Hey Cher, halibut haven't quite picked up around here yet. Any time you want to know about crankbaits for halibut (or white seabass) just do a search on the saltwater board for fastrac minnow... We knocked the $hit out of em last year and the year before on this bait. It's like a minnow (anchovy) shaped jointed bait that you can run fairly slowly, or troll fairly fast. We cast and retrieve right in the surf and do real well. My buddy Pete (leapinbass) messed around with the crankbaits quite a bit and used a Rebel spoonbill minnow with good results. It's like a fastrac, only shallower diving. I found out about the fastrac from Scott at High Tide Traders on Catalina Island when he saw me throwing plastic from the float tube that morning. He looked at me funny and told me all I need to throw is the fastrac. It was pretty funny, he was acting like I was throwing buzzbaits all morning or something, but "pointed me in the right direction". I bought a couple and took em home and sure enough they catch.
-Brian