spring fever
Well-Known Member
Just a thought here. Myself, Wolf, and lots of guys who do well for halibut don't use bait bags. The biggest problem I can see with them, is what the current does on the surface is often very different then what it does on the bottom. I can see in a lot of cases the line from your boat to your anchor sitting perpendicular to the currents near the sea bed. Several times, I have had it where the lines from the boat drift forward to the anchor as well, when the currents do not do what the book said they would.
If it was a perfect drift, then yes, maybe the chum bag would do it, however, I think you would wind up with lots of fish staring at your anchor having swam by your bait. Several times we have had a fish take the bait, spit the hook, and circle back to take it again. I think with a chum bag further upstream you may miss these hits.
Also, I don't think the scent would trail in a nice line from your chum bag on the anchor, I bet you would get a "wake" effect, with it spreading quite wide as it drifts back, so halibut could go cruising by 30-50 feet to either side of your bait.
However, if it puts fish in the box, keep doing it
I agree with you-hence the question-when I drew it all out to scale-looked how far you could be from a bait bag and also may even be well above any scent trail if the current was light and in opposition to the wind and swell-I just couldn't see how it would work" all the time". In fact it could quite have the opposite effect in certain circumstances. I like Derbys suggestion about the downrigger-then again I may just go back to salmon fishing!! LOL