To catch halibut in morro bay, you should do the following-
I guess the fish are cagey, being in 15 feet or less of water. I 've successfully drifted live sardines or smelt (5 in long ideally) using a sliding sinker rig so that they feel no weight. I have my reel in freespool, with my thumb on the reel. You just bump it along until you feel a bite. Then you let them run with it, but not too long. I like to use a trap hook in the tail of the sardine. They tend to be in the edges of the channels, from around the museum and further back up in the bay. Look for the eelgrass beds that line the channels, and fish 20 feet or so out from them. Wait until you see lots of bird life in the bay. The birds follow the sardines, and so do the halibut.
