I fished Friday afternoon and Sunday morning with Pete (Leapin Bass) from our tubes at Goleta Beach. On Friday I caught 6 halibut, all short on 4" Fish Traps and a few on a large, rainbow trout pattern Rapala jointed minnow. Pete, kicked my butt with 22 shorts, 19 on a Rebel Fasttrac and three on the plastic. <P>Sunday morning I landed 17 shorts, all on 3.5" Fish Traps in the sardine pattern or Worm King AA in the rainbow trout pattern. Pete and his wife, Jenifer, (second voyage on the tube for her???) were using plastics and Rebels and landed quite a few shorts, but I'm not sure of the final count. Pete also lost a really nice fish right at the net that may have hit the 30" mark. <P>The difference Pete and I noticed between the Rebel and the plastics... One Friday the water was crystal clear. Had I not seen Pete landing several fish on the Rebel, I would have just headed off for home. The Rebel produced great in the clear water. On Sunday the water was pretty murky. The Rebel didn't perform like it did in the clear water. The plastics, however, did real well. I chose to scale down a bit and used 10# line and 1/4oz. leadheads with a slow hop along the bottom. <P>These two days produced the most halibut I have heard/seen/caught off Goleta Beach. Only one legal hooked (not really, Pete had two right at 22" on Friday and I had one) but still a lot of fun. Let's thank the gill net ban!<P>Good fishing, and be kind to the shorts! Down the road one of them may be your largest halibut ever.<P>Mike

Friday was the best day ever for me. Almost unbelievable. The water was incredibly clear for about 2 hours just before high tide. We saw lots of halibut following the lures (the ones that didn't get hooked). It was like fishing in a large saltwater aquarium.<P>Mike was right about the clear water and plastics. I think the Fastrac helped because it was retrieved quickly and they didn't have as much of a chance to look at it and see it's "fakeness". One problem with the fastrac is the treble hooks - they definetely do not hold as well as the single hooks on the plastics - I had two nice fish on Friday just fall off for no reason. I tried to net the big halibut this morning too quickly because I was afraid the trebles wouldn't hold - this resulted in me farming it (it was totally my fault) but I don't think I would've been so eager to get it in the net if I had hooked it with a plastic. They come with three hooks which are not necessary. Almost all of the fish were caught by the tail hook. I removed the center hook and am considering removing the front hook. It also helps the thrashing halibut not pop your tube (or get you) with the other dangling hook(s).<P>The three 22 inchers on Friday were all released - personally I'd rather release some of the 22 or 23 inchers to catch them again when they're 25 or 26.<P>On Sunday the plastics definetely out-fished the Fastrac. So for the plastic vs. Fastrac debate - it all depends on the conditions - like it does with all types of fishing!