While live bait drifting has always been a popular method for hooking California halibut from Baja to Oregon, trolling is really gaining a good following and its easy to see why: it allows you to cover lots of ground quickly and locate fish… plus, it’s deadly!
Here’s how to do it:
Getting Rigged Up
Most trollers drag some sort of natural bait – sardines, herring or anchovies – behind a flasher. Obviously, fresh bait is best, but frozen will also work. To rig up, a good place to start is to go with the rig used by Northern California charter boat skipper Jay Lopes of Right Hook Sportfishing. He runs runs a trap rig and dodger off a three-way swivel setup (though wire spreader bars can be used instead).
The foundation of his trolling rig is a heavy-duty 1/0 three-way swivel tied to his main line. To the second eye of the swivel, he’ll attach an 18- to 20-inch section of line for his weight dropper. The remaining eye of the swivel is dedicated to the leader.
“I like to run 24 to 26 inches of heavy 60-pound mono from my three-way to a 0/0 or 1/0 Herring Dodger,” he says. “The stiffer the line, the better so that everything stays straight. As far as dodger color goes, I use a lot of chartreuse and silver with fish scale tape inserts.”
Check out the teeth marks in the dodger!
Lopes notes that there are times when the halibut will bite the dodger instead of the bait, so if you keep getting strikes that don’t stick, look for teeth marks in your blade. In some situations, you may have to pull the dodger off so that the fish key in on the bait.
Behind the dodger, he’ll run 24 inches of 25- to 30-pound leader to the trap rig, which consists of a 1/0 single Owner octopus hook snelled so that it will slide and then a fixed 1/0 treble at the end of the leader. Lopes runs the point of the forward (single) hook up through the chin and out the top of the head of the bait and then buries one point of the treble into the side of the ‘chovy on the lateral line, just aft of the dorsal fin. Putting a slight bend in the bait will give it a nice rolling action — and be sure to change baits often.
By the way, in addition to bait, there are also times when a straight hootchie will work wonders. In fact, commercial halibut trollers have been dragging rubber squid around for decades with great success.
Hali Calamari
Rod Placement
Lopes likes to pound the bottom with his sinkers, and runs different sizes off the rods, depending on where in the boat they’re positioned. The rods straight of the stern get the lightest weights, while the stern corner rods get heavier lead and the ones off the sides get the beefiest sinkers. How much lead depends on location, depth and tides. Just make sure you’re hitting the sand!
The…um…’butt spread
Location and Tides
In general, the best halibut fishing in San Francisco Bay takes place on either side of the tide, as the water movement starts to slow down. Here, slower tides are better because the water stays cleaner.
You can catch halibut anywhere from 4 to 40 feet down, though 7 to 15 feet seems to be the area most people work. Look for sandy flats with structure — humps and/or drop-offs and troll 1 to 3 knots. Keep an eye on your graph for structure and bait balls but don’t expect to see too many flatties on screen — they simply don’t show up well.
Halibut…It’s what’s for dinner!
richard w gerber says
how many hooks can you use on 1 line for halibut fishing in SF bay
samuel medina says
hey jay….where are you catching these halibut at?
jerry k says
can’t find many butts from hunters point to coyote, no bait fish?
Tyrum Dean says
You should try and gaff your catch through the head. then you wont have a puncture through two of your filets and bruising of the meat.Try running the gaff down the line while holding the line w your other hand.use the line to guide the gaff to the head. Then simply dip the gaff under the head and pull. It will take some practice but will save the integrity of your fish
michael burns says
tyrum Dean get a hold of me!
Scott Mastro says
Two years ago I booked a trip with Jay Lopes on The Right Hook. Everyone, caught halibut and strippers. Even though most had never been fishing for halibut before.
They made our trip a great success! I reccomend them to everyone.
Adam says
I have a couple quick questions about trolling techniques. Do you suggest using torpedo weights or traditional ball weight, i know when you drag a ball weeds and other debris tend to get wrapped up. Also is it alright to use braided mainline and mono leader. Last thing do you want the weight to bounce if so how often. I would really appreciate some feedback, thanks
JD says
Adam, I like torpedoes when it is weedy. Braid is fine and you want your sinker to just barely skim the sand. Good luck!
jerry says
for butts i use a net or tail lupe like i use for sturgens so i can measure fish.
jerry says
J D what do you mean moderation on my comments?
JD says
Jerry, until the webpage recognizes you, all comments must be approved before they are posted…
jerry says
reading all the comments are excellant!
jerry says
i fish incoming tide unless it’s to big- i troll w/wire spliter & roto killer- frozen herring-put enough weight on botom of wire by using torpedo -use pliers to secure weight-troll 1-2 mph-hunters point-oysterpoint 7-15 ft. of water good fishing
Art Bruce says
Thanks for the info , I was a guide from alaska and shared most everything for the lower 48er’s , If they take the time to care and share, I do too. now I am here in /SF but still fish. just have to adapt and overcome from fishing the best to still fishing , with some help from other fishers, I hope to do good . Off the bank right now , but have to wait for next spring for my boat to get down the ferry. too espensive right now. I fear no fish, but I dont fish for sharks either. thanks Art / fish on!
Tim Arnold says
Do I want my weight to bounce the bottom while trolling? I do this drift fishing, but trolling?
Dan Gracia says
Hi Tim, Yes, I use enough weight to keep a good steady bounce going . I always figure , more weight , better than less weight . Also, remember to increase the speed of your boat when fishing ” up hill” or moving into a very fast tide .
For halibut , boat speed is very important . You would be surprised how quick these ” butts” are . Don’t judge your boat speed by someone eles boat . All boats fish different . All types of bait fish different . You can troll anchovies at a slower speed , but with hoochies , you need a little more speed . Try it . You’ll be surprised .
Tim Arnold says
Thank you Dan. I have just started Halibut fishing and I have only drift fished on the west of Angel Isl. once. We did good with a 17 pounder on live shiners. Do you have any advice on this style also? How are frozen Anchovies? Shiners aren’t always available. Thanks again!
Deano says
Its close- Flatties should come early and I’m marking lots of bait in the bay w/ small stripers moving down. Flat bays and chesty women for us all
Don says
what type of seeker black steel rod is in the photo
(assuming it is a seeker)
thanks
Don
fishwithjd says
Yep, a Seeker…
nick deferrari says
our 18ft ski boat doesn’t really go slow enough to troll and my dad won’t buy a kicker. does anyone know of ways to slow down the boat? if so please let me know @ [email protected]
JD says
You can always drag a couple 5-gallon buckets…kinda hokey but it works. Or, if your boat has an outboard, buy a Happy Troller trolling plate.
Deano says
west marine and maybe others sell a drift sock. Its a cone shaped vinal bag with straps that you tie a 1/4″ rope to about 10 feet long. yours should be about the medium size. make sure to put a snall float where the rope connects because my wife likes to just throw rope and all in a big fish frenzy
Doug says
The drift sock mentioned by Deano is listed in the West Marine catalog as a drouge. It runs $25. Call the store before you go in (when I bought the only store that had them on the shelf was the Oakland store).
They carry two–get the one with the adjustable drawstring on the tail end (Seattle Sports — Model # 8536039).
I use one of these on my kayak (for drifting) and 14′ Valco (for drifting & trolling). They’re also great when anchoring in windy/choppy conditions.
Dean0 says
Good Info, This year was my first on the bay for flatties,we
did well for rookies, many trips were rough for the 18′ alumiweld. Great stripers at Alcatraz early. talked mama into buying a 30′ trawler ” SCANDIPINO” Will work on the trolling skills this spring. Guluk
mitch says
I saw your old post about things being rough on the bay with the alumaweld. I have 18 fish open bow fish and ski. Will I be OK on the bay?
JD says
Hmmm…not so sure I’d take a fish & ski out there unless it’s glass. And stay close to the ramp if you go…the wind can really churn out there.
jerry says
if you see any white caps in the bay you know winds are at 7 nots or more go home!
Matthew Walker Wheat says
I take my 12 foot fiberglass duck boat out on the bay all the time. Gotta use your head and always looking around. Bilge pump and backup motor is a must.
JD says
For sure!
trout trolling says
I need to get out there and test my luck at trolling in the bay. I tend to troll for trout for the most part BUT I would love to try out the s.f. bay and other types of fish.
Anonymous says
Well Trout Trolling let me give you an inside scoop on fishing for Halibut in the bay. If you have a little aluminum boat with 18″ of freeboard and at least a 6hp outboard you should have no problem fishing out of Oyster Point. Best to go in the morning and hit the incoming or outgoing tide (I prefer incoming… less junk on the line) and try to get off the water before the wind picks up around noon. The crossing between the marinas back to the launch can get a little hairy (o.k. really hairy in a small boat) and the wind always kicks up it just a matter of when!
I use a Lami 8-15lb 9ft rod, matched to Daiwa SLC level wind spun with 15lb Big Game. You don’t need anything more than 15 lb line to get the job done.
Items to bring: Gaff, pliers, a good headache stick (Bat) and a couple of home made marker buoys. For buoys you can use empty 1 gallon milk containers with 16 ft of parachute chord tied to the handle and a 10 oz. pyramid weight.
A salmon net will work but a gaff is much better, and the pliers will come in handy for shakers and lure removal.
Keep your wake non-existent and go slow when you leave the launch, the folks that live on the house boats at Oyster don’t take too kindly to bouncing around.
Best lures: Bagleys 6 ” Deep Diving Bang O B’s in Blue/Black or Monster Shad
If you have a problem finding them, see Glenn at Fisherman’s Warehouse in Cupertino, there in the back right corner of the shop. I also juice my lures with Puatzke’s Liquid Krill…dynamite stuff, try it on trout sometime.
Once your out of the Marina bust a left, if the tide is in make the crossing and troll right along the wall of the marina after the crossing before the open water, then take a tack toward the Ship Towers at the end of Hunters Point (right of Candlestick). Depending on the tide you will be 6-8 ft of water, keep an eye on your rod-tip, if it’s not happily vibrating, reel up and clean off the junk. Those deep diving lures will put a lot of action on your rod tip and you want those lures inches off the bottom, this is where a line counter reel comes in handy. Generally in 6-8 ft of water you will have about 15-20 ft of line out. A good way to tell is to let out enough line to feel bottom and then give it a couple of cranks up. If you occasionally hit the bottom every 5 minutes or so…you’re perfect.
I troll faster for Halibut then I do for trout, halibut are fast and vicious. If your rod tip is bouncing at 3-4 clicks a second your trolling speed is good. The main trolling line is from the Ship Towers at Hunters Point to the Hitachi Bldg off Oyster Point (I moved 2 years ago but I think it’s still the Hitachi Bldg). You will be in 7-12 feet of water. The end of the run will be the marina wall I spoke of earlier.
Make sure to have all of your gear stowed away, halibut don’t put up much of a fight until they get into the boat. A good sized halibut 40″ will tear your boat apart if given a chance, wear boots, do not get your hand near those teeth, while the fish is on the gaff, put a foot on the fish, take the pliers and remove the lure, then it’s batter up! Bash his head a couple of times, then remove him off the gaff. Keep your fish in the boat and splash a little water on them from time to time. NO STRINGERS! If you can remember, toss your marker buoy out once you land the fish and take a couple of more passes around that spot. You’ll be amazed how many times you will hook up a couple of more fish. As well, like all bay or ocean fishing watch the birds, (Especially Comorants & Terns) and look for boils. If you see a boil try and troll by the outside edges.
I’ve caught them this early in the year, you’ll know if it’s good because the commercial guys will be fishing the drop-off. Which is the same line as the Ship Towers-Hitachi Bldg but another 200 yds out. I like to fish on the inside of the drop-off, you’ll know the drop-off as the fish finder will read 10,10,10, 15, 20, I like to be in 8-12 ft of water. This tactic works great out of Oyster, but for some reason it does not work at the Berkeley Flats, the flats do well by bouncing bait.
If the tide is in you can try a run on the inside by closer to 101, but don’t get any closer than 100 yds, it get’s really shallow by the Brisbane tubes.
Fishing for Halibut can be addicting, the fish are great table fare. Spoke with DFG Biologist that told me the fish are in the bay pretty much all year long. I always thought they came in to spawn, guess I was wrong so keep the merc levels in mind. I’ll tell you about the bird cage after you check back in. Make sure to flush your motor, hose down everything boat, trailer, under-carriage of your rig, especially your reels, don’t take anything you don’t need.
Keep us updated, would love to hear how ya do!
Remaining anonymous because my buddies would kill me for giving this info out.
The other flatty fanatics on here know what I am talking about! :)
Sorry for taking up your bandwidth JD!!!!
JD says
Wow, Anon, that’s a boat load of good info. Thnx
Dan Da Portaguee says
Thanks for the good stuff Anonymous. Sounds like you do this more than a couple times a year. Great to know a real “angler” still wants to share with his fellow brothers. May you always get bit.
Doug says
Here’s a trick I use for taming wild butts.
I lasso the tail with a piece of strong cord, sink a large shark hook (threaded on the cord–if the eye isn’t big enough for the cord, use a large swivel) in the eye, then pull the two together until the butt is well bent. Then I stuff them in a wet burlap sack (if they’ll fit :)
When I’m fishing off my kayak, instead of gaffing (I don’t like going for a swim while I have a fish on) I have a jig made from a broomstick (and the lasso made from a short piece of downrigger wire to keep it open) and do my hogtying with the butt in the water.
One note of caution–these bad boys have a mean bite. I had a good size one bite me many years back–went through my kevlar glove, through my dive glove, through my thumbnail and out the other side.