Here’s my story about the big one that got away, in San Diego Bay.

My goal has been to land a keeper, or bigger, halibut. We typically fish San Diego bay, which is a halibut hot spot, with swim bait on a jig head. This gets us various types of bass, and halibut, but, I’ve yet to get a keeper halibut.
well, you live and learn . Don’t beat yourself up. You’re not the first and you won’t be the last!
I’ve been studying many halibut fishing YouTubes, where guys are hauling in keepers…but mostly in Northern California. So, I decided to give their techniques, and rigs, with frozen squid, a try in the areas that should be halibut havens. After 4 hours with 3 lines, drifting, and trolling…nothing…nada…zip.,,except for one small crab that let go as soon as I got him out of the water.

Feeling that I didn’t want to be totally skunked. I went back to my standard rig of 30# braided main and 6’ of 15# fluorocarbon leader, with swim bait on a jig head, at our hot spots for bass. First cast and I got a nice spotted bass. I was fishing an area where there is a submerged historic jetty, that Calico bass like. A few casts and I hooked up well on the jetty, I could not get freed of the jetty, so cranked my drag fully tight, and broke it free, losing about 2’ of leader, Which is why we run lighter leader than the main.

Not wanting to catch the jetty again I rigged up another jig head, with a fresh swim bait dunked in squid juice, and moved to another spot that is a mixture of eel grass and small sand patches…the later being what halibut like. A few casts, and I hooked up another spotted bass. He janked up my bait, so I replaced my swim bait, and dunked it in squid juice…and started casting.

After about 6 or so casts, I hooked up with what was definitely a good sized halibut. They have a distinctive behavior, which this guy did.. First they flutter a bit, then as you bring them in they dig in, and it’s like cranking in a bowling ball. Then as you try to bring them aboard you get a lot of vigorous head shaking, and a strong attempt to go deep. This guy did all of that. I was bent over the boat with my rod held up, and it was nearly bent in half, he was near the surface, and I got a glimpse of this beast…and he was definitely a big keeper. As I reached for my gaff, he dove down hard…and “TWANG!” My leader broke!!

Notice when I described fighting this guy, I didn’t say anything about line screaming off the reel? Well, that’s because I forgot to loosen the drag, after tightening it up while fighting the jetty. DUMBASS! Also, I should have changed the leader after fighting the jetty. As that might have weakened or damaged it. DOUBLE DUMBASS!!

Anyone else have those DUMBASS moments?

After about an hour, and a few spottys, the wind started to kick up, and the water was getting rough, so I called it a day.

Fresh bloodworm is the go to bait for fishing in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay and it's tributaries. Unfortunately they don't last much past 7 days in the fridge without the worms dying and turning to mush, even if you turn them often. I tried something new (for me) where I preserved my leftover bloodworms in a small container with just a little bit of EverClear Grain Alcohol and stored them in the fridge. After about 3 weeks the worms are still pink and pretty. Most importantly they still caught fish just a well as my fresh bloodworms. They caught so well that I may opt to preserve the bloodworm as soon as I purchase them. In my opinion this is a game changer. I can't tell you how many times I've bought a few dozen bloodworms to fish with all day and only used a few of them because the bite was slow. Ultimately they spoil before I can get back on the water the next week. They only downside to this method is that you will smell like you've been drinking heavily when you haven't. :) If you've tried this approach please post your results. I'll be sure to keep you posted on just how long my bloodworm will last before the fish don't want them anymore.

Here is a quick video of exactly what I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ySRswyx_rQ