Went halibut fishing yesterday in my tube off of Goleta Beach. Got two shorts to 20 inches and then hooked into something huge. Didn't see it for a half an hour but it felt like I was getting really big head shakes. It finally came to the surface, rolled about 25 feet in front of me and then darted straight for my tube. It was a big Bat Ray. It sped straight under my tube and out the other side melting the 14 lb. test off my reel. I worked my way through the waves and landed the tube while I was still fighting the ray. After another 15 minutes I worked it into the surf as far as possible. Turned out he was foul hooked in the wing (head shakes!). Took a quick rough measurement and he busted off with the next wave. I was bummed it wasn't a halibut or seabass but it was still nice getting such a huge beast from the float tube. It was around 50 inches (wingspan).

The two halibut were caught near the surf on a Fastrac and 4 in. Channel Islands Chovy Fishtrap.

What's this Fastrac, Pete? Is it a Rebel Fastrac Minnow? what size do you use and on what pound test? How's it cast?

Hey Fongster,

I see you've discovered our talks about the fastrac. It's caught on pretty good up here. I didn't want to mention it on the pier fishing board because there are too many barnies there ready to kill illegal fish and... any idiot can catch fish on the fastrac.

Yes it's the Rebel Fastrac Minnow. It comes in two sizes and they both work. I've only tried the Black/Chrome model. The jointed one seems to work a little better than the non-jointed but the non-jointed has a rattle which may work better at night or in darker conditions. It seems to work best in clear water. They cast fine. I typically use it on my Loomis P843 with 10 lb. test. The Loomis popping rod series has a slower action which is better for fishing crankbaits.

The "problem" with these lures is that they are so easy to use. Just cast and reel. You can cover a lot of water quickly. I usually fish them in less than 10 ft. of water for halibut but for seabass the depth doesn't seem to matter. I've caught one Sand Bass on them but no Calicos yet.

I prefer to remove the center hook because I don't think it's necessary. In my opinion it just gets in the way and tears up the fish more.

It's not just the fastrac either. We've experimented and caught them on Rapala's, the shallow diving version of the fastrac (I even got a halibut to hit topwater as I was twitching it on the surface), Yo Zuri Crystal Minnows, etc. I've tried Rat-L-Traps a few times but nothing yet - the minnow baits are shaped more like anchovies, smelt, or sardines. The deep diving versions haven't got anything either. I don't think the action is as good. We've also tried putting a sinker on the line in front to get the bait down but it usually fouls.

Another thing... watch the birds. The fastrac floats and if you backlash and a bird sees the lure it's all over!

Pete

You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

Thanks Pete, I've tried the Rapala CD11 in black back/silver a long time ago and it works great. It's the one with the metal lip. I'll check out that fastrac.

The day I discovered the fastrac I only had one but I also had this Rainbow Trout colored big jointed Rapala with a lip similar to the fastrac. My friend Mike tied it on and started nailing them also. It was an amazing day with crystal clear water. We were watching the halibut play!

You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

I am looking for the non jointed rebel fastrac's. I can't find them around here. Can anyone hook me up with a phone number or address to a place I can by them.

Thanks in advance
Jim

LAST EDITED ON Sep-06-00 AT 08:05 AM (PST)

Since July I have found a lot of different crankbaits that work well for halibut as well as bass. Shallow Diving Minnows, Deep Diving Minnows, Shad Raps, etc. so I'm thinking most "fish" looking lures will work. I haven't tried it yet but my next experiment will be with the Rebel Wee-Crawfish. It catches everything in freshwater so why not offer the salty fish a mini-lobster? Not to mention the orange belly of perch colored lures seems get their attention so I believe the crawfish belly will also.

I would recommend experimenting with lots of different crankbaits but if you really want a fastrac you can find them here:

http://www.lurenet.com/

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You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

LAST EDITED ON Sep-06-00 AT 04:03 PM (PST)

I fished the tournament a few weeks ago, and found a hole of halibuts. In about an hour, I caught 16 halibut, 15 of them shorts, all in the area of less than a half a basketball court. I got fish back to back three times! I also got 2 calicos, 2 short seabass, a barred surf perch and a yellowfin croaker, all on the Rapala Shad Rap, the yellow perch color. It was insane! I am sold on crank baits in the ocean.

It was tricky unhooking all those shorts without taking a bronze treble to the thumb. I did not lose any fish, those that bit, stuck!

A month ago, I got a few baracuda on a spinnerbait! That was fun on the ten pound trout rod!

MoonDoggie