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! With The Bay Area’s Premier Sportfishing Family… Halibut Now Booking S.F. Bay Halibut & Striper Stripers Live Bait Potluck Trips! Lingcod Salmon Sharks & More Charters & Open Loads Available Departing Daily From The Berkeley Marina Happy Hooker (510) 223-5388 Pacific Dream 3807 May 10 - 24, 2019 (510) 993-4414 Follow Us On Facebook 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.