Its all about that butt...that butt no trouble.

[MITCHELL]

If your going to trophy hunt for big halibut ditch the trap rig.....a trouble hook will make your mackerel die quicker plus possibly damaging a short halibut
40 trilene biggame egg sinker swivel 25 lbs florocarbon leader off set j hook carolina rigged worked for me ......a big butt won't have any trouble swallowing your mackerel
37lbs 45in long tail 13 ins wide:reel:

[Geno Machino]

I totally agree...I never use one myself.

Great Catch!!!

:cheers1:

[jorluivil]

If your going to trophy hunt for big halibut ditch the trap rig

I've caught them using both a single circle hook on a dropper loop and using a trap rig. The only issue with using a single hook is that your hit n miss ratio will increase.


.....a trouble hook will make your mackerel die quicker plus possibly damaging a short halibut

That's a false statement. I fish with trap rigs 99.99999% of the time and I place the treble hook on the top of the mac near/behind the dorsal fins(right in the meat) or right above the anal fin right in the gut. Most of the time I change my bait because I've had the same bait on for an extended amount of time, its rare that I change it because it turned. Also, a butt will have to swallow the entire bait in order to the hook to dig deep in the gut, I've seen happen but its extremely rare because of the way they attack the bait so using a single hook will not guarantee that a small butt will not get harmed


40 trilene biggame egg sinker swivel 25 lbs florocarbon leader off set j hook caroLina riged worked for me ......a big butt won't have any trouble swallowing your mackerel

That is true but not all of the time. If you need proof of that take a look at Greg's video and you'll see that its rare that a butt(large or small) swallows the entire bait on the first strike........that's why the term 'raked bait' exist






Anyway............that's a hell of a fish!!!

[MITCHELL]

Got a slip of paper 37lbs 45ins long tail 13 ins wide

[Reel Anxious]

Hey Mitch, That's one nice Hali. Your persistence paid off big time. :cheers1:

[MITCHELL]

Rockstar can fit

[MITCHELL]

Beautiful day on the water and thanks for the info halibut kings....what's the deal with unloading pictures and security tokens

[JeffB]

Nice Hali!

[mrJB]

Great fish and nice to see an accurate weight for a change...!
:luxhello: :luxhello: :luxhello:

[MITCHELL]

Shelter island San Diego bay

[MITCHELL]

To be exact

[Batmann]

To be exact
Mitchell,

Did you catch that hali in San Diego Bay?

Nice fish. Catch of a lifetime!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[MITCHELL]

San Diego bay

[taggermike]

Congrats, quality Hali for sure.

There are many better Hali anglers than me in this board that use traps, but I gave up using them years ago. I found I still missed fish ( not sure how). Caught more short halis, multitudes more lizard fish, and gut hooked too many sand bass. Mike

[MITCHELL]

Congrats, quality Hali for sure.

There are many better Hali anglers than me in this board that use traps, but I gave up using them years ago. I found I still missed fish ( not sure how). Caught more short halis, multitudes more lizard fish, and gut hooked too many sand bass. Mike
Ya that's for sure the last two times I went for halibut I used a trap rig but not like the way Jorge ties them I got a sandbass and two short halibut released

[alanw]

Nice catch Mitch. I was getting a lot of raked baits so decided to switch to a trap hook halibut rig. I'm going to try putting the trap hook further up like Jorge posted because I've been hooking it back by the tail and my bait is tiring too fast, costing me too much bait.

[Vikingj]

Super nice fish! A fish that big takes more than luck and you have demonstrated some real skill in bagging that big boy. Thanks for sharing your procedure and if something works for you keep doing it.
Personally, I use a trap hook and I caught a 15lb hali today that I would not have nailed without it. You can also use a single J or circle hook instead of a treble as a trap hook and avoid some of the damage that others have mentioned.

[Aaron&Julie]

Nice 'but, congrats.

[MITCHELL]

Cause he's the halbut....King
With circle,treble & off set j hooks

[jorluivil]

If you're catching small grade butts and by-catch chances are you're fishing with smaller sized bait like anchovies, sardines or smaller grade macs. I prefer to use macs that are in the 9 - 12 inch range, these tend to keep the by-catch away(unless its a monster bass) and will result in hooking less short butts. Another reason you may be catching short butts is for one simple reason, you're fishing an area that is holding a ton of short butts.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

What's a Trouble Hook?

Is it different than a trap rig?

Treble hook?

[MITCHELL]

:dontknow:Thanks for pointing it out treble meaning the use of three.....no trouble...

[Mr. NiceGuy]

It, called a typo....
Respectfully, I didn't mean to be a forum grammar nazi. There is lots of slang used around here and I'm still learning :/

I look forward to the day I might be a local halibut pro, like some of the rest of you. I am working diligently toward this end.

Congratulations Duke. It's a beautiful fish. I'm envious :)

[Mr. NiceGuy]

I fish with trap rigs 99.99999% of the time and I place the treble hook on the top of the mac near/behind the dorsal fins(right in the meat) or right above the anal fin right in the gut. Most of the time I change my bait because I've had the same bait on for an extended amount of time, its rare that I change it because it turned. Also, a butt will have to swallow the entire bait in order to the hook to dig deep in the gut, I've seen happen but its extremely rare because of the way they attack the bait so using a single hook will not guarantee that a small butt will not get harmed


What size trap hook would you recommend? Do you use a hook as large as the front hook, or do you think a smaller treble hook will be just as effective, and less damaging to the bait?

I also prefer a trap hook for halibut. I want to avoid collateral damage to other fish as much as possible.

[ful-rac]

Finally a legit weight! Nice fish mitchell! :luxhello:

[MITCHELL]

I no you have slayed lot of them big ones.....

[ful-rac]

Shhhhhh! Dont' say that so loud....

[MITCHELL]

5mins two part epoxy worked the best for glueing skull bones back together, it helps to make a print of the teeth pattern on a piece of paper so jaw bones line up next time I will try 1min two part epoxy to cut down on the holding time....if you built plastic models as a kid you will totally enjoy this.
Bake head till bones fall apart put them in boiling water scrub with a tooth brush and dry bones....Google a skull picture to follow in the build first thing before you start....