Them halibut are biting

    The halibut are still biting way in the back, mostly. In classic fish fashion, at least one boat that limited easy on Friday couldn't get a bite on Saturday. Same place, just no bites. But they watched a guy hook six halibut while trolling near them. That guy caught two on Friday, one on a Predator and one on a hootchie/fluke combo (you put a hootchie over a Fluke. Looks stupid. Fish think differently, often). On Saturday that same guy hooked six halibut, keeping two, one on the hootchie/fluke and five on the Predator. That bastard. Well, that's probably what some people were thinking, and I don't blame them. I heard of a boat landing ten halibut yesterday in Inverness while jigging tube jigs. Try different things, especially if what you're doing isn't getting the kind of attention you desire. Remember, if you're doing something and the thing you're doing isn't producing the desired reaction, stop doing the thing. Do something different. Change bait, speed up, slow down, throw in that lure that cost a lot but never caught before. Today could be that day! Probably it isn't, but you gotta do something. Remember, there is no try. Do, or do not.

   Quite a few fishermen have gone out for the shallow water rockfish since it opened and the weather allowed. The guys that I talked to did pretty well. We got lucky in the draw when they drew up the "20 fathom line", as in our area it tends to agree with reality by and large. Not everywhere, but mostly. The shallow water is harder to catch fish in, but more fun. The fish seem like city fish, kind of jaded, "been there, done that." Sometimes smaller lures work better, and, heck, if you're fishing really skinny water why not fish light gear? You may only catch half of what you would have caught in the deep, but if each fish is three times the fun, well, you win. It's math.