I grew up fishing tub trawls here in Maine for halibut. The numbers here in eastern Maine better now then in the 80s. So I went out yesterday to try with rod and reel. I was wondering is it better to drift or fish on anchor? We have alot of tide with .5-1.3 kts common. I fished two slack tides yesterday and did some slow controlled trolls using my down riggers and a 12 lb weight to hold bottom. I had one take down while on anchor 1 hr into the incoming tide. I was using a 12/0 circle hook. I had my line attached to the rigger ball with 17 lb mono for a break away. I think I want to use 10/0 J hooks double rigged with a whole herring or mackerel in the future. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
To give you a idea of the health of the fishery, my son had 24 in one day two weeks ago none under 45" and 3 over 90 lbs. He averaged 1 halibut per 25 hooks set.

^^^^^
I wonder why the halibut numbers there are so good while at the same time the pacific halibut are hurting somewhat.
How deep of water are you fishing? I wish we only had .5 -1.3 knots where we fish; we have up to 3.0.

I find that halibut generally only bite well just before and after slack tide. Maybe 30 minutes on each side.

I was fishing the eddies looking for less tide. Many places we also have 2-3 kts.
The managers increased the legal size to 41" a few years back and if fishing in state waters we have a season of May 13- June 13 and only 25 fish. If you have a federal permit your allowed one per day year around.

I have found that halibut are ambush hunters when the current is running. They lie in wait and pick off what is passing by and when it slows down they up and move around. Scent is a big deal and they will move a long way to home in on the source. If you can get a chum bag to the bottom and then release it that helps a lot. Drifting in slow current or anchoring both work but anchoring is better imo. Fresher the better for bait. Visual and movement is a plus, especially when shallow,ie less than 10 fathoms