hey, i've been trying to target halibut at cabrillo with not much luck. the main thing that i was wondering (i tried to find the answer in tons of vids and pics)... is your sinker line longer or your hook leader line longer? i'm not sure which one is more effective at cabrillo.

I've tried all sort of different setups and they all catch fish but the one thing I use consistently is an 8oz sinker. As far as areas to fish.......I'm amazed at how many kayakers will not go past the D marker or the bait barge, when/if you do this you're limiting yourself to about 25% of the areas that hold fish. Don't get me wrong, the areas near the E marker can hold fish but why would you want to limit yourself?

I will take a shot at the answer to that. Cabrillo, like most harbors, has very limited visibility at most times. In those cases, it is more important to keep your bait very near the bottom. From my experience, I would guess that my finbaits stay up and in the direction of my travel most of the time. The distance between the sinker and the hook then is more important than either leader individually. That being said, for landing using a 3-way setup, you will be better off with a shorter sinker leader. A sinker banging into them will often cause them to get lively again. A couple nice advantages of the Dropper Loop (and I use that name generically) or its short haired cousin the Drop Shot, on the other hand, is that they keep the bait at the height you select and generally keep the sinker out of the way at landing.