Port Townsend locals love halibut fishing at McCurdy Point. It’s close to Port Townsend and accessible to anglers with small or big boats. And unlike many of Puget Sound’s best halibut fishing areas, McCurdy Point offers anglers shallow water fishing for halibut. Last week I spoke with several anglers who fish the area and ask them how deep they typically fish. They all said 60 to 120 feet is their preferred depth, but they will fish deeper if the shallows don’t produce halibut on their hook.

Over the past few seasons I have fished the spot and am still learning the varying currents and depths. One thing to note, a couple locals like using spot shrimp for bait and say they work great. Most others, however, use large horse herring. This season, instead of hooking the herring head first, try reversing the bait to present it head down and put a skirt over the tail. This presentation gives the bait an enticing side to side action while giving the halibut an irresistible, bite-inducing look at the baitfish’s eye. While fishing in Sooke this presentation worked really well and put some nice halibut on our hooks.

Good luck, and be sure to subscribe to the blog to get updated when I post more Puget Sound halibut fishing maps. And visit Halibut.net for your tackle needs.

John