First Saltwater Trip - Dana Point
 

So I'm a freshwater guy and got into kayak fishing about three years ago in Texas and recently relocated back to Southern California. I looked at how much it cost to launch in fresh water and decided to give saltwater a try. The results of my first trip may cause me to never go back. Several small bass on the spinner bait and a nice 28" 7.5lb Halibut as well as a much bigger one on for about 5 minutes until he broke me off! I'm hooked. Just stayed in the Harbor at Dana Point for my first try but I see the wide open ocean in my near future. Any tips on continued Halibut success would be appreciated....Thanks!

Damn nice catches! And all on the spinner bait! And those are the same clips i used to secure my first hali too lol, did you have a gaff btw?

Good job. Take that blade down to Mission Bay and you'll really be hooked.

haibut WFO IN the harbor.

Nice work!:cheers1:

Well done and on the first salt trip too. Did that flattie eat the blade? As for hali tips, try the search feature. There are loads of posts about catching them. Here's a quickie though. Halibut can be agressive, as you found out, and will eat plastics, hard and soft jerks baits, flys, crocodiles, crank baits, I've caught a few on yo-yo iron, even seen a 10 lber eat a top water. But to really target and catch the bigger fish consistantly you need a live bait fished right above the bottom. When I'm targeting halibut in the bays I won't even bring artificials, just bait rig Keep up the good work. Mikes

first trip and you already nailed a butt plus lost a monster butt?! you shall never turn back. once you catch YT and WSB... you are NEVER turning back.

Nice to see that you posted your report. I was the other guy that caught a butt Sunday (25"). It was nice chatting it up with you. If you ever want to hit the fresh water on the yak hit me up on here.

Matt

Just the Bass on spinnerbait....Halibut was on a live sardine and yes I came with the gaff based on reading ahead of time. Now I guess I need a net as I'm not sure what I would have done if I wasn't sure it was a keeper LOL!

Congrats on the hali! That's an awesome start for your first saltwater trip. It looks like you'll do just fine:cheers1:

Nice first post and introduction :cheers1: Congrats on the nice halibut :luxhello:

First saltwater trip and you got a legal hali!! Good job!!

I have no idea how many hours i spend on saltwater fishing before i got my first legal hali........lol

Congrats! Nice Halibut!

Did you keep any of the bass?

welcome to the addiction, LMB are fun, but the possibilities are more fun in the saltwater...

Congrats! Halibut on artificial lures are awesome. Crank bait and Spinnerbait fish cannot be beat when it comes to aggression attacking the lure.

There's not too many places you can lake fish around here in a kayak. And some places have added regulations (Sit inside only). You just gotta poke around until you find the lake you're after.


By the way, since you said you don't know what you would have done if it wasn't legal, I't is a law that you carry a net onboard your kayak. OEX has a great pro mar net that folds up. It's a really nice thin mesh so it doesn't damage the fish. Especialy with halibut, the tails are notorious for splitting inside a net and will, generally, become a big infection and eventually kill the fish. They also fold up super conveniently and are easy to stash away so you got it if you need it, but it doesn't take up any room and you don't find yourself snagging your lures on it. Here's to hoping you use your gaff more often, though :cheers1: Let's go fishin!

No I didn't, I'm so used to catch and release I just threw them back. Don't think they were legal ones though...I'll start measuring next time.

Thanks for the info on the net...I will check it out and get one thx!