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Surfcasting Alaska Part 3
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02-07-2007, 11:26 AM
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#1 (permalink) |
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Junior Member
HalibutHunter is
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Homer,Alaska
Posts: 80
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Surfcasting Alaska Part 3
Surfcasting Alaska Part 3
Gearing Up – Because of our remote location and the infancy of the sport we are required to do most of our gear acquisition without ever actually trying it out first hand by picking from a catalog based on what works for others with comparable species. This leads to a very wide variety of equipment amongst the regulars up here. So when it comes to rods and reels I will list my own favorites and you the reader can make the comparisons to whatever your favorite brands may be. Rods – The casting we do up here requires a long reach. There are no two ways about it, if you can’t get a big enough chunk of meat out far enough you just wont catch the larger fish. It’s that simple. Add on to that the need to wrestle a good sized very pissed off fish that you cannot turn the head of easily because of the physical makeup of the fish (halibut) being flat and you have the recipe for a seriously stout stick needed. My current favorite rod for this duty is the Ocean Master heaver. Otherwise known as the OM12SC from Bass Pro Shops. Rated at heaving 6-12oz of weight it can handle the load for a good long toss but still stand up well to a large fish. This is a casting rod and not a spinning rod. While some of our members occasionally throw long spinners they just don’t seem to be able to pull off the distance that we can with conventional gear and the reels I’ve seen tried so far don’t have the capacity of heavier line we need for fighting larger halibut from the shore. This is not to say it doesn’t work. It does, and rather well to it’s just a bit more risky with losing a line or burning up a drag with a spinner Keep in mind when we are using long rods such as this we are placing a huge amount of leverage advantage to the fish, so stout is a good thing. The reason the Ocean Master has become my favorite recently is not just because it can handle the abuse but also because in the world of surf rods this guy is CHEAP. Believe me when I say that when you’re abusing them in remote locations and one blows up on you (hasn’t happened yet for me with this rod) and you could afford to have a spare on hand because you didn’t blow your whole wad on one single gold plated hand crafted wonderrod, you don’t cry half as much when you put it to rest. Again though I have yet to break one of these rods on big butts. So a regular concern for me is balancing cost with quality because there really are no crowds on the beach up here to impress with rod brands and gold plated reels. The only person you have to answer to is yourself when the big one swims off with your rig and a piece of your rod. Smaller rods are occasionally used but the trade off tends to be smaller bait tossing, which means smaller fish. Nowhere is bigger bait bigger fish more in play than when chasing halibut in the surf up here. Ultralight fishing has it’s own debate I wont get into here accept to reiterate that these fish are tough, and even with a heavier rod you will feel under matched, bringing in a smaller rod will usually only result in smaller fish. Rods suitable for the other species (aside from the big boys) are really any 7-9 footer that you would typically use inshore for such species as Redfish, Drum, California Halibut and the like. As for flyrods to have on hand for Dollies or the occasional salmon that cruises by while casting the big rods I would stick with whatever stiff action 8 weight you are comfortable with and a floating WF line. Sinking lines just aren’t needed in the surf. Reels – Again I will be talking conventional reels over spinner just because of my own personal preference if for no other reason. My chosen reel for the Ocean Master heaver is a Shimano Torium 30. Out of the box this is a HORRIBLE reel for surfcasting so I don’t recommend it for anyone not experienced in casting reels without any brakes whatsoever. However, mine is customized with a magnet brake onboard and that's tamed it down to be one of the best surfcasting reels I have ever thrown. With the drag upgraded and the magnet onboard and enough spool capacity I feel more than confident it can handle the really big one when it comes to the beach for me. There are many other reels of the same size and caliber that come with centrifugal brakes that are more than adequate but if I were to make one recommendation, it would be to mimic the gear used by serious distance casters and leave the level winds for the small rods instead going with the human thumb levelwind. On that note I should probably brush over the most popular reel on the planet the 6500c3. This is a wonderful reel and I have in fact caught many smaller butts and lots of other species on it but it should NOT be relied upon as your primary reel if you are targeting larger fish. It does not have the capacity to handle the long lateral runs halibut make when fighting from shore. Also I don’t care if you have the carbon blown super smooth drag system in it. It will burn up and overheat on a large butt. Love this reel, I have 6 of them but it really has no place with this caliber of surfcasting. The 7000’s are a bit better but still best suited for your Kenai River king fishing trip rather than the salt surf. The 7500’s are getting into the right range but this is a rare reel to find and I haven’t seen anyone able to pull off the distance with it yet. On the distance-casting note many are fond of the mighty 525Mag as am I, for salmon. I have personally had one spooled on me and I watched a gentleman from the UK burn up one and spool another on the same day trying to stop two of our “freight train” beach butts. The limited capacity means that you are cranking the drag down and heating them up big time. For my money I tend to go for greater capacity and larger frame mass to help with larger drag stacks. There is a reason I make a big deal about heat, drag and capacity. That being, these fish HATE shallow water and when you start to pull one into shallow water (as opposed to hauling up into a boat) they literally freak out. Charging runs we call freight trains are the norm and your fighting a fish laterally that is for all intents laying on its side so you have little to no head or directional control. It’s hang on for the ride and hope he plays out before the line drags on a drop-off, frays in the gravel or worst case, you just plain run out of line. Lines – Braid…braid… and did I mention braid? There just is no substitute when fishing at long ranges 70-150 yards and you need to feel the vacuum suck intake a halibut uses (like a large mouth bass) and still has the backbone to drive the hook home with no give. I know, it’s almost heresy to talk about braid and distance surfcasting in the same sentence let alone do it. But, the facts remain and mono has not been able to handle the job so far in my experience. I still advocate for and will not fish without a 60lb Ande clear mono shock leader of roughly 20 feet or so but my running line is always 40-50lb spectra, all 300 yards on the spool, with a backing filler of 60lb mono. Rigs – This is the easiest part of the whole article to pass on. The rig we most often use is very simple to construct but has proven very effective. We call it the “basic bomber”. As you can see in the graphic below it is pretty self-explanatory. A couple of notes should be added, those being; when selecting a slider to use try and get the toughest one you can. Most of our beaches are a mix of cobble, gravel and sand so the weights get pretty beat up and lesser sliders can fail in that abuse. Also, there can be an additional adornment of a squid skirt on the rig as shown in the image at the bottom but a sacrifice in casting distance is made with this rig so it is reserved for lower water clarity days.  You will of course please excuse my poor painting skills. Click to enlarge. Hooks – I won’t get into a circle hook vs. j-hook mortality debate here but suffice it to say that j-hooks work better with braid and that’s what I use. I have noticed no greater mortality with one over the other but I have noticed a difference in missed fish. My favorites for hooks are the VMC 9/0 or the “Gami” 10/0 octopus. Lures – Swim baits are slowly starting to show up in the tackle shops around the state as anglers begin to discover the benefits of fishing these artificials. The giant 9” Storm Wildeyes are working well for the boat jiggers but I have yet to try and cast one personally. I have although used the smaller 6” Wildeyes in herring color thrown with the OM12SM baby brother to the OM12SC, which is rated at 3-6 oz. with some limited success for butts black rockfish and salmon. The most commonly used artificial (pictured below) is a simple jig with a 6 oz. head and a Kalins Big ‘un glow in the dark tail on it. Root beer is also a very productive color. These will throw a long distance and tend to be most productive when fishing Mud Shark infested waters as they will not pay any mind to them but the halibut will, although to a lesser degree than a baited rig. These are the same artificials we toss when chasing Ling Cod as well. I should state that our experience with artificials from shore is very limited though because of the fact that it took us so long to be able to prove to ourselves that they (halibut) could be caught with anything above blind luck let alone consistency that we just aren’t there yet. So as I stated in an earlier article you may have the magic lure in your bag and not even know it and we may not have even seen it. Since we have to shop from catalogs and our tackle shops don’t stock anything beyond the old standbys I am personally hard pressed to pay for anything I can’t touch and see first hand before laying down my dollar for it, so unless someone sends me something to try I’m probably going to progress very slowly beyond what we have already found to be working and my progression will be limited to what I can fit into my already stretched fishing budget. Bait – Here we get to a few secrets it took us longer than you would think to figure out. The average angler walking into a tackle/bait shop in any coastal town around AK and asking about bait will 99% of the time be handed a fat bag of frozen giant horse herring. If you’re fishing from a boat, go for it. If your casting from shore don’t give him your money, even if he says nothing else will work and the sky will fall on your head, if you don’t have any herring when you leave the shop to surfcast your better for it. It’s not his fault, Mr. Shop Owner does not know any better. Herring are a wonderful stinky oily bait for soaking off the gunwales of a boat but when it comes to casting, they go one way and your hook goes the other and most often the herring comes right back down on top of your head. Frozen herring are one of the single most unsuitable casting baits there is. We use them only as a last resort and then only the size reserved for salmon trolling. These have to be carefully wrapped with bait thread on the hook for every rig and the Sculpin or “Bucketmouths” absolutely love them so plan on rebaiting allot. Your best bet is to leave with the smallest package of squid or octopus the shop has. Why the smallest? Simple, it’s not what you’re going to use for halibut bait. Ideally you should have a smaller rod rigged with a scaled down version of the rig used for halibut or small jig (see photo below- top rig), tip it with some of the cephalopod bait and try and catch a flounder or cod. Fillet up your catch on the spot and cut the fillets into the largest strips your big rig can cast and heave away. This bait is free (there currently are no limits on these fish) and it’s fresh and it stays on the hook sometimes for multiple fish. TRICK – The white sides of the flounder are the most productive cuts because the color flashes underwater the same goes for the belly strips of cod. For a couple of seasons we heavily fished squid, herring and octopus under the assumption that what works for the boat must work for the shore. Not so, our catch rates were not bad but certainly not that great and the fish tended to be much smaller on average. Although we did manage to catch more flounder and Sculpin than I would ever like to again the halibut were summarily unimpressed. It wasn’t until we started getting the larger fish and examining the stomach contents that we came to the conclusion that these guys were actively predating upon flounder, cod and sandlance when they come to shore and while we do have squid in places around the state they just aren’t naturally found near the shore so the offerings were overlooked as out of place. As soon as the switch was made to more naturally occurring baits and smells the catch ratio shot through the roof and if crabbing were legal here I’m sure we’d be hanging Dungeness from a hook as well. Octopus has proved to be a bit more productive than squid when fishing nearshore but another interesting bit of biology comes into play when using them as bait. When the halibut are juveniles they are actually a tasty prey source for the octopus. At some point in the maturation of the young halibut it makes the switch to seeing the octopus as the prey rather than predator. The problem is, nobody really knows when that is. My experience has shown me that when using strips of octopus meat the catch ratio of smaller 0-15 lb halibut is virtually none without stripping off the skin. Stripped meat will have you catching a couple occasionally but by no means is it a vast improvement. From the 15 – 35 pound range, our beach average, it’s obvious this is the size range where they begin to see the octopus as a viable food source, but the results are spotty. I have seen 30-40 lb halibut turn away from octopus like it was the plague but at the same time had a 20 lb’r run up and snatch it like it was candy. So really you are counting on running into fish with a less than negative learned response towards octopus, or ones that have become confident upper echelon predators already. Not a recipe for success in my book unless you’re regularly targeting much larger fish who are no longer intimidated by anything at all. Misc – Don’t bother with sand spikes unless you plan to use them as nothing more than stands for your spare rods. This is active fishing, the bait has to be moving for a halibut to strike and inactive baits will be picked up by a scavenger every time. (More in methods article to come) Yes what they say about the bugs up here is true. However, they are very rarely an issue on the beach as windless days are few and far between, but a little deet is handy to have in your pocket should you need it. Boats: If you find yourself fishing in an area with boat traffic passing, keep in mind that 99% of the boating public here have not seen nor do they imagine the distances we are able to reach. They will gleefully motor right across your line assuming that you are only able to reach the same water they would be able to with a standard rod. I have been spooled 7 times in four years because I was not alert to nearby passing boat traffic. Unfortunately when you scream and flip them the inevitable bird, as $50 worth of line leaves your reel at 40 mph, they only wave and shrug. Further aggravating you to near insanity. Bears: yes we have a few but the simple rule is they own the beach you don’t. Let them have the right of way and 99.99% of the encounters you have will be nothing more than an opportunity to see one in the wild. If they are a concern to you because you read some awful rag of a book about bear attacks, take it to heart that we will bury what’s left of you with honors… At least those parts we don’t use for fish bait. The real jumpy types are welcome to purchase bear mace from any of our grocery stores but you also may want to know that a recent study shows that accidental discharge of bear mace may actually attract them because of the spicy smell…. Go figure.   --------- Many of you may have noticed that despite my ramblings I have listed very few actual gear brand or models here. There is a specific reason for this. That being, we just don’t know yet what will or will not work with any regular reliability. We know what size range is acceptable for the task at hand but when it comes down to it, the delivery is up to you. Some time ago I overheard one of our members on the phone, who was inviting a friend to come and cast with us for bigger butts on a remote beach in Kachemak Bay, and I’ll repeat his advice here because I think it speaks for itself. “Gear up for tarpon and your good to go.” As the main focus of this series has been halibut I have omitted mention of the more popular rigs and lures for other species. If there are enough folks interested I would be happy to do a series on salmon and trout fishing sometime in the future that would cover these outfits. However that would end up more closely resembling a book than an article posting so would take me some time to type up. Anyone wanna publish me?  Part 3 coming Methods, Means and What to Look For
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...what you don't have a boat?...Err ya I do, but this is more fun. The Alaska Surfcasting Team www.surfcastak.com |
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02-07-2007, 12:51 PM
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#3 (permalink) |
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Active Member
fishingOC is
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 270
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Great info HH,
<o  > </o>Not sure if you’re aware of the type of bait we generally use in southern <st1:State><st1 lace>California</st1lace></st1:State>. But from what I have gathered. For live bait, live smelt is the choice of weapon and with lures people recommend the lucky craft flash minnow 110 or 130 which can be quite expensive and can cost quite a bit after you loose a few. Would you recommend one of those break away lines for live bait fishing. Meaning hook up a breakaway line and swing as hard as I can till my arm falls off and then work the waters with the live smelt? The biggest halibut that have been reported on the boards have been 40 inches that have been caught from the surf but that’s not to say that maybe others have caught bigger but have not reported. Do you think halibuts in that size range are further out in the surf? I have a curiosity to see, but lack the experience to try. My thinking is that when they aint biting near the surf then they’re probably in deeper water and if that is correct. This long distant pendulum casting/surf fishing will just be the key to catch the but bigger then 40’ <o > </o> |
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02-07-2007, 02:08 PM
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#4 (permalink) | |
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Junior Member
HalibutHunter is
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Homer,Alaska
Posts: 80
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Quote:
I have to fall back on my education in marine biology, a few years of observation of fish and a failing memory to pull out my facts about California Halibut but I'll do my best (and I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will put me straight.) If I remember correctly the first immediate difference is that Californians are a Bothidae or left eye fish where as Pacifics are Pleuronectidae or right eye. Now granted thats probably not going to stop the presses but it is does class them as a diffrent family right from the get go. Also my understanding is that the Californians primarily predate upon the anchovies and smelt like fishes whereas ours are much more varied in diet, mostly due to the size difference. Again I'm not positive, but I think the largest recorded Cali was somewhere just shy of 80# whereas the largest recorded Pacific in modern times is 533# These differences mean that I would be making little more than an educated guess about wether or not you could increase your size of catch by casting further. My guess would be no. As I described in the articles Pacifics are very active predators, which (based on my understanding of their diet and feeding habits) makes the Cali's hyperactive predators. By focusing thier feeding almost exclusivly on a food source known for it's active nature one can assume that in order to survive the Cali's would have to also be very active in their pursuit of prey. So put simply they are going to go where the prey is, bottom, surface, beach or open ocean regardless of the size of the fish. This could be considered even more valid for the larger fish as their body mass dictates a critical need for staying ahead of the game by taking in more caloric energy then they expend through the pursuit of a prey item. So wherever the bait is you could more than likely assume that the larger fish will be amongst them. Observation has shown that larger fish in a feeding situation tend to patrol the outer perimeter of a bait concentration waiting for more precise feeding opportunities, but I doubt this means they are in the much deeper water just for the sake of having more water above their heads. Pacifics by nature are a deep water fish and the foraging trips they make towards shore tend to be very transitory and short lived because prey items don't usually hang around long enough in any concentrations to bring them in regularly. This means they are more or less conditioned to be uncomfortable spending any extended period of time in shallower water. I'll digress for a smidge as you brought up live bait - It is very rare for us to fish with live bait. The main reason has to do with availability more than anything else. We do not have a steady readily available supply of smelt,minnows herring etc.. that we can count on. The only time we fish live bait is when the opportunity arises to catch some small 6-10" tomcod or we are in a location which we can cast a net for herring, and even then it is a seasonal thing good for just the day we are fortunate enough to come across an abundant source of bait. The catch ratio of live bait over dead has so far proven to be about equal. I hope that answers your question I tend to ramble on sometimes and for that I apologize, I would expect that if any of my facts are wrong some of the Cali Hali experts will chime in.
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...what you don't have a boat?...Err ya I do, but this is more fun. The Alaska Surfcasting Team www.surfcastak.com |
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02-07-2007, 04:34 PM
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#5 (permalink) |
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Active Member
fishingOC is
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 270
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Thank for the info HH.
Please do ramble because if you don’t, we can’t compare notes. I did a search and found page that said that pacific halibut do actually migrate to California. How far in to California I don’t know. Probably not far enough down south for us to get a chance to catch one of these big guys. But then again, I haven’t heard of any one trying, so the answer is still unknown. Unless…..some one like myself or others pick up a 12 footer and chuck out the lines as far as they can and see if they catch anything. All I know is the halibut will soon start to bite and every one with their surfing outfits will hit the beach trying to catch the California halibut. If I ever get around to picking up a long surf rod and casting or spinning reel. I let you know if I have any luck catching the barn door. But I know I will at least catch a doggy door….hehe. By the way HH. Do you think halibuts in general are line shy? As to my opinion, I don’t really think so, but others tend to disagree. I’ve included some links for those that are interested. This 1st link shows the difference between the California halibut and the pacific halibut. http://www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/finfi...hing/index.asp http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a http://www.halibutfishinginfo.com/ http://www.pcouncil.org/halibut/halback.html http://www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm?s...shpage&fish=50 http://www.dfg.ca.gov/Mrd/mspcont8.html http://www.answers.com/topic/california-halibut http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/w...ific%20Halibut http://www.northcoastweb.com/fishing/ocean/bay.htm http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a |
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02-07-2007, 05:25 PM
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#6 (permalink) | |
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Junior Member
HalibutHunter is
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Homer,Alaska
Posts: 80
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Quote:
I can only really speak for the butts up here and in that case no they are not line shy. The average length of leader from the weight to the hook on our rigs is only 5 inches. I've tried many lenghths and found that it is best to go short for casting reasons, the fish don't seem to care at all. You are correct the Pacifics out of BC and Washington have been known to migrate down south to California but it is my understanding that this usually takes place during the winter spawn when they are in deeper offshore waters.
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...what you don't have a boat?...Err ya I do, but this is more fun. The Alaska Surfcasting Team www.surfcastak.com |
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02-12-2007, 10:47 PM
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#8 (permalink) |
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HUSF Staff
Local Rookie is
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Near Diamond Valley Lake
Posts: 3,053
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I am looking at your beach butt bomber and I am confused about the corkies. What are those and what is the purpose of them? Is it to float the bait? Do they slide? Where can I get them? Also, the glow tubing - where can I get those?
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"Better Lucky than Good" |
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02-13-2007, 09:38 AM
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#9 (permalink) | |
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Junior Member
HalibutHunter is
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Homer,Alaska
Posts: 80
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Quote:
Corkies are really just platic coated foam balls. They are most often used when drift fishing for salmon or steelhead. They do slide freely although not far due to the current pushing them against the rig and the limited lenghth of the leader. For the purpose of this rig they not only act as a little extra visual attractent but also give it a bit more lift. Not enough to float it per se but enough to keep it from dragging too much and snagging or dulling the hooks. The bait chunks are usually far to large to allow the corkies to float them entirely. While we can find them in grocery stores up here (no kidding) you may have a bit more of a search. I know they do turn up on ebay rather regularly and that the larger catalogs used to carry them (Cabelas, Basspro etc) but beyond that you may have to find a Pacific Northwest based business that sells online or will ship. They come in tons of sizes and the one we use for Butts is only the second or third largest. The largest is about the size of a big shooter marble and creates much too large a profile for casting long distances. Better to go smaller and line up a couple. We have also used succesfully, small low profile foam bobbers, large solid strike inticators intended for flyfishing (these are mostly too small but can sometimes find big enough) as well as big pill floats used for bluefish rigs on the East Coast. Hope that sheds some light... Matt
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...what you don't have a boat?...Err ya I do, but this is more fun. The Alaska Surfcasting Team www.surfcastak.com |
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| Surfcasting Alaska Part 2 | HalibutHunter | Articles | 9 | 02-07-2007 10:23 PM |