I told myself I wasn't going to try inshore fishing for two weeks, but this week the water crept up to 60 degrees and I was feeling bored so I headed out after work to catch a few hours fishing before dark at Goleta.

Launched my float tube, paddled just past the 1 foot high surf and on my second cast I hooked a halibut and lost it. I was fairly surprised :) but this was a good sign of things to come. There was thick nasty red tide out in the cove but right along the shore the water was good. It turned out the good water close to shore was loaded up thick with small halibut.

I wound up getting a ton of bites and catching 7 shorts and 2 legals in about 2 hours. The legals were small, like 23" apiece. I kept one fish for the barbecue and released the other one. Brian #2 came down with his buddy (appropriately his name was also Brian). The two Brians caught 3 shorts while I was there. They were still fishing when I left.

Of the fish I caught, two small ones came on 3" rainbow trout Big Hammer, one was on 4" #13 baitfish, one legal was on 5" everclear, and the rest were on 5" #13 baitfish. The 5" made you miss a lot of fish but when you hooked them they were better sized. It was a fun little trip, there's something about inshore halibut fishing that is utterly addicting to me. Grilled up some fish for dinner tonight, mmmm delicious :9

http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/6_20_07_halibut.jpg

To round out the report Brian and I (Brian) ended up with 4 total and it would have been five had Brian not been a total idiot and lost one at the boat, but you can't blame Brian, he's pretty new to fishing :) So that was it. The bite seemed to die off pretty quick as the evening wore on an we were off the water by 7:30 ish. All our fish were caught on 3 inch Wookie Wacker Big Hammers (see Rob, they do work!).

It was a glorious day and we will be back out tomorrow to harass some more flattys!

Brian #2

The halibuts definitely seemed frisky right off the bat and became less enthused as the sun got lower in the sky. But you are right - beautiful day out there. Now I'm looking forward to the summer more :)

Are you guys fishing the beach to the left of the pier? Also is it a regulation to carry a net with you while fishing off of a tube or kayak?

Thanks in advance - Jake

According to the regulations you need a net. Also, according to several people at the DFG (some pretty "high ups") a Boga Grip or other landing device will suffice.

The regulation is so that you can safely land short fish. Requiring just a net is stupid because regular nets will thrash the fish's tail and fins giving it fin rot and making it die - which is exactly opposite of the point of bringing a net. The Boga Grip, on the other hand, is the safest way to land a fish (for the fish). There are nets made of rubber (or something) that are made for catch n' release and don't screw up the fish.

Also, if you don't have a Boga and have a cheap rip off model be careful not to break the fish's lower jaw - keep your hand loose. Those knock-offs are piles of crap.

Wow, I did not know the reg about carrying a net. I do carry one for float tubing but I never ever ever use it unless the fish is obviously legal. Unless a halibut is really hooked deep I rarely even touch the fish. Stoopid idea about having a net to release short fish IMO.

So Rob, when releasing short halibut on a swimbait do you just try to grab the lure and shake the fish loose without handling it? What is the best method?

Pretty much, and seems to cover it about half the time. You just grab the bait and pop the hook out.

If they have it down inside their mouth, I try to grab it with pliers and pop it out.

If they're really hooked solid and deep, then I will hold the fish behind the head to release them since there's no other way to get leverage. If you leave about half the fish in the water they tend to stay more relaxed.