Halibut Fishing Near Offshore Tips Needed

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by sdyeti

What speed is generally considered a good drift speed for halibut drifting?

Today I was doing some drifts down the bay SI Launch area and while going by NBPL area i was easily drifting between 1.2-1.5 knots with the outgoing tide. I had a decent sized mac on a dropper with 4oz torpedo and I could feel that the weight was definitely bouncing along the bottom. Unfortunetely no halibut to show for it.
I reset the drift one time up to Buoy 13 and back down to the sub piers. Had a noticably raked mac after both drifts.

Just curious if the tidal current was just too fast.

Sounds like halibut fishing. I've had days where I got only one bite and it was a quality fish. Others where every bait gets raked and I did not hook a thing. Were you using a trap hook? Next time take pics of the raked macks and we'll tell you what bit them.

In a strong current sometimes fish pile up downhill of structure, always worth a try.

[ProfessorLongArms]

Originally Posted by Fiskadoro

Sounds like halibut fishing. I've had days where I got only one bite and it was a quality fish. Others where every bait gets raked and I did not hook a thing. Were you using a trap hook? Next time take pics of the raked macks and we'll tell you what bit them.

In a strong current sometimes fish pile up downhill of structure, always worth a try.

So here’s one-I have seen a ton of guys on how to snell a hook for dead bait but none on live bait.
Where to you like to put the trap hook? Just anywhere near the tail?