Well~! It is now officially Halibut season. I received a wonderful message from my new friend Raney who I met on my last fishing trip at Alamitos Bay. He sent me a picture of him holding a Halibut!! He wrote “A picture of me fishing a Halibut” along with the image. He didn’t catch it with a Flash Minnow, but he did catch a good size Halibut with the Pointer 128 (Aurora Black). Raney! Thank you very much. With that exciting news, I headed out to catch a big size Halibut as well (I over exaggerated!)

On the day of my fishing trip, the weather was in horrible condition… Wind blowing sideways and sprinkling!! However, I was told that this time of season in full moon, Halibuts are spawning and they gather to the shore. And not only that, Raney’s picture! Even in the sprinkling rain, I started casting. Of course there were no other fishermen and it was a sad and lonely fishing day…

It was cloudy with very thick fog and I started off using a dark colored lure. Even in the area where I usually catch some, I got no reaction. But I continued to cast while moving along the beach. Like last time, the water temperature was extremely cold and I could barely put my feet in the water! (I’m very sensitive to the cold also…) I was being very carful with the approaching waves, and since I couldn’t get the water to go no further than below my knees, I felt that my casting distance was about 7~9m short and maybe missing my chance for bites. I did a whole round trip with travel distance of 300m which I’ve decide for myself. I also used the usual color rotation when the weather is bad: I start off with a dark color lure, then white, then green. And I got absolutely no bites!! I finally went back to the corner and did a range change. Considering that it is high tide, I changed it to a PT100DD and while being very aware of the wind condition, I continued to cast in suspicious areas. I again got nothing… It was getting close to noon and the rain was getting stronger so I decided to give up for the day.

I realized that even when it was in good fishing condition the day before, if the water temperature decreases, the fishes become less active and becomes tougher to fish. I will save my legal size for next time.

Sandy
The Daily Flash Minnow

P.S. I’m going to order a wader from Japan!! Then I should be ok even when the water temperature is cold!!