an underhand cast!
 
Last edited:
M

Mahigeer

Senior Member
#11
#11
I see a discarded hook to the right of the mouth of the fish.

Example like that is why when I see a visitor on the pier with bare feet, I tell them to watch out for the hooks.

Some are appreciative and put on shoes. Some look at me like why do you care? Mind your own business.

I will continue to advise them regardless.

Having to take my wife to the EM room to have a hook removed and a tetanus shot given was a terrible experience. I was cleaning my tackle box on a shag rug in an apartment and a hook must have fallen off and was hidden. You know Murphy. He is always working with his laws.

It was in late 70ties. Some jewelry purchase must have happened afterwards.
 
Red Fish

Red Fish

Senior Member
#12
#12
Mahigeer said:
I see a discarded hook to the right of the mouth of the fish.

Example like that is why when I see a visitor on the pier with bare feet, I tell them to watch out for the hooks.

Some are appreciative and put on shoes. Some look at me like why do you care? Mind your own business.

I will continue to advise them regardless.

Having to take my wife to the EM room to have a hook removed and a tetanus shot given was a terrible experience. I was cleaning my tackle box on a shag rug in an apartment and a hook must have fallen off and was hidden. You know Murphy. He is always working with his laws.

It was in late 70ties. Some jewelry purchase must have happened afterwards.
Click to expand...
Huh, good eyes Hashem. That is NOT a discarded hook (although it can be messy with things on the ground there). That is 1 of two circle hooks that caught the fish! That hook on the ground was cut off (and picked up) the second hook was cut at the leader and extracted from the fish later while cleaning.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.