I wanted to say thank you to everyone who gave me advice for Newport harbor. My son and I had a blast our first time out in NPH(Weird for me to use that abbreviation in a different context as I work a lot with diabetics and this is also a name of a type of insulin).
We got to the coast guard station a little before 8 and launched from there. I was actually surprised there were not more people and that there was very little traffic in the harbor until about 1030am then the yachts came out. We mainly stuck to the docks north of the station. I tried the rocky area off the southeast corner of little island for nadda but we were also trying to jockey for position with a sea lion in that area.

A few pics from our day, only one "legal" spottie but all were fun and all looked healthy on release. They are really a powerful little fish!












One thing I learned is that there is quite a bit of a learning curve positioning your kayak with the incoming tide to make a good presentation and keeping yourself in that position as you retrieve. Something I just needed to anticipate better.

The other thing I learned is that the eel grass really gets in your way in the back of some of the dock areas. Drove me nuts. I changed my son over to a spinnerbait to stay out of it and next time I think I may Texas rig my swimbaits.

Thanks again to everyone. Can't wait to give it another shot some time soon and get a flattie!