Halibut Fishing Tips at MDRA Meeting of March 2002

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.

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.

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