Looking for general information on finding halibut spots. I will be fishing the strait and need some help figuring when to fish (tide) and what to look for on bottom. Anything would help

flat sandy bottom
slack tide

As for actually finding the fish, you'll need scuba gear ;-)

Have had better luck fishing over hard bottom thats covered with cobblestone type rocks. Where in the straights will you be fishing?

I know where you can halibut ... in my freezer

Other than that, I'm no help, I puke just looking at the salt!

Halibut like hard rocky flats or plataues. They like to lie near the edges and feed into the current.Look for this type of areas on charts of the area. I dont fish that end of the straites but this type of bottom works well off the coast and near the west entrance. In a good halibut hole off westport you can expect a fish within seconds of hitting the bottom. I have heard there are some humps near the east end that produce nice halibut but not like the bite you might expect from swiftsure bank or off the coast.Hope that will give you some help.
Mark

chaser-
I'll will be fishing out of Port Angeles, Sekiu, and Neah Bay. I'm new to halibut fishing, so I'm studying the charts early to up my chances.

F+h news has a little write up in this months issue for Middle bank and Hein bank. They are accessible from PA and theres the hole at the end of the spit that always gets a few over 100 every year. I am getting these gps #s from f+h news in 1998. Middle bank 482400/1230600 nw side of middle bank is best (4825168/12306064 south to 4824669/12307311) eastern bank at 481700/1225800 or hein bank fish the west side 4821215/12303595 drift westerly in 90-150 ft of water. all of these spots are in the sound or straits and are very tidally influenced plan on fishing the tide changes and on small tide swings for the best chance at keeping your gear on the bottom.

All of the gps #s came from f+h news I can not guarantee their accuracy nor will I take heat for giving gps #s. good luck..

If you go to neah bay they have maps for swiftsure and 72 square these places are 100% if you can get there and get your gear down. we also found another spot wsw from tatoosh about 15 miles out that we found fish at last year. These places (72 and swiftsure) are 600 ft deep so be preparedand dont gert stuck without enough weight if the current is strong

Elkrun If you email me at angelfisher@aol.com I can get into more detail on spots in @ Hien Bank, Middle Bank and at Sekiu.