Did you just use a chunk of mackerel for the Hali with no hootchie?On the hook today off of Pedder Bay from 11am-2pm. A couple of big dogs and then a 101cm hali. A chunk of mackerel was the ticket for the hali. Beautiful day out there.
Don't mind you asking at all. Always willing to share what little I know as others on here have done for me.Did you just use a chunk of mackerel for the Hali with no hootchie?
Also if you don't mind my asking did you use circle hooks or J hooks?
Thanks for the call back and sharing. I have just starting getting into Halibut fishing this past spring. We fish the same areas and I have been experimenting with Circle hooks and J hooks.Don't mind you asking at all. Always willing to share what little I know as others on here have done for me.
I use a hoochie probably 80% of the time. I use different setups that I'll try through the day. On this particular one, I caught it with the hoochie flipped around on the leader like in the second photo. Something I saw on a video one time and have caught a couple on this one. I had a full mackerel on and a dogfish took off about the bottom 1/3 so just sent it back down with the rest of the mackerel and got lucky. Two photos show the type of mackerel I use. I get them at a local ...........
Wow you guys puts a LOT of effort to catch a hali! I just drop my anchor in roughly the location I overheard someone bragging about a “hali hole” and throw over my treble Hooks baited with whatever old marine life I find at the bottom of my freezer.. my success rate is a consistent 5%. Yep, typically I’ll get a small hali one in every 20 attempts lol.Thanks for the call back and sharing. I have just starting getting into Halibut fishing this past spring. We fish the same areas and I have been experimenting with Circle hooks and J hooks.
I am about 50% to 35% success rate and I fish the same area you do off pedder mostly near the lanes.
For rigging I only ask because I switch from J hooks to circle and have had good luck with them. I also did some reading and make my own circle hook rig where I don't crimp a loop around the hook.
What I do is use some spare downrigger wire and crimp a loop that is big enough to slip down the eye of a circle hook and up the back then over the tip of the chook and back up. The reason I do this is because I saw a video where they had a hook on a crimped loop hanging free and it swung free but if you do a loop and run the loop so that the hook can't free swing it will force the circle hook to pivot and bite into the mouth of the hali as it pulls on the bait.
I also crimp some beads a bit higher up so I can hang my large hootchie a bit higher up from the hook. I also put a small upside down small glow hootchie (a salmon lure one) just on top of the hook.
I buy smaller mackeral from walmart they are the size of herring but are cheaper, oiler and tougher.
I've had a lot of luck with cheap salmon belly from Fairway's market along with a piece of jumbo squid tentacle also from fairway market. it is a lot cheaper then octopus and stays on the hook well.
I also sometimes use a chum bag. I rotate my downrigger forward (long arm) along my hull and attach a soft crab bait bag with an old 8lb ball i got for free. In the bait bag I'll put salmon scraps or prawn heads or a mix. I lower it and let it bounce/tap.
I'm too cheap to buy scent so I will use cheap quality vietnamese fish sauce that I thicken up with water and corn starch.
I'm still refining my technique but I think that is the fun of this sport is tweaking and trying new techniques.
So thanks once again for the reply as I enjoy these exchanges of knowledge.
Sounds like my success rate too. The Hali Hole is vast and in not just one spot. Fortunately making the effort to getting out and trying is more than anyone else or at least beginners don't have the patience for.Wow you guys puts a LOT of effort to catch a hali! I just drop my anchor in roughly the location I overheard someone bragging about a “hali hole” and throw over my treble Hooks baited with whatever old marine life I find at the bottom of my freezer.. my success rate is a consistent 5%. Yep, typically I’ll get a small hali one in every 20 attempts lol.
I've been itching to go out one last time before I put my boat away for the winter but I've heard zero chatter about anyone fishing the last couple of weeks and I figured I'd just pack it in for the season. So I was just about to call it quits when I saw this last post. I have renewed faith now and will try to get out over the next few days some time. Where were you fishing, Pedder Bay, Church, Beechie? Thanks for the update!
yes 150 optimax. I put a new oil tank assembly in it recently. It was pumping oil to the engine reservoir pretty good (confirmed when the cap was left loose)may have just been leaking at one of the hose connections. The oil tank in the boat was drained and cleaned the pickup and a couple new zap straps was all that changed this time and ran it from Cheanuh to Sooke and back with no alarms. Fingers crossed that's got it.Are you running a 2 stroke? If so it can be no oil being pumped up to engine reservoir. More often than not it is a corrosion in the wire harness .. no signal reaching the pump from the ecm.
Yes they fail often Is it throw away--yes-usually covered by warranty. Somewhere on here is how to rig up the old style counters as standby!! always carry a spare cover with counter!!Late Report: Had my Brother in Law visiting from Vancouver who had zero fish on his licence so we fished Pedder on Friday and Saturday. Quite a few hooks up on!! both days. Most were cookie cutters just undersized. Landed 4 around the 4-5lb mark. Herring aid Wee G was the ticket on both days. Same area as normal for me around the Navy can. 5 or 6 other boats out there with a couple of them fishing out deeper than me. Not sure how they made out. 6 crab on Friday and 8 on Saturday.
On a different topic, I used a new to me downrigger on one side that I just bought. It has the digital counter. First day it was great. Second day you could barely see the numbers and only if you were looking straight down at it. Also appeared to be steamed up a bit. Everything looked like 888. At end of the day I couldn't turn it off. Next day, light still on and no action from the buttons. Took it apart as I thought it might have a replaceable battery. No replaceable battery. Is this a throwaway item and do they fail often?
Thanks spring fever.Yes they fail often Is it throw away--yes-usually covered by warranty. Somewhere on here is how to rig up the old style counters as standby!! always carry a spare cover with counter!!
Yes they fail often Is it throw away--yes-usually covered by warranty. Somewhere on here is how to rig up the old style counters as standby!! always carry a spare cover with counter!!