"""I'm pretty sure those are a tuna lure actually designed to be trolled but hey if they work keep using em !!""""
I think that you are correct. I've fished for albacore a couple times, trolling artificial plastic lures on the surface, not these metal things, but have seen them referred to as tuna lures.
I have a lot of experience fishing north of the Golden Gate (mostly out of Bodega Bay) for bottomfish. Rather than using strings of shrimp flies and a cannonball 2-3 lb. weight, I preferred to use a diamond jig or hex bar (8-10 oz.) with a single shrimp fly a couple feet above it. This was usually in water 250-350 feet deep. I was targeting lingcod rather than rockfish, but this setup usually yielded limits of both (5 lings, 15 rockfish). During this time, I bought a few of these heavier lures out of curiosity but never used them.
When I moved to WA, I didn't fish for several years but have recently started up again. Different gear is used up here, which I used the first time I went out. The second trip, I took along this heavier lure, wanting to try something that I was more used to in working it on the bottom (at 550 feet). It really really performed on the lingcod. Other guys were using 2 lb. weights to get down. The lure also caught 2 halibut, released. This past June, I went on a halibut trip, and used it again in 550 feet of water, lots of lings and 3 halibut...…..luckily the first one was the biggest (87 lbs.), the other two released. The lure also brought up a large black cod (lost at the rail) and several large rockfish (all released due to regs). It is a different setup than what I have seen up here but it works very well. I will continue to use it until I lose it. Another difference for me, is the composition of the bottom up here, from down south. I'm used to rocky bottoms and losing lots of bars when they snag up. The bottoms up here, at least at 550 feet and where I have fished (30 miles out of La Push) seem to be either sandy or gravelly and does not eat gear. I'm also surprised that these bottoms hold both halibut and lingcod. The one bottom line in using a jig like this (or a 2 lb. weight) is FEELING the bottom......these are bottom fish and you need to entice them to bite where they live, the bottom. You know you are there when line quits going out as you descend, but then you need to reel up a bit and start jigging it on the bottom. If you can feel the jig hit the bottom, you are in business.
