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I haven't been hali hunting much lately but the techniques that work best for me have been a Carolina style sliding sinker rig for shallow water and a dropper loop or 3 way swivel rig for deeper water. Depth and speed of drift dictate what weight to use but I like to fish heavy enough to keep the line close to vertical.
Some times you get the bait you get. Big fish get caught on chovies, but I like dines or macks for targeting bigger fish. Really, who wants to target small fish. Maybe I'm old school or just missed the memo, but I never use a trailer/stinger hook, ever. I've found that trailers restrict the baits movements, allow you to catch more short fish, and seriously gut hook sand bass and other fish. Big halibut will eat a bait.
I fish a light wire circle hook, sized to the bait, set in the baits nose.
For halibut I slow every thing down. longer free spool at bite, slow rod lift to "set" the circle hook, slow steady pressure on the fish, slow pumps of the rod (or none at all). You can keep a hali calm, usually, by raising her steadily from the bottom. Aggressive pulling or pumping can get the fish shaking her head. Never a good thing.
Lastly, it's easy to say but stay calm. IMO, except for maybe sharks, at landing big halibut are the most anxiety inducing fish we have. I've had em lay there, get gaffed, and dragged in to the hatch with out a twitch. Also had em go off like bombs.
I know, long reply. These are techniques that have worked for me. Mike
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