Halibut Fishing Near Offshore Tips Needed

[daperrin]

Thanks for the info.

I see that a 'kayak' scoop of sardines at the Dana Point bait barge is $20. Seems kind of steep. Is that the rate everywhere?

[ful-rac]

$10 bucks at Cabrillo.

Why pay? Just make your own.

[daperrin]

Never done that. Whats the basic technique.

[ful-rac]

Originally Posted by daperrin

Never done that. Whats the basic technique.

Tie on a sabiki, find bait schools with fish finder, drop sabiki into bait school, catch bait. Easy as that.

[daperrin]

Easy peasy. I bought one last week so that will be my next try.

Anybody going out on an evening fish or Sunday Mornings? I would love to join someone.

[ProfessorLongArms]

Half the time I don’t even mark the bait ball, but start casting the sabiki out along the kelp line. Never tried down at Dana, but I’ve never failed to make bait that way in other spots. I have also heard La Jolla people mention they will troll the thing on the way out.

I like a 3 oz weight on the bottom, and prefer the sabiki that have some red, white, and tinsel to them. Vary the retrieve. I have good luck dropping straight down while abruptly thumbing the spool every few feet, then jigging back up off the bottom. Some days I have found they will only hit it when cast out in front on the fall. Just depends on their mood. Sometimes you can see them chasing it but not hitting it... I have even heard of people bringing cat food to “chum” the water to get them to bite better. Never needed or tried it though.

[YakHanded]

Can almost bet on bait hanging out near the red can at DP headlands.. if you get desperate just troll the sabiki around outside it and you will catch a few baits.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Before we have some experience catching bait, it might not be so easy as some of the pros here make it sound. "Easy peasy" might be an overstatement. Not having live bait when we want it kind of sucks.

If we do it wrong, it's easy to catch nothing.


SOME MORE TIPS for making bait that I've learned in La Jolla, Mission Bay and San Diego Bay. I am not familiar with Newport or Dana Point.

The size of the sabiki hook makes a difference. Not too big seems to be better, IMO.

Some people use old sabiki's until the hooks break off, but a fresh sabiki is exceptionally "sticky."

I find the cheap no-name sabiki's on sale at Squidco for a couple dollars work just as well as the name brand sabiki's for 3x the price.

I tend to catch bait much easier at first light. It seems to be more abundant and active at that time. For whatever reasons, some areas I pass my kayak through tend to be consistently productive.

Rather than look for bait on my FF or going out of my way to "bait areas" on maps or from surfing for silver bullets on Internet, I prefer to put a small 3 oz iron on the end of my sabiki and drag it behind me as I go directly to my fishing zone destinations. Usually, I'll catch enough bait on the straight line to my destination than fiddling around and wasting precious fishing time trying too hard to specifically "make bait."

With luck at first light, I generally find all the bait I need for the day on my way out. I always carry fresh frozen squid and artificial bait rigs as backup.

I buy stronger size sabiki (25-30#) leaders and mount them on more serious poles I use for my other fishing rigs. I have occasionally caught real fish on my sabiki rig that needs a full size leader. I scrapped my old lake-weight dedicated sabiki pole for ocean fishing. Less gear clutter on a little Outback in favor of better, more multi-purpose gear.

Like everything else: trial, error, practice, experience makes a difference. We often hear "10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish" .... right? There's a reason for this. The more we fish, the more we learn, and the more we can make our own "luck." There are small differences and nuances involved that make big differences in our productivity.

There are many opinions. Try them all and figure out what works best for you.