Rented a skiff out of Davey's Locker in Newport Beach. Got there at 6:30AM and waited about 15 minutes for the sun to come out a bit more. It was foggy and cloudy in the morning. Made our way out to the bait barge and bought live sardines. The sardines were quite large.
We stayed out in that area near the bait barge and fished fly lines and fish finders both with live sardines. Bite was slow but we caught a couple barracuda, and a white sea bass in that area.
Then we moved into the harbor and hooked up on a smaller barracuda, a couple decent sized spotted bass (just under 14") and a halibut (19"). The bite slowed down after that and we bounced back and forth between the two jetties and the outer harbor. Caught a decent sized opal eye towards the end of the Newport Jetty near the rocks on live ghost shrimp.
All fish were released with the exception of the Opal Eye. Which we ate sashimi style.
My impressions for the first time renting a skiff:
Biggest challenge was managing the drift of the boat. Illegal to anchor in the harbor and the rope that they give you to anchor is too short to actually hit the bottom in most places other then very close to the jetty
We made the mistake of not "sizing down" when the bite was slow on the large sardines. I think we would have done better throwing smaller plastics or even cut bait on one or two rods while we waited for bigger things to hit the sardines
I found it difficult to decide where to fish in the harbor. We did the best fishing close to private docks
We had a bucket toilet that worked out good for us. Privacy poncho plus bucket toilet made the trip more girlfriend friendly
We stayed out in that area near the bait barge and fished fly lines and fish finders both with live sardines. Bite was slow but we caught a couple barracuda, and a white sea bass in that area.
Then we moved into the harbor and hooked up on a smaller barracuda, a couple decent sized spotted bass (just under 14") and a halibut (19"). The bite slowed down after that and we bounced back and forth between the two jetties and the outer harbor. Caught a decent sized opal eye towards the end of the Newport Jetty near the rocks on live ghost shrimp.
All fish were released with the exception of the Opal Eye. Which we ate sashimi style.
My impressions for the first time renting a skiff:
Biggest challenge was managing the drift of the boat. Illegal to anchor in the harbor and the rope that they give you to anchor is too short to actually hit the bottom in most places other then very close to the jetty
We made the mistake of not "sizing down" when the bite was slow on the large sardines. I think we would have done better throwing smaller plastics or even cut bait on one or two rods while we waited for bigger things to hit the sardines
I found it difficult to decide where to fish in the harbor. We did the best fishing close to private docks
We had a bucket toilet that worked out good for us. Privacy poncho plus bucket toilet made the trip more girlfriend friendly
