By Paul Lebowitz

I’ll never forget the day I first met Kiyo Sato. It was at the 2006 annual Kayak Sportfishing tournament, a huge springtime contest held that year under nasty conditions. Most of the 190 or so competitors caught nothing but colds - icy stinging rain and hail splashing into a cold sea will do that – and then here comes this bear of a man paddling out of the storm atop a big Malibu kayak, winning halibut in hand.

When I interviewed the soft-spoken Sato, a few intriguing details emerged. It had been his first time fishing Dana Point, yet somehow he’d aced out the large contingent of local experts on a brutally tough day. Technique had something to do with his success, and luck too, or then again it could have been the live smelt he’d painstakingly caught prior to the tournament.

As I continued to talk with the quick to laugh character, I learned that making smelt before fishing is a time-honored tradition among his peers in a local internet-based fishing community: the Baytubers.

Baytubers.com got its start in 2001. Back then, as the name suggests, most of the members fished places such as Cherry Beach, San Pedro, and Bellmont Shores out of float tubes. They’ve since transitioned to the superior mobility of the kayak, but little else about this fun and friendly group has changed. Halibut are still the prime target, they continue to catch their own smelt, and every month there’s an informal jackpot that seems as much about the potluck picnic afterward as it does the fishing. Even the name’s stayed the same.

I caught up with the Baytubers in January when they returned to the scene of Sato’s dramatic victory for one of their fish and food fests. Over heaped platefuls of incredibly tasty barbecued chicken grilled up by previous jackpot winner Mark Ezell of Hook1 Kayak Fishing Gear fame (another tradition – you win, you cook), or more accurately by his charming wife Karen, we chatted about Sato’s approach to hunting halibut from the kayak.

Sato boiled it down to the essence: “Cover as much ground as you can, and keep your bait on the bottom.” That’s a pretty conventional recipe for dredging up flatfish. Where Sato diverges is in his rigging.

“I drop-shot. The live bait is maybe 12 to 16-in. above a 6 to 10-oz. chrome torpedo sinker,” Sato revealed.

Really?

“Yes. I think halibut see the bait better. The sinker still bounces on bottom, attracting attention. I also use trap hooks with feathers on a light wire leader. With the reel in gear, when they grab it they’re hooked,” Sato explained.

Sato said he’s tried just about every imaginable technique. “I’ve fished them all: really light weights, sticky weights, bounce-balling. For me, drop shot is the best, especially in the kelp. There are a lot of halibut in there on the bottom,” Sato said.

Here’s another departure. From the kayak standpoint, Sato uses heavy line: 60-lb. braid paired with a 3-ft. length of 40-lb. monofilament. He does a lot of his fishing facing backwards too.

“I paddle backwards a lot, probably because I used to be a float tuber. You can see your line better as you troll. I want to see that the weight is hitting the bottom,” Sato said.

Sato’s tournament winning techniques are not the only way to skin a flatty from a kayak. In fact, that January day Sato took a back seat to Paul Quirk, who used another kayak staple. The goateed guide – his new business Pablo Joe Kayak Fishing focuses on getting novices safely, comfortably and inexpensively into the sport – was fishing the shallows just off the beach when he nailed the jackpot winner.

BAYTUBER’S BIG DAY – Kiyo Sato with his tournament-winning Dana Pt. halibut. Sato’s unorthodox fishing techniques delivered the big victory despite fierce competition and nasty weather. PHOTO COURTESY JIM SALAZAR

A SHALLOW WATER KAYAK FLATTY – Paul Quirk of Pablo Joe’s Kayak Fishing won the January 2006 Baytuber’s jackpot using a kayak specialty. He fished the shallows just beyond the breakers.

MALIBU MACKEREL – Malibu area guide Jason Morton of Kayak Sportfishing with the standard kayak catch. In addition to artificial baits, area kayakers put the local forage to good use.

That area just outside the breakers is pretty much a kayak exclusive. While Quirk got his fish fly-lining a live sardine, other kayakers score halibut on minnow-style crankbaits, plastics, or Gulp! All of these baits are great for quickly covering a lot of water. But watch out for sneaker sets – fishing close to the waves eventually catches up with everyone.

Of course the most common kayak halibut technique is the bounce ball rig. As used by Malibu area guide Jeff Krieger, the inventor of the Rhynobar, it starts with a three-way swivel tied to the main line. A 1-lb. cannonball weight hangs 2-ft. off one end. Be sure to use a line strength you can break if that heavy weight snags the bottom. The other runs 2 to 3-ft. to a flasher and then on to a hoochie, Gulp squid, or other artificial. It’s fished with the rod in a holder and the reel in gear. According to Krieger, you feel a hook-up when the kayak slows its easy trolling pace.

The trick here is to get the big rig safely down to the bottom without tangling. Control it as you pay out line. It helps to paddle a bit to work up some speed before dropping. It’s also fair to say that bounce-balling from a kayak is a bit of a drag. Most kayaks, particularly shorter ones, will turn toward the rig causing what Krieger terms ‘gorilla arm’ from constantly paddling on one side.

There are still more ways to trick halibut from the ‘yak. Sliding sinker rigs, dropper loops, and even the occasional lucky iron strike account for a share of the kayak flatfish catch. Which method reigns supreme is an interesting question, one that will be tested again in a major competition as soon as the April 21-22, 2007 Marina del Rey Halibut Derby.   

MDRA touts the derby as the oldest and largest in Southern California. The fantastic prize list certainly reflects as much, topping out with a new Toyota Tundra pickup for the heaviest halibut over 53 lbs. Can a kayaker win here where the powerboat crowd makes up most of the opposition?