christmas halibut
 

Moms in washington and bro went to his chicks for dinner so i took the kayak out for a little evening session last night to try out a portable fish finder mom got me for christmas. Headed out at around 3 to the carlsbad lagoon . cruised around and checked out some depths and whatnot for a bit it seemed to be pretty on as far as the grass and structure and depths go showed some fish in a few spots but dont know how accurate that is. anyway decided to cruise into the lagoon by the jetskis and fish a bit and when i showed up there wasnt anyone else one the water.. it was sweet. i drifted around for a while dragging a gulp ghost shimp while castin a jig. eventually gave up on the jig after a while so i found a sandy spot using the new fish finder (thanks mom!) and casted out the shrimp lit up a special x mas stogie and relaxed and watched the sunset. right as i was finishin boom fish on. reeled him in and when i got him to the yak realized it was a hali. never landed one before, lost a keeper after a 5 min battle on a microite w 4 lb but never acutally landed one. got him yakside and didnt quite know what to do as i usually just lip bass so after a little floppin i grabbed him by the tail and landed my first but. off the yak at that. so far now ive caught a spottie a sandy a croaker and now a but off the yak but theyve all been way better quality fish than i catch at the normal oberfished spots. i think im almost ready for my lj yellow. lol! wasnt a keeper so i didnt bother with the tape no pics as i havent bought a x mas camera yet (thanks grandma!!) just quick c&r but i figure about 16". i heard on this site i think, buts hang together sometimes so i set up in the same place and did a few more drifts i got a little hit on the first and nothing on the second then it was getting late and cold so i headed in. i was stoked! one other boat came out as i was headin in but other than that i had the whole glassy lagoon to myself all thru sunset.... the good life. ill be heading out tomorrow again to see if i can find big brother, see ya on the water.

Congratulations. Can you feel that yak fishing fever?. It gets worse and better every time out. Thanks for the holiday report.

Congrats on the Christmas hali. You'll learn to love that fishfinder, a vary usefull tool.

Good for you young mola...bring a net next time and hopefully you will find a keeper...they are in there...

If you can make a couple bait (smelt), send them down, do a slow drift, and I am sure you will get a keeper.

Thanks for the report

ive got a net but its just a basic like rope one i heard if you net a halibut with one it messes up their tail and in a few days theyll get tail rot if you throw em back?

That is true Mola. You should either get a net that has the very small holes in it or get yourself a boga type of grip. For halibuts up to about 26 inches I have found my plastic fish gripper (looks like a plastic vise grip) up to the task. It can be a little tricky to get it into their mouth though (gotta be fast).

You can always grab them on the shoulder with your index and thumb fingers, right behind the gill plate there is a little dimple. that always works for me, I used to use a promar net (not the cool folding one) and found it to be a pain becuase the hooks would get snagged, so does the halibuts teeth, The net was nice on their tails though.

Just saw those Gulp Ghost shrimps. I have always been looking for something that mimics the rock shrimp that frequent the breakwalls.

That Gulp ghost shrimp in Red should crush it.

Thanks for the read.

Ed