Newport Harbor, October 31, 2009

[Ohana]

I had planned to hit the water Friday and hopefully fish with SGV Rookie, but work issues had to be addressed, which meant Saturday was the day.

Launched around 12:30, with 2 hours left before the bottom of the low tide, so I still had some water movement to help with the fishing. Water had cooled (mid-60's), but nice green color, with a steady breeze out of the southwest, and the bay bass were hungry. I fished a crankbait exclusively and C&R'd 8 big healthy spotted bay bass; I found a nice underwater hill that the bass seemed hanging around and they pretty much hit the lure every time it went over the hill and proceeded to pull me around. Here are some pictures of three of the bass:



This bass swallowed the whole crankbait and took some effort removing the hooks while not harming the fishes gills;





I also caught and released smaller bay bass, so my total was 12 spotted bay bass. I would have fished some other areas, but I had to be out of the water by 2:30.

Very nice day on the water.

Kevin