How do YOU fish for butts?

[The Fish Assassin]

I admit that although I have Salmon fished for years I have never really had the oportunity to "master" Hali fishing. I think I do pretty good when I do try for them useing "my" technique. I am wondering though if there isn't a better way, I know some people bounce there cannonballs or keep em just off bottom and troll till they get something, I had fun doing it that way as you never knew what you would catch either spring or Hali. I have heard of people useing Salmon like a longline hook I guess, Jigging obviously. Is it just all about finding them? Anyone willing to share their expertise with me? Oh ya and what is with this spreader bar people use? Why bother with it?

 

[scott craven]

Spreader bar keeps your leader from tangling with the weight.
you only use it when anchored up.
try dropping a 2lb ball and 3' leader down 200' without one...

one tangled mess

 

[wolf]

Just look in the search area of the forum there is good stuff there to look at.

Wolf

Blue Wolf Charters
www.bluewolfcharters.com

 

[Cuba Libre]

R,S.

quote:Spreader bar keeps your leader from tangling with the weight.
you only use it when anchored up.

Negatory------ I dont anchor and I almost exclusively use a spreader bar and Berkley Grubs or Powerbait on a tandem hook leader off the spreaderbar.

Key is to keep the line as vertical as possible and to keep bumping the bottom to make sure you are not drifting off the edge of an underwater cliff.




20ft Alumaweld Intruder

 

[scott craven]

quote:Originally posted by Cuba Libre

Negatory------ I dont anchor and I almost exclusively use a spreader bar and Berkley Grubs or Powerbait on a tandem hook leader off the spreaderbar.

Key is to keep the line as vertical as possible and to keep bumping the bottom to make sure you are not drifting off the edge of an underwater cliff.

Disagree, but if it works for you...great
I've tried it ,and almost invariably the spreader gets hung up
on the bottom. i guess it depends what kind of bottom you're fishing on.

 

[Cuba Libre]

Yup-- we do agree to disagree.




20ft Alumaweld Intruder

 

[wolf]

Cuba do you back troll???because thats what I do when I guide up near malcom,queen charlotte strait and yes move around a lot looking.

For what we do on the south island is we anchor up in 150 to 300 ft of water and look for vallys and pinnacles down here if we drift as the current can get strong we tend to loose gear.
hence the anchoring method and I personally like about a 45 degree angle on the gear to keep it off the bottom doggies,flounders,ratfish cant nibble on it, or worse last year encountered sea fleas and moved right away as put the bait down and within 20 mins the herring was a skeleton.So when we are anchored put it in the holder and wait as the boat does the jigging for you sometimes for hours on end boring yes sometimes but relaxing too.

Hope that sheds a bit of light on it

Wolf


Blue Wolf Charters
www.bluewolfcharters.com

 

[bee15]

HEYwolf i had trouble with herring coming back as a skeleton a few times out there but one day got lucky and snagged the culprits "prawns" big ones too.

 

[bee15]

fishing grounds for halibuts are totally differentaround victoria hence different methods work better here than elsewhere. the methods here are the results of many hundreds of pounds of lost lead and many thousands of days of fishing experiences. bottom bouncing is ok on sand or gravel but anywhere else its snag city no-one can drag bottom at 3 plus knots on rock without snagging bottom.

 

[wolf]

Yes seen that too but what I did was sent the bait down again and within 5 mins brought it up and these white fleas were encrusted on the herring it was gross.

So I moved right away and glad I did because talked to an old ex halibut commercial guy who said it is very common and he proceeded to tell me about how you bring up the halibut on long line gear thinking you have nice halibut only to see it explode at the side of the boat as the fleas ate it from the inside out and it is only skin and bones.

He also told me if you encounter them move as the halibut wont be there because they"choke" even live halibut swimming around so the halibut move from those areas.

Wolf

Blue Wolf Charters
www.bluewolfcharters.com

 

[bee15]

never seen that wolf nary a flea

 

[Gerry]

Thanks for the information about the fleas etc guys. That is what I like about this site, there is a wealth of knowledge and people willing to share.

 

[HALILLAMA]

I agree w /Wolf use the search in upper rh corner...lots of reading there. We catch them in different ways all the time. Anchoring is the most successful especially if your capable of getting the boat anchored in the most optimum spot and present them with a good looking, smelling, tasting, fresh piece of bait. Good Luck[] remember that a spot can fish well on different tides and strength of current, so try lots and don't give up easily.

On The Beach

 

[Cuba Libre]

Hey Wolf-- yes to the back trolling. I had an extra high transom well plate fabricated in my Alumaweld when I had it built just for that reason-- I didnt want the Pacific ocean trying to visit the interior of my boat when I was fishing bottomfish.. But because I like you ( and maybe you have a sister that likes old greybeard guys [)]) here is a little tip that is no more than 3000 years old!!! And makes life sooo much easier when looking for big butts...

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...h/search-box.jsp.form1&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

I didnt buy the $99 one-- I bought a 48" sea anchor from Cabelas in Lacey Wa. for around $28. ITS EXCELLENT!!!!! Just took me a couple of trys to learn how to use it properly. Wont leave the dock without it now!!![^]




20ft Alumaweld Intruder

 

[Mrtrailer]

That's a great tip,C/L..I can remember pulling 5 gallon pails behind my boat.With your find a guy has more room in his boat for other,more important things like BUTT.

 

[wolf]

Cuba yes i have seen them never used one though pretty tight in a 18 ft which the lodge I work at use so I just back troll,If its that snotty out with wind etc we just dont do it, most of our guides hate doing it so I wind up doing it most of the time, which I dont mind most times LOLespecially this year with salmon fishing being so bad.

But must admit it is very tough to figure out the currents and tides around that area you really need to time it right just moving 100 yds sometimes makes all the difference up there as you know there is 100s of different inlets and channels 15 years of guiding up there and I am still learning that area.

Thanks Wolf

Blue Wolf Charters
www.bluewolfcharters.com

 

[Despy]

What some refer to as a "sea anchor" is what I`ve always known as a "drogue". Mine is a white cone-shape about 18 inches across the hoop and I use it all the time when running with wind, tide , etc but pull it in when turn back into same. Having a V8 I/O, on a calm day with no tide, my boat trolls down to about 3.0-3.2 mph. The drogue will slow me down to about 1.8-2.0 mph .