Ok, here goes the fastrac seminar again... I found out about the bait from Scott, who works at High Tide Traders in Avalon on Catalina Island. I was as skeptical as anybody who's heard that a crankbait can catch halibut, especially this one... I bought a couple and took em home, and started catchin. Paul found a couple in storage at Harbor Tackle, and he quickly sold out once the word got out. The bait is made by Rebel. I prefer the 4" bait because IMO it has a better action, but I throw the 5" one all the time and it is better sometimes. I think Pete likes the 5" (it's closer to 5.5" or something). Pete found the replacement hooks. They're made by VMC and can be ordered from this place in Canada. Pete can give details on that. As for colors, I like the black/silver. The gold also works well, but I don't throw it much. I painted one white with a red squiggle one time and broke off a seabass, so I guess it worked... I talked to this guy Gene Kira who fishes them all the time down in Baja and he said he's caught virtually every fish in baja to be caught, on a fastrac. Check out his website at www.bajadestinations.com This is also one of the few places you can order fastracs.

As for the retrieve, no weight is needed. Just a slow to medium retrieve and the halibut will come up from 25-30ft (according to Scott) to eat these things. I've had halibut and seabass both boil on em when I lift em out of the water. What we do down here is float tube in the surf and throw the fastrac right up on the beach. Literally, on the beach. TRYING to hit the sand. Then we drag it back and hold on... Give this bait a try, it's pretty killer. We've caught halibut, wsb, calicos, etc. I'm trying to figure out a way to put double hooks on it or something, so that I can try it on some albicores...
-Brian