The WA halibut season (it's only a few days, seems stupid to call it a season) is coming up.

Curious as to what folks favorite flattie bait is.

Octopus

Half of a kitten!

Go big - Humpy head and a 16/0 circle.

Hah! Why only half? Little fuggers are free at the pound!

I have some salmon in the freezer I may cut up. Some squid as well.

I've heard octo is good bait, but never used it.

Lots of folk use herring around here. I've never tried it, but it seems to work.

I've caught plenty on herring and squid.

Jigs outfish bait ~10/1. You can always put a piece of herring on the hook to add some sent, but I rarely fish a baited hook anymore.

Think my buddy from Georgia tried that once, made a heck of a mess when he finally got the circle hook through the side!

Alaska is a world away from the PNW as far as halibut fishing goes, but this is what works in my neck of the woods:

Fresh is the key. Most people dig out freezer burnt bait or old bait, and wonder why they can't catch. I only use bait I've caught that day, or the day before.

King/Coho guts are probably my #1 halibut bait. I usually tip it with some herring. I gut and gill all my salmon, so it is my default. Gills work ok, too, especially when I am running short on bait. Pressured halibut will bite guts when they won't touch other baits. Keep in mind I am not talking about belly meat. Belly meat ain't legal unless it's from a pink/chum.

Pink salmon (just caught) is also very good. Dime bright humpy full of blood is the best. Fish that have turned don't seem to do as well for me. I either fillet the humpy and use fillets, or I steak the humpy and use those.

P-Cod and Kelp greenling really has it's moments. Both legal to use as bait. P-cod works better in June than later. I think it's because they have other stuff to eat later in the season. I have had some amazing scores on kelp greenling. Lasts about an hour on the hook, but is tough as nails and will catch 3 or 4 big hali before you have to replace. In rocky/coral areas, kelp greenling rules.

I never fish herring by itself. Not tough enough for me. I tip just about everything with herring though, as the oil in herring seems to travel well in the current to call in the halibut. The trick is to fillet the herring to maximize scent dispersal. It's all about scent. Don't chunk, fillet.

Fillet'd out salmon carcasses work really well too, particularly coho carcasses. I grab some from the fish cutters before them toss them if I know I'm hunting giants the next day. I cut off the head and crack it 3 times, and then put it on a 16/0 Circle. (only size I use) Let them chew on it a bit, but they put out a lot of scent. King salmon tails catch monster halibut. Can't explain it, but put a tail down there, and it will catch the biggest halibut of the day.

I don't use salmon heads. I end up with poorly hooked halibut too often with them. Rarely use jigs. Too much maiming of small halibut, halibut getting off half way up, and it's downright dangerous trying to release a big halibut with one in it's mouth.I can get most of my circles back by grabbing the hook with a tool I made up, and cutting the leader. Leader pulls right through.

But, when it comes to halibut fishing, variety is best. I like to have different bait on every hook. Fresh, and everything is about scent. Know how often you have to change certain kinds of bait.

Thanks! I like to gut one and see what they eat, so I can match the hatch.

Are crab pieces and clams legal?

Calvin gave you some great information^

For me, chunked troll-caught dime bright fresh pink salmon on a 16/0 circle hook has been the best producer by far.

Chris

Berkley Gulp has worked for me

Thanks to all for the ideas.

Commercially we never really seemed to worry too much about bait. Often it was just chunked and salt cured humpy. Recycle any cod that came up.

While I have a good bit of old stuff in the freezer, I think I'll take Calvin's advice and pick up some fresh salmon carcass at the local fish mongers before we head out.

Likely run a tail section in a squid skirt. Maybe ice the cake with a butterflied herring.

Curious as to how you hang guts on a hook? Doubt I'll have any, but curious anyway.

Salted herring works best for me. We catch a metric schitload of them nearby and I usually salt up to about three buckets of them. The salt firms them up really well and they don't break up off the hooks. Octopus works okay if it's allowed to spoil a little. I don't have a lot of luck with salmon.

Of course my halibut fishing consists of tossing out a skate of hooks in about 25 fathoms and letting them soak for a couple tide cycles making sure to catch one high tide. I've left them out overnight and basically you gain nothing from it. If your bait gets jacked in the first hour, you have a bare hook swishing about for 12-18 hours being unproductive. I normally pull them within 8-12 hours.

If I pull, re-bait and reset the skate, a lot of times I'll peel fillets off any sculpins or bullheads caught and use them as bait. Sculpin fillets are tough. Tough to cut and tough to poke a hook through.

Can't you use hatchery morts for bait, even if they are kings or coho? We have people every year that show up to get bait for shrimp and crab pots.

P cod is really good when fishing around cod because other cod will not eat cod... important when cod are thick.

Octopus does not work well fresh. Kodiak fishermen often say it scares 'but until they are sure it is dead.

Fresh is good advice... Once I had a mediocre afternoon soak between Whittier and Seward. That night I jigged a score or so of juvenile p-cod or something similar, and they worked GREAT the next day on bigger fish.

Funny, because the PCod down here eat PCod like it's going out of style.

A little strip of ling belly works really good too at times.

We fish shallow. usually around 50 - 70 ft. Anchor up and put a big chum sack full of salmon and tuna on one of our downriggers. Drop it to the bottom and send our baits down. Usually run a horse herring or a salmon belly on the bottom hook and a piece of octopus on the top hook.

Stomach contents from the first 10 Halibut caught at the 2015 Port Angeles Halibut Derby.

That herring is about 12 inches long.

So, lots of choices here. Yes, that is a chicken bone!



I have caught more Halibut on the good 'ol Metzler jig than anything else. Note the lower one: Marks from banging the sandy/gravel bottom. Keep it within 5 feet of the bottom and jig, drop back to the sand, and jig again. Repeat 'till your arms fall off.



Big plugs work pretty good. These are from my pre barbless hook trolling days.



But my biggest 'butt was caught on a squid about 10 inches long, single 9/0 J hook, 5 feet of 80 pound mono leader, 6 oz sliding sinker. Dangling from a 30 pound class cheapie trolling rod with a Penn 209 spooled with 30 pound dacron. 60 feet of water in the Port Angeles area.

Anything will catch them, they are pigs. You just gotta fish where they are!!

We got an 80 in 40ft jigging a small Pt. Wilson dart for kings at Neah Bay just out of the bay but herring is my favorite down here usually tipped with octopus or squid for insurance since it's more durable.

I know the guy that patented the PW Dart/Dungeness Stinger/Crippled Herring and had bad dealings with the manufacturer... Luhr Jensen proved to be serious POS azzholes...