California Halibut

Urmaddad, In Santa Barbara: When the iceplants begin to bloom--seriously! I always look for Halibut, because you just never know. What I can tell you is that most halibut are caught during the months of May through August--In Santa Barbara. "Sometimes" they start moving in to the shallows in early April or late March--Sometimes. You, of course, are a little North of me and the water is colder. I would guess the Halibut "run" is similar. I have pasted the CA Fish and Game link that lists all the commercial catches for the past few years by area. It may be of benefit to you. At least you can see when the commercial boys historically have caught them. Good Luck. California Department of Fish & Game, Marine Region

In the monterey area we start looking for them around May. In socal, they are already in.

They will follow the bait fish. For us, it is the anchovies. SoCal also has Grunion runs. April normally. Check Bloodydecks. Last year was great for H&L San Pablo Bay. There use to be a vidcam slugvideo that took pictures of the Santa Cruz Pier. If there were a lot of birds dive bombing the bait fish, you knew that the salmon and halibut follow them in. Also check spearboard. Dave Edlund got some good halibut last year south of Santa Cruz. There should be some spearfishing tournaments around April or May posted on SpearBoard California section.

I think it would be cool to shoot one of those barn doors. Would be a bear getting it up I would imagine.