Flatness is Good

When you hear the word flat and your first love revolves around waves negative emotions consume your psyche...

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...but the closer you become to full watermen the more you realize the ocean has to offer. When the surf goes flat I just switch gears into fishing mode. Flat, calm, glassy conditions are ideal for running about the bay and ocean.

Besides the flat ocean conditions I love hunting down the flattest of all fish, halibut. The last few months I have been learning more about the habits, habitats and hiding spots of these bottom dwellers. I have experimented with a ton of artificial baits and narrowed down three that are productive. But when it comes to the heavy hitting halibut live bait is the ticket. I hate giving the bait barge $25 bucks for a half scoop of disorientated, sluggish, beat up sardines. So instead I head out to the edge of the kelp and sabikki up my own bait. I usually get between 20-30 healthy smelt that last me all afternoon. Plus its more sporting if you put time into finding your own bait and catching it.

Sometimes fishing doesn't always produce fish but you always learn something new that can be used at a later time. A few weeks ago in one of my halibut spots I had a strange drift heading in the opposite direction. The water is only 14feet so you can see the bottom real good and there is one section were the sand ends and you hit a small kelp bed about ten feet wide then right back to sand. I got some short halibut off a plastic jerkbait there a few weeks ago by fishing both edges of that sand to kelp patch. Yesterday we had that same drift and I fished it the same way with some big live smelt and first drift I got a keeper on the front side and the next drift I got another keeper on the opposite side. It has taken a few months to get a keeper but it is rewarding when it happens.

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