There it is, the one halibut I heard of this weekend. Gage submitted the report: "Adam Bienenstock with a 24" halibut. First halibut ever. Son caught two herring and one caught the halibut" As usual, the important part of catching is good bait and it looks like Mr. Bienenstock has a catcher of such on his team. The wind wasn't too bad in the morning yesterday but came up pretty quick today. It sounds like the herring are getting even harder to catch with the pressure from fishermen and fish. Apparently your appetite gets impaired when you're trying not to get eaten. As I recall, I never got hungry when abalone diving (back when that was a thing), so I assume that this is true for me and other small fish. I heard a fifth-hand report of herring further in the bay but the people that went looking for them this weekend found nada. No further reports of anchovies since Wednesday, and even the guy that found them then couldn't find them on Thursday. Those fish and their tails. I guess that when everyone (fish and fishermen alike) are waiting for the bait to show up and only a few arrive, those few are, well, I won't use the appropriate term, but let's just say it sucks to be them. I would assume that the conditions that sent the herring into the bay should send some other schools of baitfish into the bay as well, but barring that, bring your chum and prepare to catch jacksmelt.
I'm just going to bed and check the email, and there it is. It turns out, not unsurprisingly, that there were other fish caught this weekend. According to William Thompson, on Saturday,: "Hey Willy,
Wanted to report on my friend, Carl and I's good fortune. Caught two halibut up to 34" just before the wind blew us off the water. Didnt hear from other people we spoke to about any others caught. What I can say is the ticket was smaller sized live smelt.
-Will" Nice fish, gents, especially considering the reported lack of others. Way to be bait-flexible. Schoolie baitfish are easier to get and work better, usually, when you can get them, but when you can't....The best bait for you is the bait you can catch. And jacksmelt put bodies in the cooler.
2 comments:
I fished Hog last Friday. I was ready to endure poor weather with hopes that the herring and predators were still around. The weather went from windy to I can't take it anymore. I circled the island looking for bait - nothing. There were no takers on my frozen anchovies. A couple of boats had live bait and I saw them land stripers and halibut. The moral of the story is - find live bait or go home.
Y’all are killing me. Warm up the tractor Willy…….
Swampy
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