When I fish a Carolina rig with live bait to target halibut, I just cast, let the weight drop to the bottom, tighten the slack, click the clicker on my bait runner reel and wait for a strike.
Does anyone do something different or more effective?
Does anyone open the bail on their reel and let the bait swim around?
Thanks!
Okay, glad you asked, lol. Although it seems very straight forward, there can be variables that may make a difference. 1st of all, when halibut are on the chew and very aggressive in their biting, probably doesn't matter much. But when the fish are more lazily biting, less resistance on the line seems to pick up the wariest of fish or that 1 or 2 that happen to be present.
1. The least amount of weight you can use for the current you are fishing can make a difference as there is still resistance on even a sliding sinker rig. So, for instance, if you can use a 1-ounce weight in a depth of 15' or less with little current, do so.
2. If you have a reel that has very little resistance on "the clicker," "runner," or loosen it up for the least resistance where line does not come off the spool (of course this would be different if you were setting enough drag pressure for a circle hook to set itself on the bite).
3. The amount of leader line you put can make a difference too. I used to use like 18" some time, 24" inches, to 3 feet others. After reading some things from others here in the past, I will use 4' to 5' of leader on a Carolina for halibut sometimes. The reason is halibut will take off with all that line and many times be hooked or have the bait well into its mouth feeling less resistance for a while ingesting your bait. Of course, sometimes the bait will swim upwards more with a longer leader depending on how you hook the bait, but never seems to be a problem and works better sometimes (especially so bait can swim away from ever-present crabs in the SF Bay).
4. The California Halibut is a sliding rig also as an alternative rig. It seems like the ocean piers along Central and Southern use a Carolina a lot more than we do in Central-North whereas we use a number of different rigs for halibut from 3-way to Cal-rig, to Carolina, to bobber rig, to dropper-loop.
