Drift or anchor for halibut

[coastal creeper]

Hello all,

this may be an age old debate that has been done before on here but I’d love to know if there are many guys drifting out there.

we’ve been fishing halibut in the Victoria area for about 7 years now. We predominantly anchor and have had a fair bit of success for the first 5 years then it seemed that the last 2 have been a total bust and it’s making me re think my strategies.

I love the idea of covering ground and a whole bunch of different structures but I know that comes at the cost of losing a nice scent trail.

either way, there are only so many times you can come back empty handed before the wife starts thinking your time may be better spent working on the house. So it’s do or die pretty quick here haha.

Tight lines

CC

 

[scott craven]

We predominantly anchor and have had a fair bit of success for the first 5 years then it seemed that the last 2 have been a total bust and it’s making me re think my strategies.

Don't rethink, the last 3 years have been very poor overall.

 

[Bent-Tip]

Scott is right, hali fishing has been slow. Maybe some of the guys that do drift only can chime in on how well they've been doing the last couple of years.

 

[Aces]

I lose a lot more spreader bars drifting

 

[coastal creeper]

Ya, I’d love to hear from a drifter. Not looking for anyone’s spot, there are hundreds of potential spots out there that I can see. But would be interesting to know if the technique is working.

 

[coastal creeper]

I think if a guy stuck to drifting down slope he could avoid losing too much gear. Also just doing the odd bounce on bottom then keeping gear up a bit.

 

[MadJigga]

Both can work when the fish are there. Lots more lost gear drifting.

 

[Doug]

When anchoring you will lost a lot less gear and time trying to get your gear off a snag and re rigging.
Over the past few years halibut fishing has been a little slower for me too, but I'm finding I'm catching more halibut in the fall/winter than in the spring but you have to hope DFO will keep it open. Dec. was great halibut fishing last year. Some days they are down there but just do not want to bite. When anchoring you have to jig your gear (bait) a little to excite the halibut to bite.
Anchoring is best, you just have to find a good spot.

 

[trophywife]

I do like to back troll. covers ground but slows the drift.

 

[Rain City]

I do like to back troll. covers ground but slows the drift.

One of the main reasons I wanted a wheel (not a remote) and steering at the rear. I think it's a fun way to fish.

 

[Original]

It’s not been very productive for me but timing I think is really important for both. I have mostly drifted but only got one last year on 3 or 4 attempts driving and skunked on 3 outings on the anchor. I’m heading out early to try the drift off Victoria so I hope I have something to talk about tomorrow night.

 

[ILHG]

In my opinion the best way to catch halibut at anchor or slow back troll drift is to have one rod that is actively jigging. It has always been the rod to get first fish & has always out fished bait. The visual brings them in also. Honestly I stand by this & always have a jig being actively worked

 

[uclueletcharters]

3 ways I fish them, anchor, drift and troll them up. Really depends on the time of year if your targeting both salmon and hali at the same time, weather, location etc. Anchoring is nice when it's windy and there's some chop with the nose into it motor off dead quiet. Only thing that sucks is if you hit a bad spot to pull and reset eats up a bit of time. Seems on anchor average size is bigger. Drifting is good as well back trolling but you have you the back end into the waves and if the seas are a bit choppy kind of sucks plus you have to listen to the motor humming away. If the weather is nice it's an easy way to go for sure, I usually lay tracks drift a certain distance then run back up do it all over again usually along the edge of some sort of structure. Trolling is great super easy usually smaller on average but it's a one stop shop for salmon and hali. I think everyday is different I always change things up keeps things fresh and some times one way works better than the other but that's fishin always learning new tricks and having to adapt it seems by the week to be the most effective

 

[paguy]

We drift 90% of the time, If its rocky just reel your gear up a foot or two off the bottom. You just have to check for the bottom a little more often to make sure your close but not a big deal.

 

[wolf]

Word of warning to save your gear if you are gonna drift use about a 6 ft tag of mono of your spreader bar and weight or about a good 2 feet longer then your leader and buy lots of weights .... I use 40 lb test mono make sure it is way lighter then your lure weight if you hang up your terminal gear sometimes its not the leader that breaks but your main so now you lost hooks, spreader bar hoochie, maybe lots of main $$$$$. if the weight hangs up and you lose it your out a few bucks not a big deal. it will happen when you drift ...
Good luck Wolf

 

[Mako 22]

On the south side of the border where I fish anchoring has begun to be a method. Years ago never saw an anchored boat.

But I fish small pinnacles surrounded by deep water so I drift and either jig or use bait. The bait rig has a 4 foot dropper of 40 pound to the sinker that will break if I hang up. I bounce the sinker on the bottom, reel up a bit, drift a bit, drop back down and repeat. Using theT9.9 to slow the drift if necessary.

The areas I fish are too deep with too much current for anchoring, so with the popularity of anchoring now I pretty much have a bait or jigging area to my self with no crowding. The shallow areas near Freshwater Bay and Green Point have so many boats anchored during halibut season that I stay far away. Like one poster said above, there are hundreds of areas to fish, on both sides of the border, so a guy can avoid crowds if he studies the charts a bit.

Jigging, I use heavy jigs. Drop to the bottom, quickly reel up 5 turns, jig, drop back to the bottom, and repeat.

14 ounce PLine jig rigged with assist hooks. I trash the split rings and replace with a silver brazed solid ring. No hook in the hoochie. I have jigs up to 24 ounces, sometimes need more than 14 ounces if the current is running. 80 pound braid on the big reels, 65 pound on the smaller. I run 6 feet of 150 pound leader between the main line and the jig.

In the past I have caught Halibut on big Tomics, 20 feet behind the downrigger cannonball, running the cannonball about 10 feet off the bottom. Works great in large flat areas like our Green Point area.

 

[Original]

As mentioned above went out today off Victoria and had some great drifts but no Hali. Had bottom once but got it off only loosing my bait. Picked up a sculpin that had to give up its life. Drifted from 260ft to 230ft which took 30 mins then pulled gear up a bit trolled back out then re drifted. Did this 4 or 5 times then currents were picking up. My prawn trap had 50 big daddy’s no females with eggs so was happy with that, except for the Armstrong pulling of 300ft. My Hali search continues......