Newport Friday Afternoon

[PerryC]

Anyone up for some bass fishing in Newport this Friday afternoon? Planning on launching about 4pm from Coast Guard Beach and catching the tail end of the 5pm high tide. Please reply or send me a PM is you plan to meet up.

Perry

[seatech]

5pm high tide you say.


Hmm........ might be a decent spottie bite that day or thru the weekend

Ed

[gone_fishing]

Looks like I'll be there around 6:00p.m. with a friend. If your still around, I'll see you on the water. If I can get out there sooner I will.
Look for the grey Fish N Dive and the green pontoon-style Kiwi Angler.
Hank

[dwest]

So, I'm tryng to get my buddy NewportSteve to register on this site and join in some group fishing expeditions in the harbor. He has a mango colored Hobie Adventure with all the stuff and does a little fishing.

Hopefully he is going to go from lurking to posting soon. What can you tell him about successful fishing in Newport Harbor that might get his paddlie in the water, so to speak?

Thanks.

[PerryC]

Newport...
It may not be one of the hotest places to fish compared to SD bay, but it's alot closer. It has boat docks, clam beds, eel grass areas, sandy areas and all this often within a few minutes paddle of eachother. All the different areas should be tried, as they all produce at different times. Eel grass beds can often pay off, but the trick is getting your lure to ride just over the top of the grass. This is where those who toss spinnerbaits with often excel. They will bounce off the top of the grass usually, and bass can't seem to resist them. A good plastics angler can do the same thing and clean up with the BLAM's using this method in particular.

Spotties, sandies, halibuts and other species call the harbor home, so you never know for sure what you'll bring up. For gear, I'll use matched setups in the 6-10 lb range, usually baitcasters or spinning for certain apps.

Some guys use spinnerbaits, and some others will use crankbaits or stickbaits such as those made by frenzy. For myself, I like grubs and other small plastics though. You can get the 3-4" Kalin brand grubs in chartreuse, white or pearl, rootbeer, clear w/red flake and junebug for night time duties. I'll use them on lighter heads usually round ones in the 3/16-1/4oz range.

Or I like to use the 4" AA curly tail grubs which have one flat side. I like the chartreuse w/gold belly, pink if you can find it, ghost shrimp, red tomato w/black flake and whatever else floats your boat. I'll use the same leadheads I use with the above setups.

After that, I'll carry some of the BLAM's in clear w/red flake, chartreuse, trout, green w/red firetail, and a brown bait one. I'll use 1/4-3/8oz heads for a bit deeper work.

If the plastics I'm using have no scent, I'll put a coat of Hot Sauce gel on them regularly. It helps my MoJo You can also use the basic grubs listed in San Diego, Long Beach Area, Dana Point Harbor and others. The list of what I take may look sparse, but they should be enough to get you started. TC&TL,
Perry

[gone_fishing]

Just a little to add what Perry has already posted. You'd be hard pressed to find a better, and smoother launch than Newport's Coast Guard station area. I've been skiff fishing the Coast Guard area with my sons for years and have recently took up kayak fishing from the same area. Lite setups are the way to go there. I go there with a basic 8lb. spinning setup. My lure of choice is the 3" black and white Bass Assassin. Simple but deadly.

This Friday evening I tried a Halloween orange and black Shad-tail lure with good success also. My buddy fished a spinner bait and outfished me easily. Guess that spinning blade is too much for the fish to resist. It's basically a personal preference learned through trial and error.
The bass fishing at Newport is as consistent as you'll find anywhere. Along with some of the fish previously mentioned, we've caught Sculpin, Bonito, and White Sea Bass. There has been a White Sea Bass hatchery located in the harbor and the juvenile fished were released there. Some have made the harbor their home.
Trust us, you won't be disappointed there.
Hank