Halibut Trap

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

This is true when you hook the bait in the belly, that's why I always hook it on the top right behind the dorsal fin....I tried this a few times and got the same results, the problem is that if the fish doesn't swallow the entire bait you end up with the same results: raked bait. If I'm going to use a single hook I would go with a single circle hook instead.

This is all sound advice. If the fish never turns the bait, or get's it's head in it's mouth doesn't matter what kind of hook you have in it's nose.

You hook it in the abdominal or anal cavity your just killing your bait. You can hook it in the meat on top or behind the anal cavity and then the bait lasts.

Circles work but you need to fish light line and completely let them swallow the bait. I have a friend who only fishes circles for butts but only when there is no drift at all the idea being any fish you get will swallow the hook before you even see it's on.

One thing I'll add is squid works great with a trap, and lives fine till something trashes it. The deal is everything from a blacksmith on up tries to eat it so it's usually worried to death by junk fish. I like to rig squid so it stays off the bottom. If you rig squid on a long leader like a sardine they litterally will lie down and try to camo themselves agaist the sand.

Jim