Skiff fishing great fun in Newport Bay

Newport Bay is a very productive fishery for a large variety of small

game fish and big bat rays despite being one of the busiest harbors

along the Pacific Coast during the summer recreational season.

Anglers can effectively fish the bay from public piers and docks, off

a few bulkheads, in float tubes, out of a kayak or with a bass boat,

but the best way to fish Newport Bay is in a rental skiff from the

Balboa Pavilion.

Tides were right earlier this week for this outdoor editor to

spend a morning sampling the fishing in the bay with my wife, Toni.

Doug Turin, co-owner of Pavilion Skiff Rentals, (949) 673-1434,

greeted us at the dock and passed on a few fishing tips before

helping us board one of the 14’ U-drive skiffs that have served in

the rental fleet for many seasons. Turin said, “The halibut bite has

been real steady right here in front of the Pavilion and fishermen

drifting with live anchovies or plastics around the bait receiver

between the twin jetties have been catching all kinds of fish. We had

a 15 pound halibut weighed in this past weekend and anglers report

lots of action on spotted bay bass, halibut and an occasional legal

white seabass.”

That report sounded good enough to me and after taking on a scoop

of choives, in the bait well, we headed out to the mouth of the

harbor as the sun broke through the morning fog. We were ahead of the

high tide movement and had to wait about 20 minutes before the fish

got into a feeding mood. Once the tide began to move into the bay it

triggered the feed call for all kinds of fish. There were three other

skiffs anchored up in the channel but I opted to drift along the east

jetty. Just about every anchovy was bit by some kind of fish once it

got near the bottom and often the live bait would be picked up on the

sink.

Action was wide open for all the skiffs as bent rods drew an

audience of early morning joggers on the CdM walkway. Our choice of

tackle was Daiwa light action SS1300 spinning reels spooled with

6-pound Stren mono and matched to a 6 1/2-inch rod. This combi-

nation proved very adaptable until this writer hooked into a huge bat

ray. We had been catching lots of small halibut and bass, but when I

set the hook into this bigger fish it nearly took all the line off

the reel before I could get the motor started and begin backing down

on the monster as it headed out to sea. Dodging other skiffs,

anchors, a parade of private boats and the Catalina Flyer as it

headed to Avalon, the big ray finally won the 20 minute battle when

the small hook pulled just as Toni was about to try and net it.

Having caught lots of short halibut, bass and mackerel, the scoop

of bait was exhausted so we turned to fishing plastics along docks

and off bulk heads while heading back to the Pavilion catching more

small bass along the way back. Anglers were still catching halibut

and bass off the main dock at the Pavilion as we tied up the skiff.

Turin asked about how the morning’s fishing went and my report was

petty good for just a few hours on the bay. We caught well over 35

fish and about the only kind of fish we didn’t catch was a white

seabass, croaker or shark, carefully releasing everything we caught

back into the bay to grow up a little.

Rental skiffs are available all day for $68 and $47 for a 1/2 day

including live bait. A California fishing license is required for all

anglers over the age of 16 and the Department of Fish and Game does

patrol the bay on a regular schedule. Each boat can handle four

adults and two children and life preservers are part of the package.

The Pavilion Rental Skiffs and fishing dock are open seven days a

week from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. The old skiffs have served many fishermen

over the years and Turin, who has spent 28 years on the docks, says

that a new fleet of boats will be ready for service by the first week

of August.

The latest word on albacore is that they have moved off to the

west due to a sudden rise in water temperature. Sport boats from

Davey’s Locker and Newport Landing Sportfishing are running outside

of San Clemente Island to find the albies, but fishing has been

spotty. Hopefully the big schools of longfins, currently south of San

Diego, will move up the coast and be within easy reach of the Newport

based fleet by early next week.

There have been no reports of yellowtail being caught under

floating kelp in the channel even though there are some pockets of

73-degree water, but there have been tails hooked at both Catalina

and San Clemente. The white seabass bite that erupted this past

weekend has dropped way off. The full moon did it’s magic, producing

some of the best catches of the big croaker this season.

Water along the beach has warmed up into the low seventies and

anglers fishing from the surf and both the Newport and Balboa piers

report pretty good fishing for a mix of small fish and shovel nose

sharks on cut bait.

Youth Outdoor Safari Day held Saturday

* Southern California youngsters really enjoyed a wonderful

outdoor experience when attending the fifth annual Youth Outdoors

Safari Day at Raahauge’s Sporting Clays Complex in Norco Saturday.

The event was free to all kids 17 years of age and younger when

accompanied by an adult. The day was filled with outdoor activities

covering fishing, shooting sports, conservation, wildlife tours, rock

climbing, kayaking and concludes with a giant kids raffle. The day

was co-sponsored by the Orange and Los Angeles chapters of Safari

Club International and through donations of many sponsors and

volunteers a free lunch was served to every youngster that came to

this very popular Southland event.

Highlighting this year’s Youth Outdoor Safari Day were appearances

by Olympic Gold Medal winner Kim Rhode, trick shooting by John

Claugherty and outdoor TV host Dez Young, who had his young dog Dash

show off his hunting skills for the kids.