Trolling...for Halibut?!

4

416rigby

New member
Beautiful day here...and we've been dying to go fishing again after the crappy weather we've had. Off we go to troll for kings. We had one on for a minute or so before he got off...Donna said a few choice words and we kept on truckin'. Funny thing is, we're in 102 feet of water...my downrigger is at 65 feet...and my rod slams to life. Obviously not a king, but whatever it was was putting up a pretty decent fight. Up comes a halibut! I couldn't believe it. Not a big one, maybe 18 or 20 pounds, but heck! Caught him on a blue hootchie with a chunk of herring on the hook. We released him and shook our heads...he wasn't even close to the bottom.

Anyone else ever catch a butt while trolling? I'm still shaking my head...

Rick
 
A buddy of mine went to the winter King derby in Homer this year and caught 2 in about 50' while trolling for Kings. He had two lines down at about 120' and nothing touched those lines. Again nothing big, a 25 and a 35 pounder, but great for the freezer.

Bill
 
Ron thats great to feel that :D There's been several times trolling, and catchin almost entirely buts :!: :shock: . Wherever there is hearing, there seems to always be salmon of some kind, and/or buts :smilep :star :thup .
Peep don't realize what an aggressor 'buts' can be! their on the hunt like anything with teeth that make a living in the ocean :crook
Congrats :cigar It took years for me, but eventually I found places where you catch as many buts as kings trolling. One time I had one way to big to bring aboard... and much less keep :shock: turned em loose to keep on making babys for tomorrow :love :wink
 
I caught this one trolling... on purpose... I do it all the time...

.Rays_But.thumb.jpg

I like an RSK with a hard double circle hook rig fished about 5 feet behind a big bananna (trolling) sinker.

This is my favorite way to catch big flattie.
Oh yea, I caught that on my salmon pole :shock: :lol: . I just love that
 
The first time I've ever seen a halibut come to the surface feeding was back when I was charter fishing out of Seward. We started fishing off Montague Island, San Juan Bay, and the Coho Salmon were running thick. With 24oz lead cannon ball weights we were having a hard time getting through the salmon to get to the halibut. Halibut were coming up to the surface to get the salmon. So I know first hand that the flat ones will come to the food source. Here in Seward I've spoken with many fishermen that have trolled for bottom fish. Back before Ressurection Bay was put off limits to ling cod fishing, people use to troll over rock piles and were very productive. They have since figured out that the male Lings were very aggressively protecting there spawning grounds during the earlly summer months and thus today you cant keep ANY lings until July.
 
Cool stuff. I have since talked to a few guys at work who have caught them trolling, too. One guy said they were going to move to another spot and were reeling up their gear...and they watched one follow the bait up from the bottom as it was being reeled up...big mother, too...but she turned away about 3 feet from the surface and went back down. Way cool.

Rick
 
I have been reading this book lately (months now :crook :oops: ) Tons of good old fishin info in it for trolling (Mongo's learning plenty :) ) They been catching buts' trolling for ages! I was surprised :shock: And here I thought I invented it :roll: :teeth :xlol
See ya'll next week ... out .... :bat
 
Hey fishing guys,

The old halibut chaser does three things: deep water, jigs;
sandy slope in 140+ ft; drift and bounce spreader on bottom: 140 ft. and under TROLL. I troll with downriggers, rig a 32 oz. lead about 3 ft. or so under the downrigger ball on 20-25# mono, and keep the small lead stirring up sand. I clip the herring rig up about 5-6 ft. above the downrigger ball. Terminal gear varies - usually a flasher of some kind, good swivel setup and the largest herring I can get. Octopus works too.

Best reading I've found so far, How to Catch Trophy Halibut by Chris Batin and Terry Rudnick.

Dusty
 
I caught a 70 lb halibut while trolling for salmon off Anchor Point, Alaska a couple of years ago. Another guy in the boat hooked a king, so the rest of us were reeling in to get out of his way. My cut herring rig was about 20 behind the boat, about 3 feet below the surface, and moving fast when the halibut hit it, and took my line straight to the bottom. After the other guy got his fish in the boat, we worked on the 'but for about 20 minutes and managed to get it in the boat. Neato.
 
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