quote:
Originally posted by Sea Ranger
For some reason the people on this site are tight lipped about anything to do with halibut. Even though this is a fishing site which is suppose to help one another some people would rather tell you where to go and how to get there then to help. People like Wolf and others say they are concerned about people's safety when anchoring so I agree... We should have good anchoring days posted, you never know, just might save someones life. Mind you I have ancored in some pretty bad tides and by doing so I feel I am safer then if I never tried anchoring in a strong tide. With experiance comes knowledge... very valuble knowledge. Yes it can be dangerous to anchor in a strong tide but in some situations it could save your life. I'm not saying to go out and anchor in a strong tide but I think its good experiance to be able to if needed.
And remember....Keep your tip up!!!
It's not that we are tight lipped about hali fishing, it's that anchoring has been discussed a lot and a quick search will bring up several threads. When guys get cranky about halibut fishing talk in Victoria, it's when people want actual long and lat's for Hali fishing. The reason is simply that myself and Wolf rarely can leave the harbour without a nice little fleet following us out to where we are fishing, anchoring withing 50 feet of us sometimes, and drifting around us. Funny, it's often the same boats too that do it most of the time as well. (Not you Sea Ranger, I'm just stating in general).
Back to Wagonmaster's question, what you want is a slower tide going slack. GENERALLY the bite is at the tide change, but can happen any time. Those days are rare, so you arbitraily look for days where the current does not go past 1.6 knts, and fish away paying close attention to your rods when the current slows down. Typically, when a hali hits, you know it!
This weekend, will at best give you 2 hours of fishing time unless you anchor up behind an island or reef to stay out of the current. OR if you have your gear in at 3 AM for that small flood, and pull out at 9.
OR, once you have the currents figured out and are really comfortable with your Halibut anchoring system, study your Murray's tables, see where it's going, and sneak in behind some structure ala' fishing pools in a river and enjoy! Just make sure to watch the currents, because if you are behind an island, and the currents go the other way, you want to know you can get the heck out of there before you get up close and personal with whatever rock you anchored behind!
I will give you this.. If you want to play it safe, and maybe catch some halibut, draw a line between Trial Island and Albert HEad. You can usually fish there in all but the most extreme tides. Find 150-250 feet of water and throw your anchor at or near slack tide. It won't pick up so fast you will loose gear, and I've caught lots of halibut there.
As for safe anchoring, I'm going to have a sticky up shortly.
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