Great numbers and variety at Newport Harbor
Hey! It's been way too long since I posted a report here, namely because it's been way too long since I went fishing. Things have been really crazy and stressful at work for the last month or two, but I finally was able to sneak in a day off yesterday, and what better way to spend it than catching some sunshine and some fishies?
Headed down to Newport Harbor by my lonesome since nobody else in the world seemed to have the day off and it was wide open all day! The only fishing competition out there was the big *** sea lion that kept chasing my fish to the boat during the am hours, forcing me to reel em up as fast I could for their (and my tackle's) safety! I safely released all but one fish away from his clutches. The one he was able to snag was a bit too tired after the fight to get away, but I knew if I didn't let him go soon he might drown out of water. I even gently rocked him back and forth in the water to try to pass some through his gills. It seemed to work as he could swim just fine, just took his sweet time and wound up breakfast. I figure it's better that he fed the other wild life than dying by my mishandling of him. The sea lion, who I nicknamed Chester, got a free snack out of that spotty and swam away, seemingly content for the morning.
It was all spotties and calicos in the am, then around 11 o'clock I started latching into a great number of species. It got to the point where the only species I could ID before seeing color were the flatties (that headshake afterall). Wound up pulling in a juvenile WSB, a couple barracuda (the second of which looked well over legal from the water, but I released him anyway not wanting to kill him or deal with those teeth any longer than I absolutely needed to), a good number of flatties and one bone.
The story of how I caught the bone was super hype, too. All day I was getting thumped by juvenile flatties who couldn't take the whole chovie. No matter how much time I would give them to commit before attempting a hookset, they were ultimately too small to take the whole thing before realizing there was tension and getting spooked. This happened again, and after a bit of waiting around to see if it would commit, I reeled up. I was reeling really fast, eager to get another bait in the water, when I saw a very fast streak of color dart across the water. Just then... BENDO! Reel starts screaming and the fish starts doing bonito things: going on fun runs, dashing back and forth and all over the place and easily putting up the funnest light tackle fight I've had in a long time. It was like poor man's tuna fishing, lol!
Headed home around 3:00 p.m. after a great day, the kind of day where you literally start losing track of the numbers in your head! I'm pretty sure it was 8 spotties, 5 calicos, 5 flatties, 2 barracuda, 1 WSB and 1 Bone. Pics are below, not all fish were of quality enough size for a photo op.
It's good to be back :)
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Originally Posted by camdozer
