Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3811 May 10-24 2019 | Page 33
SALTWATER
VOL.38 • ISS. 11
B
31
Shallow Water Halibut in the Bay
ack in old days when “Flippin” was
just starting to catch on as a shallow
water big bass fishing technique, a question
was once asked of Dee Thomas,
the legendary tournament
winning proponent of Flippin,
“Just how shallow can you find
fish?” The answer Dee gave him
was one I would remember for
decades, “Deep enough to cover
his back!”
Indeed, as I would occasion-
ally resort to Flippin to catch a
fish or two when the conditions
were right and the stars were
aligned, I have had times where
I would softly land my jig
within inches of the shoreline
and have bass come right up to
the edge of the bank, with their
backs fully half way out of the
water, and suck down my lure.
Now, that’s shallow!
It is obvious to anyone with a good
working eye or two, that a California
halibut is a lot flatter and can inhabit
shallower water than a good ol’ bucket-
mouth bass. In fact, you may be amazed at
how shallow a water you can fish and still
have a good chance of hooking up with a
doormat.
When I was growing up, I felt like I was
fortunate enough to do most of my bay
fishing from some sort of floating device,
whether it be a commercial sportfishing
boat or one of my wealthier friend’s private
boats.
Aboard the party boats, I would use the
common live bait drift rig, the one that
used a three way swivel and a single hook.
But on the private boats, I would use the
live bait drift rig but now
my single hook had a small
strong treble hook tied 3’’-4’’
behind the single hook.
Nowadays called a trap
hook drift rig, for many, many
years I and my friends used
this as our secret rig and was
easily 300%-400% more
effective than the single hook
rig.
But that was then, and now
is now. Mostly because of
bum knees I am fishing from
boats fewer times than before.
I have now joined the throngs
of shore fishers.
San Francisco is one of the
largest estuaries in the world,
and the vast muddy tidelands exposed at
low tide are evidence of the richness of
life that inhabits the bay. All of that smelly
mud holds an amazing array of marine
organisms that attracts members high on
the food chain. High on that chain is the
mighty halibut.
How shallow can you fish for these
flatties? For an example, a friend of mine
was fishing Crissy Field, tossing a 3/8
oz. Hair Raiser. His glasses were dirty,
so he tucked his rod under his arm while
standing in knee high water. While wiping
his lenses, he felt something grab his lure
that was dangling behind him ... in nine
inches of water!
Vast portions of the bay can be home
to these flat fish as the bay’s rich aqua
environment hosts a wide ecosystem that
provides a life sustaining habitatfor bait
fish and predators alike.
For simple cast and retrieve style of
fishing, just about anything that you feel
casting with can be used for this style of
fishing; and I have seen everything from
trout rods to surf rods used for tossing
lures at shallow water halibut.
However, the more ideal outfit will
usually consist of a eight to nine foot
long steelhead type of rod, paired with a
spinning reel capable of holding around
two hundred yards of thirty pound test PE
braided line. One can also choose to use
12 lb. test monofilament line, I suppose,
but the thinner braided line will generally
cast farther.
If one desires to use a bait casting style
outfit instead of a spinning outfit, that is a
choice; but personally, it is so much easier
FISH SNIFFER
COUNTRY
by Steve
“Hippo”Lau
These two anglers reeled in two quality
halibut while fishing in San Francisco Bay
aboard the Happy Hooker on April 24.
Photo courtesy of HAPPY HOOKER
SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.
Get Your Fish On!
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Happy Hooker
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3807
May 10 - 24, 2019
(510) 993-4414
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Building
On The
Legacy
of Capt.
Jim
Smith!
Two Boats To Turn Your Fishing Dreams Into Reality!
PACIFIC
DREAM
Captain Chris Smith’s 58’ Pacific Dream
Captain Jonathan Smith’s 56’ Happy Hooker
to wash off spinning reels I
just lean that way. There are so
many nooks and crannies that
can harbor salt water on a bait
casting reel I find it way to easy
to inherit a corrosion problem.
I have found it a great
advantage to use a fluorocarbon
leader when fishing for halibut.
Butts have had a reputation for
being rather stupid, so many
people get rather careless
fishing for them. None other
than that legendary fisherman,
Brian Kyono, showed me in no
uncertain terms that halibut are
very wary, clever predators, and
should be treated as such, so
fluorocarbon leaders are a must.
I prefer to use a small, strong These fisherwomen had a great day when they battled these
crane swivel to go between my two halibut in San Francisco Bay aboard the Pacific Dream.
Photo courtesy of HAPPY HOOKER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.
braid and fluorocarbon, so that
is a reason I like using the longer
When it comes to salt water jigs, the first
rods. It allows me to use a longer leader. I
thing to come to mind is the tried and true
like to cast lures with a longer hang down
bucktail jig such as the HairRaiser, and for
(the distance between the rod tip and the
good reason; they flat out catch fish!
lure) and the longer rod allows me to do
Choose a size that is the lightest one you
that. The leaders should range from three
can cast well. This is important because the
to five feet long. I haven’t found it to be of
lighter the jig is, the slower you can work it
any advantage to use a leader longer than
without it simply plowing the bay’s bottom.
five feet.
Another option is to borrow a trick from
Now, for the business end. I am sure that
our bass fishing buddies and use their
tons of halibut (and stripers!) have been
silicone skirted jigs that are armed with
caught using plugs, the two most popular
rattles. Especially in the bay’s murky
styles being the shallow running stick bait
waters, these jigs with noisemakers can
(such as the original 5.5” Rebel minnow or
often lead to success. Another feature of
the Daiwa SP Minnow) and the vibe style
these jigs is their silicone skirts.
(such as the Hot Spot or Rattle Trap), but
These bulky, flaring skirts push a lot of
for my money, it is hard to beat a good jig
water as they pulsate on a retrieve. White
or soft plastic swim bait.
or some variation of white is a good color
I feel there is more control with these
choice, but something gaudy like chartreuse
baits, fish swallow them up with gusto, and
works well when the visibility is limited.
most importantly, they are safer to unhook
Next time: Swim baits, retrieves, and the
from a halibut’s snapping jaws and flopping
super secret bobber technique.
personality.
Smack Ocean Kings With Deadly Weapons
From Silver Horde & Gold Star! by Cal Kellogg
T
he folks at Silver Horde and Gold
Star have been turning out deadly
salmon gear for decades. This season when
you venture out for ocean kings you can tilt
the odds in your favor by rigging up with
flasher, dodgers and lures from Silver Horde
and Gold Star. Let’s take a closer look at
what they have to offer…
Flashers
Silver Horde and Gold Star flashers are
made from top quality “Spring Tempered”
brass material. This specialized material
gives the flasher the ability to pulse as it
rotates in the water without compromising
shape.
The metal flashers can be tuned by adding
to or removing the bend at the tail end of
the lure. Many anglers have found they can
increase their catch by enhancing the rotation
of the lure in this way in order to achieve
the perfect action at a specific trolling speed.
The F4 Piscator and Double D flashers come
equipped with solid stainless welded rings
and genuine Sampo stainless bass bearing
swivels.
Dodgers
The Gold Star No. 0 dodger measures 2.5
by 8 inches, the perfect size for ocean run
kings. Gold Star dodgers boast high quality
brass construction and top notch hardware.
Colors and finishes are diverse with metallic,
painted, UV, glow and hammered blades
available.
Kingfisher Lite Spoons
Kingfisher Lite or KFL spoons do an excep-
tional job of imitating a wounded baitfish.
The folks at Silver Horde have been turning
out topnotch fishing gear for over 50 years, so
they know how to design an effective spoon.
The special shape built into the KFL gives it
a really seductive swimming motion.
For me shape and action are the two
most important cues when it comes to
generating strikes, but color plays a factor
too. I give the KFL two thumbs up in
terms of silhouette and action. The fact
that the KFL lineup includes a long list
of both utilitarian and creative finishes is
only icing on the cake.
Gold Star Hoochies
Big hoochies in the 4 to 8 inch class
have been the fodder of salmon anglers
for many years and they can be deadly
effective, but so can smaller hoochies in
the 2 to 3 inch size class.
For this work my hands down favorite
hoochies are the Gold Star Mini Sardine
with a length of 2 1⁄4 inches and the 2
inch Ace Hi Fly Junior, which is basically
a hoochie with extra flash and a plastic
head.
Bait fish colors like blue or purple over
pearl are my first choice when I break out
my hoochie assortment, but
at times bright pinks
and oranges will
get hit when
nothing else
will.
For more
informa-
tion about
the tackle
mentioned
in this piece,
check out the
Silver Horde/
Gold Star website
at www.silver-
horde.com.