Halibut Baits Top food found in the stomachs of Halibut British Columbia and Gulf of Alaska waters in order of favourites. Octopus                                      Crab Pacific Herring Pacific cod Sand lance Flounder Pollock Tanner crab Pacific halibut Rockfish Salmon Unidentified eggs Starfish Sablefish Clam Siphon Flathead sole Skate Dogfish Hermit crab Snail fish Ratfish Snails Petral sole Rex sole Sea urchin Lingcod Rock sole Poacher Mussle Scallop Source:  How to catch Trophy Halibut (Go to Books page) Excerpted from Pacific halibut as Predator and Prey

Halibut Baits Top food found in the stomachs of Halibut British Columbia and Gulf of Alaska waters in order of favourites. Octopus                                      Crab Pacific Herring Pacific cod Sand lance Flounder Pollock Tanner crab Pacific halibut Rockfish Salmon Unidentified eggs Starfish Sablefish Clam Siphon Flathead sole Skate Dogfish Hermit crab Snail fish Ratfish Snails Petral sole Rex sole Sea urchin Lingcod Rock sole Poacher Mussle Scallop Source:  How to catch Trophy Halibut (Go to Books page) Excerpted from Pacific halibut as Predator and Prey

Favorite foods of Pacific halibut include octopus, shrimp and herring. Crab, squid, salmon, cod and other bottomfish round out the menu. Halibut tend to be opportuistic in their feeding habits, ingesting whatever forage items are predominant in an area. At times, however, they do show a tendency to search out specific prey at the exclusion of all else. Rule of thumb is to match the local forage as closely as possible. On one of our trips the most successful bait was small sole, 6 to 10 inches long which we were catching accidentally on the sandy bottom. Before that we were using squid and octopus with no success. If you are having no luck or are uncertain as to which forage foods are predominant in the area you are fishing, switch to a large fish baits or bright colored hootchies.