The halibut have really started to chew as they move in to spawn here off of So Cal. Water temps finally bumped up a bit and it's game on right now.
We were out yesterday and had a pretty epic day bounceballing for them. Herbert is in a month long halibut tourney sponsored by WON so he caught all the fish. It's more fun to watch others do it these days for me, I've caught my share already.
Ended up with 5 legal halibut going 35, 17.5, 15, 12, and 9.5 pounds. Herbert is now in 1rst, 3rd, and 4th in the tourney. The fellow in 2nd place was using my rigs too so it's been a good run. The timing was perfect as I'm giving a seminar tonight in conjunction with the tourney, so folks will have some fish to gander at and not just listen to my jaws flapping.
I'm sure this method of slow trolling the bottom would work for the flat ones on the east coast too. If anyone has any questions about it, don't be shy. I'll gladly help out however possible.
Good looking flatfish captain. I wish ours got big like that.
Please describe your slow trolling technique. We fish little flat bottom here in the Carolina. Most our flounder fishing is done on anchor and tight to structure, but drifting long inlet & channel stretches is productive for some folks in the summer time. Also, we could possibly apply some slow trolling techniques in areas around offshore reefs and wrecks when fish are staging through, so tell us what you wish about it.
Thanks,
SeaBiscuit
At it's most basic, bounceballing is simply slow trolling the bottom of the water column. Rumor has it that commercial fishermen in the Northwest were catching halibut trolling for salmon near the bottom of the water column and that's how it started.
They don't just catch flatties. All other gamefish in the area eat them too. Most folks drift with live bait for flatties out here and it works. But you can cover a lot more ground more precisely under power. I like to work the edges of structure where the flat ones like to sit.
There's heaps of different ways to do it. I use a size 0 dodger (8 inches long, they make them smaller too) followed by a hoochie with a white grub tail bridled in behind it. The dodger waggles back and forth imparting that action to the hoochie rig. The optimal speed for the dodger is around 1.5 to 2.3 MPH. This is combined with the ball pounding the sand creating a commotion that attracts them too. Drogues work great tied off the side of the boat to moderate speed.
The tackle used is really dependent on how deep you are fishing and the amount of lead needed. A general rule of thumb is 1lb for less than 40 feet, 2lbs for 40-70, and 3lbs for 70-110. Spectra or similar small diameter non-stretch line is needed for the mainline. It transmits all the energy to the rod tip so you can see the smallest bite and even the bottom compostion by the action. The bite is a troll bite, just like any other.
While trolling, the captain is watching the sounder in conjunction with the GPS. The GPS should have the structure marked so you can develop clear trolling lanes.
I'll attach some pictures of one of my rigs and other rigging options. There's also more info on my website.
Hope this helps some and don't be shy with questions. Would love to help out however possible. Everybody loves to catch the flat ones and enjoy the tasty bounty!
I didn't do a very good job explaining it. Most folks use a 3 way swivel with one eye tied directly to the spectra, a mono leader to the cannonball on the bottom eye, then the mono leader to the dodger on the last one.
The big flatties have wicked up and down headshakes and I don't like the direct resistence with the ball on the hookset, so I modified a sliding tube setup so the spectra passes through the sliding tube then a ball bearing swivel is tied to the end of the spectra. It serves as a stop while the rig is deployed. I attached another picture that should help.
For the leader lengths, I like 40 inches to the dodger, and 14 inches behind it to the hoochie. You want this trailing leader short. If it's too long, the dodger waggle is lost on the hoochie and they are more likely to bite the dodger (hard to believe but true). The leader for the weight is 30 inches. You might want to shorten the cannonball leader a bit in shallower waters.
The rigs need to have a constant load so they won't foul. So you drop them rather slowly with the boat in gear. When making sharp turns, speed up the boat. You don't want them to just drop in a heap on the bottom. It's really not a problem at all once you get used to it.
Thanks. That helps. I am guessing your using electric reels since you are reeling the weight and the fish up at same time. Don't know if my arms could take it if I had to reel both in by hand very much.
It's a bit of work but you get used to whole routine pretty quickly and once you get it down, there isn't a lot of reeling involved unless a fish is on, then it's all good. 3lbs does hurt a wee bit. A lower gear ratio is a nice benefit too.
You could always downsize the rig using a lighter outfit with 20lb spectra, decreasing water resistence so less lead is needed.
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