Halibut Anchoring Bait Tube Idea Question.

[MyEscape]

I have to be honest last year was the first year I anchored for halibut and although only guided a few trips last year I was quite successful. I used mainly salmon bellies, half salmon heads, octopus and one of my favorites the flap of white meat/skin that covers the guts of a halibut cut into strips on both spreader bar set ups and jigs. The action was always better with more rods in the water which makes sense as there is more scent down there.

So I was thinking about the scent thing and came up with an idea. I have designed a capsule 2 feet long out of 6" pvc pipe with a fixed cap on one end and a lockable one on the other end with multiple 1' holes drilled through the pipe to let the scent out from all the scraps from the cleaning station I would put in it. This then would be zap strapped about 2 to 6' up your anchor line.

My question is would this be legal???????

Cheers Kevin

 

[TenMile]

Yes, they are legal as long as it doesn't have any hooks so it can't be called a meat line. I've designed the same sort of contraption but never had the chance to use it as I rarely anchor.

 

[TheRock]

added info..

A bait bag ! We have done that before... load up a mesh bag of all your un used old bait and what ever else smelly goodness you can find. Hook the bag up onto your down rigger ball 12-15lb. ball and slowly lower it to the bottom using your down rigger... obviously you can only do this on very light currents... works great and your bait bag is closer to your gear vrs on the end of your anchor that is quite far away from your baited lines..
Don't use to big of a bait bag it does put allot of pressure on the down rigger getting it back up. I like your bait tube idea, allot more stream line than a bulky mesh bait bag.. bait bag can some times snag up on the bottom.. pvc tube alot less lickly to get snagged on the bottom. Good idea.

 

[Jencourt]

I have used bait cup from prawn trap before. I also prefer it on the rigger rather than 300-400 feet away on the anchor.I am sure I will encounter that anoyinf fish that wraps me on the rigger before I get a chance to hit the retrieve button,but so far bin lucky. I like your pvc pipe idea as bait cup is kinda small. thanks for the suggestion.

 

[fishinforever]

Yup its legal, Im going to do something similar this year with the PVC piping, good idea!

 

[trophywife]

I use a 2.5 gallon pale.. I freeze my stank so its ready to slow release. 1/2 holes drilled everywhere in bucket..Zap strapped 10' up
From the anchor and use prawn bat cans on the rigger

 

[the fog ducker]

Do what Jeff does !!

And Yes , Thanks again !!!

: )

fd

 

[Fish Assassin]

You can use crab traps packed full of scrap. The smaller fish will them start puling it apart spreading stink and meat all over the place. Thought about using chicken wire baskets and or cray fish traps.

 

[spring fever]

What a laugh-I guess it works -sometimes too well-3 years ago off cape scott I put a bait bag with a 5 lb ball- 20 ft off the bottom-nothing for 5 min -then we caught 2 real nice hali's 40 and 80-we figured this was great-all of a sudden the downrigger starts bouncing like crazy and the line came damn near to the surface before the wire snapped. Last time I used that trick!!

 

[Finished Business]

...thought this over many times (my idea was a crab bait cage clipped to the ball). My concern is a playful seal or a not so playful shark giving it a tug...

 

[Shepnoir]

FB,

I did just that a few years ago with no noticable sucess compared to using scent canisters..... took a Scotty type bait bucket rigged to a spreader bar with guts'n stuff & 2 lbs weight inside the bucket. The drag wasn't as bad as I thought. May make the difference when its slow though.

 

[BlackPearl]

If your a Costco member...buy a plastic container of the crushed garlic...6x6 square container...yellow label and lid.....some small holes in that....zap strap to downrigger...when the current slows down start bouncing that off the bottom....dont leave it down there tho...then make sure you have a lid on your bait bucket to throw it into when not using it...it humz! as well as something on your anchor for when the currents still moving to get your area baited.

 

[tubber]

"borrowed" from an Alaska forum:

Chum bomb.

I'm convinced these do more to attract fish than anything else. I've seen the bite pick up minutes after dropping one. I agree with the general sentiment that as long as you've got bait down there, they will eventually find it, the chum bomb releases a large amount of blood, scraps, and scent starting from the exact same place your hooked baits are soaking. The fish follow the scent trail upstream, and it's fish on soon enough.

They are also relatively easy and can be mess-minimized with some prep work. It does require a good amount of bait, though.

Take a bunch of herring, salmon, hooligan or a combination of all them and chop the heck out of it. Take a 3 or 5-gallon bucket and fill it prior to leaving the dock and it'll make things easier on the water. Bring the day's newspaper with you.

When you get out on the halibut grounds, drop your lines as you normally would. If you don't get any bites right away, take a couple sheets of the newspaper and lay them flat. Dump a bunch of chum in the middle, then wrap the newspaper around it like a burrito. Take a free halibut rod and attach a big weight to the end, and basically wrap-tie the entire newspaper/chum onto the line. Drop it to the bottom. Let it soak for a minute or two to soften the newspaper, then give it some mighty jerks like you are setting the heck out of a hook. This should tear the bomb up, releasing all of the chum, goo, bits, and bites right into the "halibut zone." It will move along the bottom with whatever current there is, and the fish will follow it up-stream to the origin.

I've cut open the stomach of halibut I've caught after chum bombing, and they are FULL of the chum. This a fun way to attract halibut to jigs, too. It gets them in the mood to strike because they are feeding, and it can be a lot of fun.

So, I would scrap the chum bag idea altogether, personally, but highly recommend trying this out.

 

[beemer]

I have a value village cuisinart dedicated to making chum. I take garlic, old herring , salmon scraps vegetable oil and flour , whip it into a gooey paste and put it into Scotty crab bait container lined with saran wrap. Then into the freezer. I bring along 2 or 3 per trip. Pop the frozen chum out of the container ,take off the saran and put it back into the container.Put a 10 lb ball on and zapstrap the container to the eye of the ball and lower it down 10 feet off the bottom. When the rigger is down and you are at anchor it is no different than salmon fishing , you can't dial out on watching the rigger. When the current changes or picks up, the ball needs to be adjusted. You also need to change up the weights on your spreader bar as the current speed picks up or slows or you are wasting your time or asking for a major tangle.I have had good success with this method but be prepared for a few shyteshows.
If you are still working on anchoring this is not for you!! A quick current change can create a dangerous situation if your rigger gets fouled with your anchor line.

beemer

 

[Dave S]

Twice I have attached a chum bag to the dr and hooked a halibut. Haha now that I think about it, those are the only 2 halibut I have ever hooked. So anyways, the first time it happened I was solo and the damn thing got tangled in the dr line and I tried to bring up the dr with the fish and Right when it got near the boat the line broke! Next time I was with my lady and same thing. Couldn't get the dr up in time. But this time I slowed down and brought the ball up at the same speed as fish and I had some new braided line that probably helped. We were able to get that one on the boat. Man it was so funny. Me and my wifey jumping up and down high fiving while this thing still flopped on the deck. 'twas a nice 45 lbs of yum. So I guess it works but I am scared of having more drama so I went to scent tubes. Like the idea of setting off a bait bomb with a spare rod then bringing it up and letting scraps bring them in.

 

[wolf]

Ask bananas if he uses one !!!!!!LOL LOL
he does great without them....or does he????

 

[Tailspin]

Keep in mind that the "Chum Chum" can also create "dogfish central" on the south island! Mesh laundry bags are golden!

Banana mash Chum?

 

[Peterman]

I picked up those bait bags from PNT last year... put some DR wire clips on some and line clips on others... so you have the option to clip them on your anchor line or clip them on your DR cable...
If you are organized you can have bait frozen in them ready to go...
They are about $5 a piece and arent huge bags... but they are quick and easy.. more scent the better !! love some of the ideas in hear..

 

[juandesooka]

I was curious if this really was legal or not, so checked the regs (says nothing) and called DFO -- who confirmed that it is legal to have a bait bag or the like when fishing halibut. So there you go. By the way, they also said to call back in mid Feb about the halibut opening.

 

[TheSookesOfHazzard]

Hello All

Been viewing posts here for a couple months and have received some great advice so I thought I'd join up and help contribute if I can to this aweseome community.

Anyways, regarding the PVC bait holder idea, I was thinking of doing something very similar for getting more sent around my boat, but I'm wondering: If you use a Anchor Lift system like I do (I use the split ring design) wouldn't the PVC tube hit the ring before the anchor made it there and potentially rip it off? At the same time, I'd want it at least a few feet up-chain from the anchor so it doesn't impede the hook's ability to set properly. Otherwise, seems like a great idea, cause I'm not to keen on lowering something on my rigger and potentially causing problems. Besides, the scent at the anchor is gonna follow you right downstream anyway.