First time Halibet*

[1 Smart Fish]

Hey guys,

If you could help me out it would be great. I want to halibet fish this year but what kind of gear do I need. Such as rod, reel, line, bait the whole works. Including maybe some good spots out of Newport say the chicken ranch or that rock that is like 15 miles out???

Thanks in advance.

[Lepper]

Search the archives.. for Halibut..

You will find pictures.. and everything else you would ever dream to find..

d

[Threemuch]

1 Smart-
Lepper isn't being rude, there are HUGE volumes of information on Halibut fishing on the many posts. I have said before a great resource for any beginning halibut fishermen is a book called Trophy Halibut Fishing by Terry Rudnick. Get it, you can order it online through amazon. I'll regurgitate some of what the various salty dogs have taught me.

There is tons of variation on gear. How much do you want to spend? You want a rod with enough backbone to handle 36 to 48 ounces of weight. Reel? You will need 350 or more yards of 80 pound spectra, so it needs to be that big or bigger. Cheap end of this spectrum is Penn Senator 4/0 or a Penn 330 or 340 GTI. Lots of guys like the Diawa 50H too.

Bait...herring is best in my book, but comes off the hook easy. I will only use it when nothing else works. I like salmon bellys. Others...Squid, shad, blackcod strips, sardines, mackerel all work.

Rigs...lots of info here, In deep water (400'+) I like big circle hooks, 16/0 or 20/0 hand sharpened the night before. Sticky sharp. I also crimp the barb a bit, and bend them in a vise for about 3/4-1" offset. I use them on a 18" leader on a spreader bar or slider rig with as little weight as I can get by with, usually 36 oz. Shallow 180-300', I like herring rigged on a two or one hook mooching rig. Weight with a 12-16 oz banana sinker, if you need more, double up 12s to make a 24. Lower it down, and bring it up. Work the water column because halibut feed off the bottom at the pile. Incidental salmon and lings are on tap here as well.

As far as numbers, the chicken ranch is easy, follow the pack during the opener, everyone will be headed that way. I can email exact numbers, but it is a pretty big spot, and you will want to find your own little spots within it. Keep posting here, I am sure you can buddy boat with some other salty dogs, which is always a good idea when running 35 miles out in the salt.

There are many spots at the rockpile, about 18 miles from the Jaws, but those are more closely guarded. I wouldn't give rockpile flatty spots to someone I didn't know.

I don't know about any spots 15 miles out.

Peruse the archives. Good luck.

KB