So cal Cali halibut?

TheFrood

Well-Known Member
#1
Are there california halibut to be caught at the beaches in so cal? Don’t want to try at a crowded beach like Huntington so anyone have advice? Haven’t fished down here in over 20 years, and haven’t wet a line at all since moving down here in 2016...
thanks!
 

TheFrood

Well-Known Member
#4
Agreed, most beaches contain some haalibut as do most piers. You just need to know how to catch them.
I was going to bounce a swim bait off the bottom as reeling I just like in not cal beaches... would this work down here? Any recommendations where to go that’s not packed with swimmers? I’ll have to look up bolsa chica. I’m closer to LA than SD...
 

Makairaa

Well-Known Member
#5
I was going to bounce a swim bait off the bottom as reeling I just like in not cal beaches... would this work down here? Any recommendations where to go that’s not packed with swimmers? I’ll have to look up bolsa chica. I’m closer to LA than SD...
Swimbaits work fine. A lot of the guys down here throw lucky craft lures. Not sure they work any better, but people believe they do. Bolsa chica is the north end of dog beach in huntington beach. Quite a few videos about halibut fishing there on youtube.
 

evanluck

Well-Known Member
#6
Are there california halibut to be caught at the beaches in so cal? Don’t want to try at a crowded beach like Huntington so anyone have advice? Haven’t fished down here in over 20 years, and haven’t wet a line at all since moving down here in 2016...
thanks!
The different methods that I've seen people do for Halibut in this area are:

Fishing a plastic fluke, grub, or swim bait on a dropshot:
Good for days when the bite is slow. Considered a finesse technique to try to entice a bite from a fish that is less enthusiastic

Fishing a jerk bait like a lucky craft:
Good for shallow water. Lure has it's own action so can be fished with a straight retrieve which makes it easier.

Fishing a swim bait or a micro stick bait like a Jigpara:
Good for deeper water and targeting a range of species including halibut in deeper water. Can be bounced on the bottom for Halibut or fished at different depths for other species.

Fishing live bait like a smelt or sardine:
Productive tactic especially if you have a harder time finding the holes and areas where the fish may be hiding on surf. If you use a carolina rig and send a live smelt out, you often will catch a halibut or other kinds of surf species.

I don't have personal experience with most of these tactics for halibut. I've only caught three halibut total. One was from the HB Pier fishing a live smelt close to the shore off the pier on an old school halibut rig. The other I caught on the Bolsa Chica inlet jetty mentioned earlier in the thread on a salted anchovy fished on a carolina rig. The third I caught on a carolina rig on a live sardine off of a skiff in Newport Harbor.

As far as Youtubers, I would check out:

MyWayFishing

BenjieKimFishing

Japanese Angler Waki in the U.S.

Best of luck!
 
Last edited: