Bait Barge- San Diego Bay
 

Does anyone know how much it is to fill a hobie livewell with bait at the bait barge near the Navy sub base on San Diego Bay?

Thanks

$20 for a kayak scoop.

The bait available varies. Tuesday they had large sardines.

I picked up 6 mackerels at sunrise near the entrance to Shelter Island Yacht Basin on my way to the bait barge, so I didn't need more. I stopped anyway to check out their stock and ask some questions. The area around the bait barge has been fruitful for making bait too.

For my past 6 trips to SD Bay, I have had luck picking up enough bait on my way to the bait barge so buying a scoop has not been necessary. Personally I don't care much for sardines. I like anchovies and mackerels for bay fishing. I usually carry a few squid as backup.

First light has been pretty reliable for quick bait. Tuesday I was seeing bait balls on my FF throughout the morning until the wind came up. I left at noon.

Thanks for the info! I didn’t think halibuts hit macs though. What size of macs work best? This will be my first time fishing for them in the bay. Which side of the channel will I have the best luck, the east or west side?

Why are you thinking halibut don't hit mackerel? I'm curious to know your reasoning.

The mackerel I caught for bait were about 8" long.

I lean toward the "big bait, big fish" adage to more narrowly target the fish I want to catch, and to try to avoid collateral damage to undersized fish and other living creatures I don't want to disturb. I recognize that I'm an omnivore, but I also respect and enjoy the sanctity of life around me. Seeing humpback whales and pods of dolphins around me thrills me as much as catching a nice size halibut for dinner.

I'm not a catch and release guy. I'm a catch and eat guy. If I'm not fishing for my favorite fish to eat, then I'm a "live and let live" guy who enjoys the escape, exercise, exploring ideas and relaxation with nature.

Anchovies are no doubt yummy to halibut on light tackle in shallow water on something like a Carolina rig. Larger halibut will bite it too, but I think small anchovies increase the number of undersized halibut we catch. Bass and lots of other fish will chomp on anchovies. I don't want to catch bass, especially when they suck down a trap hook.

The reason I don't care for sardines is because they seem to die too easily, especially if I'm rigging a trap hook. Maybe I don't know how to rig sardines so they survive longer. Mackerel are more durable. Six mackerel will usually be plenty for my half day of fishing and I'll typically release one or two when it's time to go in.

As far as locations, I like exploring many areas. I'm always moving around. Halibut can be anywhere throughout the bay. The more famous places to catch halibut are also full of more people trying to catch halibut, so locations evolve. Halibut also tend to be in different areas and different depths at different times of the year. Think logically about where halibut may be and why, then explore those areas.

There are some places I've heard are good that I've worked hard and never caught a single halibut. Other times I don't over think it so much and get lucky. Other times I move on from where I thought I might catch big halibut only to read later that someone else caught the monster I was looking for, in exactly the same spot, LOL.
(http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...hlight=halibut)

For me, there is a lot of randomness to what happens or not, so I keep exploring new ideas and places. Soon I will be an expert on all the things not to do, and I get better at that every time I go fishing :)

If there is some secret formula for catching big halibut every time I go out, I don't know what it is. For me, it's more a matter of time spent on the water, steady diligent work, increasing my chances in any way I can, learning from my mistakes, then being patient and waiting for the numbers to work themselves out.

I'm not avoiding your questions. I'm trying to be honest based on my own experience. More than a few fishermen have been known to embellish their stories of prowess as halibut slayers, so I take that with a grain of salt. So should you take my unqualified advice too.

So in summary, I can say this with specificity: I don't know :p

Have fun, and good luck!

You can also go to the search feature in the upper right and type in "halibut"

There is a wealth of information here.

Well said.
 

You summed it up pretty well, Mr. Nice Guy. I got two out of one spot and have been hitting it for about 8 months since without another catch. I have gotten raked a few times, so I'm not giving up, but I am expanding my hunting grounds. I thin even the "successful" halibut hunters will agree that it is a lot of misses for a few hits. The good news is that an inner peace is always caught and kept to treasure on rainy days.

If we are getting raked, that's a good sign. Next thing to do is think about why they might not be sticking.

Watching Greg Andrew's videos with his underwater camera rig is pretty amazing to see how halibut will follow and nip at bait, mouth it, spit it out, suck it in again, for quite a long time. They can be quite tenacious when they are following a bait.

agree with everything you have here. The hali's have been hanging out around the coronado bridge as well.

In that area it's also worth exploring Tidelands Park area, the area south of the bridge where the main channel intersects the channel to Glorietta harbor, and also along the channel all the way down to J Street Marina. I haven't been there recently, but that's been a fruitful area for me in the past.

Going that direction I think I would shift to lighter gear and smaller bait because of the more shallow and calm environment. I don't know, but I think a 3-way with a heavy weight and 40# leader I might use out by Zuniga point or in the ocean would be counter-productive in that part of the bay.

I switched to fresh dead squid on the north side of the bridge once and caught a 4' angel shark. Poor thing came up like a big piece of wet carpet and slid back down the same way. He didn't seem to care much, but I still felt bad about hooking him and dragging him up to the surface. Corvina are abundant around there.