The Hunter12
New Member
Hey everyone, I am planning to go halibut fishing soon, but I need some help on what kind of structure and depth you are looking for when halibut fishing. The help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
Halibut Fishing Help
- Thread starter The Hunter12
- Start date
The Hunter12
New Member
thanks mate! sorry bout that
Whole in the Water
Well-Known Member
Halibut usually are fished by sport fishers between depths of 150-450 ft. if you are anchored. If drifting you can go deeper if you want and the current is not over 1.5-2 mph, otherwise you will have a hard time getting your gear to stay bouncing on the bottom. If drifting try to hit areas with a bit flatter bottom to avoid losing gear.
If anchoring, look for pinnacles, drop offs and ledges or any significant changes in depth. Halibut are predominately ambush hunters so they prefer some structure to hide and let their prey come to them.
If you are anchoring make sure you have a proper anchoring system with enough line and you understand how to safely use it. If not learn from someone who knows or learn from a guided trip. Anchoring can be very dangerous if you do not know what you are doing!
If anchoring, look for pinnacles, drop offs and ledges or any significant changes in depth. Halibut are predominately ambush hunters so they prefer some structure to hide and let their prey come to them.
If you are anchoring make sure you have a proper anchoring system with enough line and you understand how to safely use it. If not learn from someone who knows or learn from a guided trip. Anchoring can be very dangerous if you do not know what you are doing!
Macdeep
Active Member
Depends on your area.
Where I’m at, large banks that come up to 100-200ft out of 400+ seem to produce, as do 100-200ft channels where inlets feed into deeper broader waters, or undulating gravel.
Any good structure such as humps, finger and ridges with a gravel bottom are easiest to fish without losing too much gear.
You can troll for them too with paddle tails if you want to cover ground and pick up lings and other rock fish.
Where I’m at, large banks that come up to 100-200ft out of 400+ seem to produce, as do 100-200ft channels where inlets feed into deeper broader waters, or undulating gravel.
Any good structure such as humps, finger and ridges with a gravel bottom are easiest to fish without losing too much gear.
You can troll for them too with paddle tails if you want to cover ground and pick up lings and other rock fish.
the force
Crew Member
Can we take this to level 2 and talk about tides and current please. I’ve caught halibut but every time I start to think I know what I’m doing, I get skunked lol. For example if I was planning to fish my initial step would be to simply check and target tide changes, however @kaelc shared a handy resource once that also has current (https://www.dairiki.org/tides/daily.php).
Not often does a guy get to pick the days and times, but when possible when would the ideal time in below example be? My logic is pick a day with a smaller tidal exchange between low and high, resulting in a longer fishable window. Initially I would have centered my fishing effort around the change, which looks like 10:25 in this chart (8-1pm green lines being a nice long window with <1kt current). After thinking about this for a bit perhaps the blue lines (6-10am) would be better as we start with a bit of current to make a consistent scent trail and then capitalize on the long-ish ebb period, catching our fish before the current changes direction and messes with our scent trail, boat positioning etc?
Thoughts? Do we want some current to carry scent, but not too much to effectively fish (avoid 2lb balls)? Do we like the actual change period best?
On this chart I’m not sure why there is no slack between 2:08 and 20:54 (bottom axis).
Not often does a guy get to pick the days and times, but when possible when would the ideal time in below example be? My logic is pick a day with a smaller tidal exchange between low and high, resulting in a longer fishable window. Initially I would have centered my fishing effort around the change, which looks like 10:25 in this chart (8-1pm green lines being a nice long window with <1kt current). After thinking about this for a bit perhaps the blue lines (6-10am) would be better as we start with a bit of current to make a consistent scent trail and then capitalize on the long-ish ebb period, catching our fish before the current changes direction and messes with our scent trail, boat positioning etc?
Thoughts? Do we want some current to carry scent, but not too much to effectively fish (avoid 2lb balls)? Do we like the actual change period best?
On this chart I’m not sure why there is no slack between 2:08 and 20:54 (bottom axis).
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kaelc
Crew Member
I’ve got lots of videos catching halibut but look up the how to videos that aren’t my specialty.
I just trolled up a halibut in 150 feet of water with a white hootchie. Do it every year bouncing bottom.
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I just trolled up a halibut in 150 feet of water with a white hootchie. Do it every year bouncing bottom.
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