Drifting for Hali near Bamfield

[Charts]

anyone "successfully" drift on the shelves a couple miles off Bamfield for Halibut? Heading out this summer but no access to my anchoring system. Just looking for some tips for drifting the shelf. ie do you slowly troll against the current to try and stay in one spot or do you drift the shelf, pick up at bit and head to the front of the shelf again? Thanks for your time. tight lines

 

[Aces]

Drift and cover ground. I use a bit of reverse to prevent your lines from having too much angle and to keep your presentation in the bottom zone

 

[Charts]

Drift and cover ground. I use a bit of reverse to prevent your lines from having too much angle and to keep your presentation in the bottom zone

spreader bar with bait or plastic?

 

[UkeeDreamin]

Power grubs off spreaders topped with some form of bait (salmon belly, herring, octo, squid) is popular, but having at least one jig active is never a bad idea either. In addition to having the engine idle so you can back-troll to slow drift/ minimize line angle, it also pays to assess direction of drift and try to line up along an obvious contour, especially if near a good drop off.

Cheers!

Ukee

 

[fishchaser]

If I was not able to anchor I would troll a 4 to 6 inch hoochie (Glow white or Brown Turd) slowly 60 inches or longer behind a glow or UV flasher. I like trolling as close to the bottom I can get, even bounce the downrigger ball randomly to make sure I am on the bottom. This will work for Halibut as well as the larger Springers. Anchoring is still the preferred method for halibut but trolling is just as good.

 

[Charts]

Power grubs off spreaders topped with some form of bait (salmon belly, herring, octo, squid) is popular, but having at least one jig active is never a bad idea either. In addition to having the engine idle so you can back-troll to slow drift/ minimize line angle, it also pays to assess direction of drift and try to line up along an obvious contour, especially if near a good drop off.

Cheers!

Ukee

right on. Def going to try and back troll the edges best i can. Thanks for the tips

 

[Mako 22]

I took a look at the chart of the area.

Wow! I would love to live in that area and fish.

Excellent bottom structure: Flats, pinnacles, holes. Much better looking territory than we have down here in Port Angeles.

I would drift and jig across the pinnacles. Keep that jig working near the bottom.

Drag big baits across the flats. Or a 7 inch Tomic behind the downriggers, fish 10 feet above the bottom.

Drop big baits into the deep holes and canyons.

14 ounce P Line jig below that I modified a little. This would be a Halibut killer in the Bamfield area. The jig and the hoochie are "glow".

 

[ryanb]

Yep. Don't have much experience in the area but it only took me 10 minutes last July to pick up a 45lber drifting at the bank about 5 miles off Bamfield, which I think is called "7 mile", but not sure about that.

Salmon belly on spreader bar.

 

[michael_reiber]

Basically just repeating what everyone else has already said but, trolling hootchies on bottom will work to get hali but you typically do get smaller halibut if you're trolling for them but thats not always the case I've defiantly caught lots over legal size trolling for them. The other way which I would suggest if I couldn't anchor would be to just pick a spot on the bank and just drift it dragging a spread bar along bottom with whatever bait you got (herring is my favourite).

Hopefully you can find some! Good luck!

 

[chromatose007]

Back trolling can be quite productive. Just kicking engine in and out of reverse helps to keep lines vertical.
Keep an eye on the tide swings, less is more. Wind is another big factor to consider.
DON'T try doing this if your boat has a motor well. Good chance you will be swamped and big trouble will follow.
GL

 

[Charts]

Back trolling can be quite productive. Just kicking engine in and out of reverse helps to keep lines vertical.
Keep an eye on the tide swings, less is more. Wind is another big factor to consider.
DON'T try doing this if your boat has a motor well. Good chance you will be swamped and big trouble will follow.
GL

yes it will def be weather dependant for me to go out. Thanks for the advice will be shooting for 7 mile area to try my luck

 

[Sangstercraft]

Re: back trolling. If the current isn't much but it's the wind that's moving your boat, toss out a 5 gallon bucket on a sternline and it can slow you down enough in some cases. That way you don't have to smell your exhaust for hours.

 

[Charts]

Re: back trolling. If the current isn't much but it's the wind that's moving your boat, toss out a 5 gallon bucket on a sternline and it can slow you down enough in some cases. That way you don't have to smell your exhaust for hours.

nice i really like that idea actually

 

[trophywife]

nice i really like that idea actually

i keep a drift anchor onboard with a 20' shot of rope. works great anchored and drifting to keep the boat from swinging fast.

 

[Mako 22]

Re: back trolling. If the current isn't much but it's the wind that's moving your boat, toss out a 5 gallon bucket on a sternline and it can slow you down enough in some cases. That way you don't have to smell your exhaust for hours.

Way back when I fished the Sacramento River for Striped Bass one of the gents had a 14 ft aluminum with 25 hp. He used one of those pointy traffic cones to "hold back" the boat when trolling or drifting in the wind. He made a rope bridle to go around the flange on the big end and ran it off a stern cleat.

 

[brutus]

Drifting work great, i do not anchor, i pick days with smaller tides and drift the bumps and edges, contour on edge of dropoff 5-7-11 miles there is always hali to get

 

[SpringVelocity]

I took a look at the chart of the area.

Wow! I would love to live in that area and fish.

Excellent bottom structure: Flats, pinnacles, holes. Much better looking territory than we have down here in Port Angeles.

I would drift and jig across the pinnacles. Keep that jig working near the bottom.

Drag big baits across the flats. Or a 7 inch Tomic behind the downriggers, fish 10 feet above the bottom.

Drop big baits into the deep holes and canyons.

14 ounce P Line jig below that I modified a little. This would be a Halibut killer in the Bamfield area. The jig and the hoochie are "glow".

Excellent idea

 

[morganic]

Hey guys thanks for all the info. Hopefully will get out to 7 mile Monday as the wind looks to be light. Fished Bamfield for years but always for salmon. Will be putting all your tips and tricks to use. Will let you know how it goes
Capt. Mo

 

[sir-vivor]

Hey Morgan,
Good luck buddy, lots of great Hali spots out there and really close. I never drift you know me so can't really help ya with that I like to be hooked up on the bottom, easy to do and heck then I can just sit and RELAX until they hit the line. Tight lines (be up there end of Jun to catch some of those Halis so don't catch em all lol )

 

[Charts]

Hey guys thanks for all the info. Hopefully will get out to 7 mile Monday as the wind looks to be light. Fished Bamfield for years but always for salmon. Will be putting all your tips and tricks to use. Will let you know how it goes
Capt. Mo

Morganic how you make out??