Report is really a lack of report. Trolled & mooched around area 13 for about 6 hours today. Nice day, tons of bait, but only one takedown & nothin boated, except...

A halibut... I did not realize they came this far south into the sound. He was about 15 lbs and was snagged in the belly from a motor mooched herring off the downrigger. I am new to fishing this area, is this common?

there are a few out there, but it is rare to catch one. ive never caught one myself that far into the sound but i never bothered to target them either. i hear stories about someone catching one every now and then, they are never more than 20 lbs.

Not that far south but.... I saw 5 of them filleted under the agate pass bridge about 5 years ago. All about 10 pounds or so.
I would have thought that with all the time out there I would have caught one but i have yet to hook up a halibut.

Sideoff,

Fairly uncommon to catch, but not uncommon for them to be south... Not a lot of people fish Area 13 so the catch ratio isn't there plus they are not a targeted species. However, there is tons of good structure and bait in 13 that supports their presence. The guys fishing for Lings will generally pop off a few every year in the Narrows down to Ketron Island. Never seen a large one down here, but were under 25 pounds. I heard rumors of a 70#'r caught off Pt Defiance a few years back.

I caught probably 7 or 8 of them over the last couple of years... This is the time the bait starts migrating back from up north and these guys probably follow them south.

Did you catch it on the plateau off Gibson? Curious to find out... that is where I caught everyone of mine. Lot's of fun on light salmon gear huh?

Downriggin'

Downriggin,

Actually I got this one on the Fox Island side of Green Point, not directly below the bluff but closer to the sand spit where the houses are right on the beach. It was right off the big white house there. A belly snagged halibut on 10 lb test was definitely interesting, even a little one.

As a follow-up report to yesterday's I went out again today for around 8 hrs and picked up a nice sunburn but that's about it aside from a few flounder. Still a great day though. I think it's time to try some new techniques next weekend. So far I've been exclusively using frozen orange-label herring either whole or sometimes cut plug. Any advice? Just setup my little boat with a downrigger.

Sideoff,

Check your "inbox." Sent you the gouge!

Other than what I sent you, "add" troll a little faster for Blackmouth. 2.5 to 3.0 kts is just about right. And.... If you see Spawnout fishing there, follow him around!

Downriggin'

Yeah, when they finally kick me off the Columbia I may have to come on up to the Point and see if the May run is in.

I actually fish for halibut with a downrigger and herring - hell of a lot easier to get the downrigger ball up from 300 feet than a 3 pound lead ball on my rod, and a hell of a lot more fun to fight the buggers with no weight on the line. For halibut I drift with the wind or troll dead slow and drag the bottom with the ball. For salmon I use hardware like DR and troll fast, so it's real unlikely that I would encounter a halibut.

TRUE STORY,
6-7 years ago while I was doing some blackmouth fishing off Duwamish Head in Elliott Bay. The guy I was with was dinking around with some Flatties while I was trying to mooch up a BM, He hooked into a (What I thought was a Skate) Due to the lenghth of the fight and the way it just sulked, turned out to be a 65.7 lb Halibut. His boat, his rod,his ticket, We busted the biggest salmon net I have ever seen, and ended up towing it to the ramp in his 16ft lund,with a 9.9 evinrude. I dont like Halibut, and never had a piece of the poached fish. So dont even go there.. Just a fluke fish story, some folks around this board already know of this particular halibut story????

Based on what i got out of the book The Pacific Halibut The Fishery and The Resource which i browsed yesterday at my library, halibut were formerly an abundant fish in many places around Puget Sound but were promptly fished out upon discovery. It even so happens that the mouth of the Columbia a ways offshore even had a patch that got fished out in no time. Any halibut that are caught today are remnants of once sizeable populations. Author's last name was Bell if you wanna check it out.

Based on what i got out of the book The Pacific Halibut The Fishery and The Resource which i browsed yesterday at my library, halibut were formerly an abundant fish in many places around Puget Sound but were promptly fished out upon discovery. It even so happens that the mouth of the Columbia a ways offshore even had a patch that got fished out in no time. Any halibut that are caught today are remnants of once sizeable populations. Author's last name was Bell if you wanna check it out.