Halibut bait - where to buy?

[bobcat]

I need to pick up some octopus and herring for halibut fishing Thursday. Where can I find some in the Olympia area? Cabelas?   

[WSU]

Fred Meyer had purple label herring the other day.  Cabelas has herring.  Let me know if you find octopus.

[bobcat]

Thank you. That helps.

[WSU]

Where are you fishing?

[bobcat]

Not sure exactly. Going with Lokidog, out of Anacortes.

[Mfowl]

Go to an Asian food market. I bought black label size herring for $3.50/lb and a whole small octopus  for $7.50. I went to Uwajimaya in Renton. They usually have sardines, mackeral and squid as well. Food grade bait is better than sporting good store bait IMO, plus you don't pay the extra taxes.

[Cap.Silver]

If you have an old blender ,I'd use buttjuice ,some older tuna or salmon scraps,herring,anchovies -basically anything you can find  ...mix it all together and put it in crab bait jar (the one with screw on lid and weep holes) ,hook it onto your downrigger cable (if you're anchored up )or make smaller container from pill bottle and hook it up to your rod line .
It should work .I have also used pieces of sponge soaked up in butt juice and tied up to my line with magic thread.

[WSU]

Sounds fun.  I was going to suggest just using pipe jigs or some other artificial if you were fishing Westport or somewhere else where you fish really deep. 

[Dmulcahy]

Go to an Asian food market. I bought black label size herring for $3.50/lb and a whole small octopus  for $7.50. I went to Uwajimaya in Renton. They usually have sardines, mackeral and squid as well. Food grade bait is better than sporting good store bait IMO, plus you don't pay the extra taxes.

  much cheaper and better quality

[DOUBLELUNG]

Hispanic markets usually have octopus as well. 

[Bluemoon]

Don't know if they would work, but I have two one gallon bags full of smelt you are welcome to.  about 30 mins south of Rochester.. 

[Stein]

Cabelas, John's, Arlington Hardware, Holiday are all on your way up.

I'm thinking about going out as well, but nobody in the house here seems too jacked after the opener dud and I'm not sure I want to run that far myself  The afternoon tide change is attractive as it looks like the wind might die a bit and I prefer incoming anyway.

[Buck_Nasty11]

I've had the best luck with trout

[JimmyHoffa]

If you have an old blender ,I'd use buttjuice ,some older tuna or salmon scraps,herring,anchovies -basically anything you can find  ...mix it all together and put it in crab bait jar (the one with screw on lid and weep holes) ,hook it onto your downrigger cable (if you're anchored up )or make smaller container from pill bottle and hook it up to your rod line .
It should work .I have also used pieces of sponge soaked up in butt juice and tied up to my line with magic thread.

I've heard of using nylon stockings with smashed up shrimp and clams.

[WSU]

If you want trout I'll give you some.

[TomT]

Save some strips of white halibut skin for next time.  We got 3 out of our 4 on that Saturday.

[Stein]

If you have an old blender ,I'd use buttjuice ,some older tuna or salmon scraps,herring,anchovies -basically anything you can find  ...mix it all together and put it in crab bait jar (the one with screw on lid and weep holes) ,hook it onto your downrigger cable (if you're anchored up )or make smaller container from pill bottle and hook it up to your rod line .
It should work .I have also used pieces of sponge soaked up in butt juice and tied up to my line with magic thread.

I've heard of using nylon stockings with smashed up shrimp and clams.

That's what I do except I have the mesh bag from John's.  If we don't have scraps, we use leftover cans from shrimp season.

[L-ofalab]

Try some fresh springer belly. A strip including the pectoral fin cut from that white salmon belly works fantastic. Don't freeze em if you can help it.