Guest Speaker Kit McNear
at the 3-13-2002 MDRA meeting
The Pre Halibut Derby fishing seminar!
A big crowd of MDRA members and lots of guests attended the meeting.
The full room was used. After introductions from club president Allen
Ventura a few dedicated volunteers spoke briefly. Richard Somers
spoke about the Youth Fishing Program and read aloud two of the many
thank you letters received from the children whom the club takes fishing with the
Halibut Derby proceeds. This program takes kids out on the Betty O several
days a week all summer long and took over 1,200 underprivileged youth out onto
the ocean for free.
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Richard reads a letter
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Paul talks about raising fish
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Paul Simon spoke well for a few minutes about the white seabass grow
out pens run by Marina Del Rey Anglers as the Ocean Enhancement Program.
One fish released at a size of 10 inches was caught after 3 1/2 years in the
wild at 31 inches long. The MDR pens have now released over 33,000 total
fish. The Halibut Derby is the main source of funds to keep this program
going all year.
Break for coffee and snacks
Then the Halibut Fishing Seminar:


Kit McNear - Halibut Fishing Tips
You should have been there for the full benefit of this excellent angler's bountiful
tips and practical advice. But if you weren't there at the meeting here is
an over view. With the information previously written on Kit's Tips 1999
you can gain a lot.
Prior Halibut Seminar with Kit.
To summarize the information:
- Halibut are smart, aggressive fish. They are a top line predator that
operates in stealth mode.
- They have good eyes and are sensitive to the line diameter and color for
your leader. Use Green or Blue for low visibility and thin diameter
line like 8 to 12 lb test line.
- Rig a sliding egg sinker with just enough weight to get to the
bottom. Have as much feel as possible with the bait as you can.
No one can say just when to set the hook but do let the fish run with the
bait until you think he has the hook in his mouth. Remember its' mouth
works sideways!
- 90% of the fish in the ocean are in 10% of the water. Near the
structure on the sand. He talked about the various locations like Big
Kelp Reef (BKR) and the north side of the pipeline just south of MDR.
- Get ready to land the fish before it comes up to the surface. Do not
pull its' head out of the water. So have your net and or gaff ready
early. Before you even see the fish.
- Need a drift to cover the water. A light wind is good. Put out
a sea anchor to slow the drift on a middle cleat if the wind is to strong.
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Here Kit shows three of his best halibut rigs.
Kit likes graphite or graphite composite rods that have a very sensitive
tip so you can feel the bite.
Egg Sinker to a basic brass swivel with a 3 foot leader. All of
the same line. This needs 3 very dependable knots like the Triline
or the Palomar.
Good smooth drags are a must and you may want to set your drags a
little looser than you would ordinarily set them for other fish.
The rod tip should not jerk or bounce when the line is pulled off the
reel.
See What we wrote last time at a
Prior Halibut Seminar by Kit McNear. |

Good luck catching a big one in the Halibut
Derby
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