Can anyone point me in the right direction
 

hello all, i am a relatively new kayak angler, and have been doing well in newport harbor fishing for small bass and halibut. Lately i have been trying to leave the harbor, and have launched at a couple laguna spots. I do have a portable fish finder and have tried fishing in depths from 60 ft up to 150 ft. I would like to try for rockfish and bass. I have 2 primary rods i use one of them is MH 20-40lb with a penn jigmaster 500 on it, the other is a mh 10-20lb bass graphite rod that i usually pair a citica or my cardiff 200 on it. I also have a revo toro 50 that im going to be pairing up a mh 12-25lb with. For local rock/bassing should i stick to the man made reefs? or can i just mojer around looking for pinnacles and rock piles, out of the handful of times i have gone into deeper water i have yet to get a fish out there. Generally i use lead heads from 1/2 oz to 1oz in size with some form of plastic on it, but would probably like to try squid soon too, based on my setups should i be using my jigmaster primarily in the deeper water? I dont care knowing exact spots, i just want to be pointed in the right direction as to maybe how to find my own? and how to fish it properly. Thanks~ Cbass

edit: ive also seen people rockfish with light tackle from 8-10lb? how are they able to drop down 1-4oz of lead on light tackle? lol!

I would go with some spectra on the Penn, the rest sounds just fine to me, I would like to hit up Refugio in a couple weeks for some taco meat:reel:

I'm probably a rarity, but I like really light line. This time of year I think it's critical. I use 6 or 8# for bass, even fishing heavy structure. In general I don't go over 12#, and that only for dock fishing and boilers.

As far as paddling around looking for rocks, it does work. But, there aren't that many beyond about 50', at least in Laguna. As far as I know, they're really aren't many (if any) rock fish spots in Laguna. Working the sportboats for 7yrs I can only recall one rock (150') that would've held rockfish. In fact almost all the spots we fished in Laguna were located in less than 50'. Hogan's Bait and Tackle in Dana PT should have maps that will help you out a lot, they'll get you into the right areas to start looking around.