Halibut #s for washington Coast

[Wernergonefishin]

Im looking for the #s for out of Ilwaco Ive been told there is a charter fleet that fish for halis somewhere off the coast there. thanks

[Tackle Time Bait and Charters]

We do Halibut charters out of Warrenton on the Lady Dee [43' Delta]. I do mostly groups 8-14 but can get a smaller group on at times. I do mostly corporate groups.
There's a picture on our page
ifish.net/Tackle Thanks Gene

[Fishplay]

Gene,
I think what he is asking for is the GPS coardinates for your Halibut spot. I would like to have them myself if you don't mind sharing.
I have not seen any posts here yet for Hali #'s out of the CR. Most of us fish out of Newport, Depoe Bay, or Garibaldi.

[Miss B Haven]

Hey there Gene. Hows the house fixing uping going? Are you done and starting in on the boats yet? Hope your having a good Winter season down there (Crab, yummm). See ya (soon I hope).

[ 01-09-2003, 06:46 AM: Message edited by: Miss B Haven ]

[pkg40]

Getting Astoria GPS coordinates is like pulling teeth. Even my friends won't share with me. Might want to book a charter to see how it is done.



[ 01-14-2003, 10:02 PM: Message edited by: pkg40 ]

[Wernergonefishin]

Someone, anyone Email me with something close I dont need any secret hole just in the ball park.

[Sensei-san]

Werner, Invest in two charts. Yaquina Head to Columbia River and Columbia River to Gray's Harbor. These are the big paper NOAA charts. Not the cheesy fishing charts that people rip off from the government originals.

Next take some psychedelics or get really drunk and think and act like a halibut. Halibut are bottom feeders like strugeon, catfish and other bottom feeders. (Lawyers excepted from this group.) Most fish of this class like to ambush their prey by stealth.

Halibut have chromatophores that allow them to blend in with their environment. As halibut must use the bottom to get lift to catch something swimming by, they like gravel bottoms. That way their chromatophores will blend and make them invisible and they won't get stuck in the mud.

They also prefer things that are stunned or dead. So stuff that flows off a bank is easy food. So clue one is finding a place that has a ledge. In the real old days the boats used to go to the pinnacles of the various banks. Like Stonewall Bank or Heceta Bank or the Bandon High Spot.

With the tremendous pressure on these spots they rapidly got fished out. The fleet then found new spots that could be fished with spectra line. like the Chicken Ranch.

The reason why I said to get the NOAA charts is you can figure out some good spots from studying the charts. If you know the popular spots, then you can deduce where halibut might hide somewhere else. 50-100 fathoms near banks and ledges where there is a gravel bottom. The NOAA charts have soundings on them that give the bottom characteristics.

Good Luck

[Uglygreen]

Hey, what about Pilars suspended halibut... I have never caught a suspended halibut personally, but I think that that "only on the bottom" thing has been proven false???

UG

[Pitch Pocket]

Sensei-san,

What chart numbers are they?

I went to Captains Nautical this weekend to get a couple of charts and found they went out of business in October.

[Mark Mc]

Pitch: Yaquina Head to Columbia River #18520;
Cape Blanco to Yaquina Head # 18580.

UG - yea there were halibut up in the water column feeding at Stonewall. But when they go back down to the bottom where they spend most of their time, they'll be on the sand/gravel/mud. Often close to the edges of the rocks / reef, but not resting on the rocks.

[Pilar]

UG, I think Halibut is a big hungry fish. Maybe some of the time hungry enough to join Salmon and chase herring instead of lurking and waiting for food to fall to the bottom. Big hungry fish eat all the time and will go wherever the bait is.

We caught many more nice halibut last year in the mid water while chasing Salmon than we did on the bottom. Just set the downrigger about 10 feet below the bait school and let 'er buck.

[fishwhenican]

I worked on a Salmon troller in SE AK many years ago. Trolling out of Whale Bay, 20 fathoms of gear out, bottom at 100 fathoms. Multiple hookups on halibut, we only kept 1 we could eat. 480 feet off the bottom!! As Pillar said Halibut are where the food is.

[Sensei-san]

I was just giving the general rule of thumb on halibut habitat. Not every possible situation that one could catch halibut. I too have caught halibut on the troll and really love catching the suckers on live bait. Used to do a lot of true chicken halibut fishing in CA.

Folks, we are trying to help poor Werner. Nobody wants to share spots with him. I was trying to give him some helpful pointers on where to look. Since I don't fish the Columbia River area, I don't know if there are any banks like Stonewall near the mouth.

I do know that by knowing where halibut are caught like Stonewall, Chicken Ranch, Heceta, Bandon High Spot that the same bottom contours could be extrapolated to any spot on the West Coast.

Then Werner could ask an ol' salt if the spot he thought would be productive and like the North Dakota farmer says: "Yup, I reckon that's gooden..."

[Mark Mc]

Sensei, thank you for your common sense(i) once again. I've never fished for halibut out of the Columbia, but if I were to go exploring, there are a (hali)but-load of likely areas. Behold Astoria Canyon: We got black sand, hard black sand, black shale, mud, green & blue mud, and ledges out the whazoo. Tell us where you'd first drop a line, Sensei.

fish,
Whale Cove?

I'd look for hard bottom, preferably gravel, and close to rapid depth changes. This is what we looked for in SE Alaska.
The 75fa contours North of the "A" and south of the "O" in Astoria looks like likely spots but they're deep. the same for the 94fa hump SW of the Astoria.

[ 01-21-2003, 10:45 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Fishplay]

My suggestion would be to just follow the charter boy's out in the morning. :grin:

I would think it would be good for business to share the numbers and show a little good will and thus receive some excellent advertisement through word of mouth. We get asked for charter recomendations all the time; both here on the board and in the outside world.
In fact I bet I'm not the only one here that books a party boat once in a while. :whazzup:

We also have to buy our bait..... someplace!!

Good luck Wenergonefishin. Your always welcome to come down to Newport and run with us. It's the number one Halibut port for a reason!

[Capt. Rich]

I agree with Keta. He must be an old commercial fisherman.

[ 01-21-2003, 11:20 PM: Message edited by: Capt. Rich ]

[Miss B Haven]

If anbodies got the North coast chart handy - post a pic of the shale pile off Cannon beach (22 miles). Looks kinda like a kidney bean and theres several smaller humps N and NW of the big one. It's where I bottom fish and I think the edges might be real good for Halibut. Lets see what the board thinks. [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]
My charts and numbers are in the boat and my puter/scanner's not. [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img]

[bait boy]

Mel, is this the place you mentioned?

[Miss B Haven]

That's it! It's zipperlip so don't tell anybody! :grin: What's the waypoint you've got in there?

[bait boy]

Point of reference for those that have no idea where that is.

That is a heck of a long way to go for any bottom fish. Unless its flat and a different color on both sides or long and torpedo shaped you most likely won't find me on that spot in the near future esp at 32miles one way.

[fishwhenican]

Keta Whale Bay not Cove off the outside of Baronof Island midway down, south of Sitka sound


Question: I assumed that the current runs south off the coast. or does it? Warm water for tuna comes from the south? On the chart pic. that Mark Mc posted we did good on TUNA just north of the 159 spot . I bought the chart after the trip and whoa we where there? :shocked:

:depressed: I MISS THE OCEAN :depressed:
The 1X1/2 mile hump to the west of the big hump makes me want so swim out there.
Is this feet or fathoms?

[Miss B Haven]

Keta - This is where I was headed the day it was blowing E at 25 or so on the docks and we wussed out (The skipper did anyway [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img] ). It's in feet, 380 or so at the top, 400-420 for most of the hump. One edge drops off really steep to over 500. Haven't explored the two smallest humps to the west, just the big one and the one North.
Bait Boy - It is a nice long boat ride out there! It's even farther back. The crew usually gets a nice snooze in though. I pick these days as carefully as the TUNA runs. I need to explore a few spots that are closer to the CR next season. Getting any info out of CR other than Salmon is like pulling teeth on a tiger.

Fish the top of the humps and close to the drop off and I'd bet that you'll catch some halibut. The deeper humps might even have some big ones. Stay away from the drop off as that's where the rock cod will be.

Seeing the chart of the Astoria Trench again made me want to get out there more.

These charts also show some areas that should have spot prawns.

[ 01-22-2003, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

Fish,
:depressed: Mind is gone :depressed:
I'll have to look it up on my charts or map. Is it off of Linn Canal on the inside of Barinoff, south west of Kake?

[fishwhenican]

Keta: Whale bay is on the outside (west side ) of Baranof Is. I had to go find my chart in the attic, because I couldn't remember for sure.

straight west of Petersburg, 2 islands over. or halfway between Craig and Pelican. but now you got me. I know I've seen Kake but I can't find it on the chart :depressed:

North of Petersberg about 45 air miles and south of Phybus (sp) Bay on Admiralty Is. I can't remember what the name of the island that Kake is on but it is the same one that's across Wrangle Narrows from Petersburg. I'll have to look to see where Whale Bay is. I've never been on the outside of Barinof except in the Sitka area.

[Sensei-san]

Keta must have been the guy that put the flamingos in the tree in the Georges Strait.

[Miss B Haven]

Originally posted by Sensei-san:
Keta must have been the guy that put the flamingos in the tree in the Georges Strait.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">Reminds me of Echo Bay area. There's a sign in the middle of nowhere stuck up on a rock cliff just below the tree line on one of the Islands that says "Bakery" and an Arrow. The arrow points up a Channel but I'll be darned if we could find a bakery. :whazzup:
Must be one up there somewhere cause the Store had fresh fruit pies for sale made local. Wouldn't tell us where they came from, it was zipperlip. :grin:

[Bobber Down]

Sensei-san, there are flamingo's in the trees above Sitka either on Neva Strait or Olga Strait. Where is Georges Strait? I loved it on the outside of Baranof Island, Necker Bay, Whale Bay, Sandy Bay, Snipe Bay, Redfish, Puffin Bay, oh the memories............. Bobber Down

[Sensei-san]

Oppsss... My memory banks are fading. I think you are correct. It is Olga or Neva Straight. The former employers of Keta always make a joke of it when they go by the flamingos in the tree. The captain makes a general annoucement like this is a great picture taking opportunity and then lets the greenhorns know it is a joke when the ferry gets near the tree. On the boat I was on about every camera flashed before they realized they were had.

That and the matching statue at the Juneau Federal Building are good for laughs. Keta can tell that story.

[pkg40]

MIZZB - I will agree with your comment about picking the days. In a lot of ways fishing down coast at the shale pile is more tricky than offshore. You need to be prepared to take it on the chin all the way home if the afternoon wind picks up. Anyone considering this should be sure their boat can make good headway against current and seas. Also it may take much more fuel coming back than going out.


Sensei - I think to make the lesson complete, someone should post charts of the popular well known down coast halibut spots (chicken ranc ...)

Keta - Okay spill it. Where would you try for spots. I have my ideas, but you have actual experience at it.

[Miss B Haven]

pkg40 - That's "Miss" B not "Mizz" to you! She is NOT a liberated boat! :whazzup: At least not yet! :grin:

[skein]

Hah, Miss B, we found the bakery, but there was a sign on the door that said they had all gone to Port Hardy for the circus! No treats for our team. :depressed:

There ain't no restaurant there neither, even tho the folks back in McNeil said there was. The little store at Echo Bay sure had some tasty canned stew though...

I should tell you the whole story sometime.

Skein

pkg40,
I'd have to look at the charts and I only have Alaska ones. It also helps to be there. I'v tried spots that looked good on the charts but didn't hold fish. On the other hand we caught many fish in small pockets that didn't show on the charts.

[Miss B Haven]

skein- The fresh pies were actually across from the store. They were selling tham in the Art Gallery on the dock across the way. Picked up a nice painting to take home to the wife . The pie didn't make it that far!

I guess I need to go back up there on a Pilgrimage to find that bakery! :grin:

[skein]

Miss B,

The gal who runs the art gallery took us upstairs and showed us around - it's an art form in itself, the way the wood slats are run throughout the room and ceiling. What shocked me most was the eagle's wings on one wall. I didn't know until then that Canadians could possess eagle feathers.

Nice folks with an enviable life-style. I sometimes wonder if I'm so smart after all... :whazzup:

Skein