Rigging And Bait
Rig up with a medium-heavy spinning or baitcasting outfit to catch big fish in Newport Bay. Spool a rod and reel combo with eight- to 15-pound line. Most fish you'll catch will run a pound all the way up to 25 pounds, so be sure you set your reel's drag fairly loose in case that big halibut or white sea bass hits.
Once you are rigged up, there are a few baits and plastics you'll need to carry with you whether in a kayak, rental boat or if you're bound to shore. For bait, a basic sliding-sinker rig with a small sliding weight above a swivel and a size 2 or size 4 hook about 18 inches below will do. Davey's Locker offers scoops of live anchovies which is the best bait, but they can die quickly if you don't have a bait tank or at least bait bucket.
As for plastics, try a hula-type grub which offers a curly tail on one end and a skirt on the other mimicking swimming organisms like crabs or smaller fish. Small swimbaits in chartreuse and brown are also a good choice. Use a leadhead kind of hook with these to get them down to where the fish are.
Davey's Locker Sportfishing
400 Main Street
Balboa, CA 92661
949- 673-1434
www.daveyslocker.com/openNEW.html
Planning To Fish
Sure your work schedule and other obligations dictates when you can fish, but unlike trout fishing which is typically good in the morning and evening, fishing in a spot like Newport is good when there is tidal movement. If there is a low or high tide in an hour, fishing is going to be good and for about an hour after the tide reaches it's high or low mark. The area sees four tidal movements a day.
Tides create current, bringing nutrients and food to fish, encouraging them to eat. Fish time their meals with these tides. It's like river fishing. If the tide is going out, set up for a low tide. Anglers should fish down to their targets, picking which side of structure a fish might be holding near. Bay bass will hide behind objects in the water to avoid extra swimming and to be ready to ambush wayward anchovies or your imitations.
Guide Secrets
Newport Bay is best fished from a boat much like you see the guys fishing for largemouth on bass television shows. The fish sit near rock piles, pilings or any other structure. Structure means a home and easy meals as every fish in the bay looks for shelter from the tidal currents or protection from bigger predators.
Fishing the pilings from the last dock before the jetty all the way around the entire bay can be sensational. If you time the tidal fluctuation just right, you can have three to four hours of non-stop fishing and end up catching and releasing as many as 50 fish in that time.
Anchovies are best, but if you prefer to toss swimbaits and grubs, try the AA Worms' Monarch Grub, Shad Tails and Single Tail Shrimp. Use a lightweight leadhead and sink these plastics along dock pilings or cast them along side of a pier, swimming or bouncing them back to the boat. Vary your speeds until you find the right one. Yamamoto's Hula Grub in black or brown with some red flake is another option. Fish this one straight down pilings. They will often get bit on the drop so monitor your line as it releases from the reel.
When it comes to bigger fish in Newport Bay it's all about time on the water and using slightly larger swimbaits and grubs. Sure switching to a larger plastic or live bait will mean less action overall, but sometimes that's the only way to catch a bigger fish. You'll have to sacrifice quantity if you want quality, but you never know when a bigger fish will hit.
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