Whats the Hali Bait of choice

[Capin' Dan]

What is the #1 haibut bait. Here is my list

#1 Herring fresh out of the bay has been a proven producer.

#2 Sardine My biggest came from a sardine 3 years ago in the shallow stuff out of Newport. Look at our Picture at the Newport Marina store on the Irish. Thats me the 2nd to the largest.

#3 Frozen Herring easy to get.

#4 Halibut Belly (Not that I have ever done that) lets just say if you run out of bait and you have one on board I have heard this works . Not sure of the legalities of this I was on a charter once and they used it out of Wa. It worked great.

#5 Octopus, used it last weekend out of Neah Bay and man was I ever impressed. The Lings this stuff caught were huge.

#6 artificial any number of jigs/plastics and such. Only when the dogfish (Sharks) are so bad that you can't get the bait past them.

There you have it my favorites.

Method: Try this plug cut one and run it on a salmon leader 30 to 50 cranks off the bottom. Make sure you have bead swival on it. Try one rod this way and see what happens.

Good luck.
Sea god's listen to our prayer's for flat and following seas.

Dan!

[ 05-05-2003, 04:39 AM: Message edited by: Capin' Dan ]

[tailchaser]

My #1 is shad. Great stinky bait and they practically rip the rod out of your hands on a bite. Plus the stuff stays on like a rubber boot.

#2's are herring or sardines.

#3 is squid.

tc

[Pilar]

Dan I have to agree with you about herring. Especially the fresh from the Yaquina bay. I'll be by to get that cooler full on the way to the Halibut drivethrough.

What boat are you in?

This year I'm trying a new bait. I have some small black sea bass from bottom fishing. Rather than waste these, too small to eat fish that were dead at the boat ... I'm going to belly strip or use them whole. I hope we tear into the black cod again out there. They make an awesome bait. When you land one, cut the pectoral fins, a 3" wide strip down the belly and the anal fin into a strip bait. Thread that on your hook and drop it down.

The white skin from a recently carked halibut makes a good bait too. Popeye recommends herring topped with a whole squid.

[fish assassin]

Small salmon heads work well also!! Fresh work best, but frozen work almost as
well. One of the charter guys at Dopey Bay was just asking this past weekend if
I had any I could spare for the halibut hunt this week!!

Good luck to all you flattie fisher-people!!

-assAssin-

[Threemuch]

I think it all fishes pretty good.

#1 Salmon belly
#2 Herring with baby octopus
#3 Whole live blackcod or blackcod strip
#4 Large Octopus

Herring is probably the best bait, but you can't keep the blackcod off it. And I hate those things.

This year I have some small trout that I intend to try.